May 15th 2023
Wow, two performance of the Brahms e minor in one week. They went well. The first was with a group called the Music Club of Princeton. We were third on the program after a Beethoven sonata and a Ravel piano piece (sublime!). My pianist, Frances Slade, played the Beethoven and then the Brahms so she was busy! We played really well!
On Friday, we we played for Frances’ piano group. She has a number of friends who play piano and they get together and play for each other. It’s an opportunity for them to play pieces in any condition for an appreciative audience. We were again last on the program. I feel as if I didn’t play as well as I did on Wednesday. But it was an acceptable performance and I’m satisfied.
Original post
These aren’t public performances, so that’s a shame, but there is a fun story behind it. I broke my foot on April 23rd and my friend (and pianist) Frances Slade said she had lost her cellist and needed one. She and another cellist had worked up the Brahms e minor sonata but then the cellist had to drop out. When I ran into (or limped in – I had just broken my ankle) she asked me to play it with her.
So,… two days later, I got Covid so we had to wait for two weeks to get together, but we finally did and had a great time. THEN she asked me if I wanted to perform in the two spots she had been scheduled to play with her other cellist! I had performed it two years ago, and had been playing this piece since I was in college so I knew it well so I agreed to perform. It should be a challenging week with two performances but it should also be fun – I love performing!
And my foot is healing, thanks for asking.