Because the final concert was in Toronto where we live, there was no need to hustle in the morning, so to put it bluntly, I slept in 'till 11:00 am!  I don't know about Jim, but I have a feeling that with a one-year-old son, he may have had to get up early (Hey, been there, done that... 24 years ago, at least!).

The rehearsal with John and David was at 1:00, and after which the CBC was to do a sound check for balance etc. (the first half was taped for later broadcast; I guess they didn't pick up the second half because of budget cutbacks; too bad, as they missed recording a heck of a performance, if I do say so myself).  When we got to the hall, John and David were there, as were the pianos.  The rehearsal went on for two hours because, frankly, none of us wanted to leave the piece, as we knew it might be a while before we would play it again; also, it was such an exhilarating experience playing it in that hall, with those two guys, and on our own  pianos.

Well, at the concert that evening, all the rehearsals paid off.  Jim and I felt like we were part of an established quartet, and we've never played a better Bartok.  The audience was on its feet almost right away, and they kept the four of us coming back for curtain calls, hoping we'd play an encore.  Of course, we were very grateful for the reaction, but on the second half, Jim and I were just two members of a quartet, and the only way we would do an encore is if the four of us played something; anything else would have been really tacky and egocentric, in our opinion.  Anyway, we couldn't really play the Bartok again, and as it was the only thing we had for the four of us, we didn't play an encore.  Still, John and David practically pushed Jim and I out on stage to take a call by ourselves.  It's really too bad we can't work together all the time, though we are planning to do more sometime in the future (maybe George Crumb's Music for a Summer Evening?).

The first half also went well, by the way, though I wasn't totally satisfied with the Holst; new piece, first on the programme, etc., though I'm sure it's more a reflection of my state of mind than the performance itself; the CBC guys certainly were happy.  I had no reservations about the other three works.  It's very nice when colleagues who play in orchestras tell you that they almost prefer the piano-duo versions of the Debussy and the Brahms.

After the concert, we all went out to celebrate, and during the festivities, Jim and I found out that we'd been re-engaged for 2000-2001.  What a high note on which to end the year!