Back in November of '10 I ventured down to Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood to catch a concert at Galagpagos that included a piece of mine. In the process I got soaked thanks to the presence of lagoons and narrow unlit walkways (see my blog entry from Nov 2010 for a full description of my watery mishap).
Little did I knows last Thursday as I headed back to the same neighborhood, this time to hear Timo Andres play my Authentic Presence at Bargemusic, that I would get soaked again, only worse-- from head to toe! As I emerged from the High Street subway station, I was practically blown away by typhoon-like gusts and heavy rain. My little black umbrella was useless. Thunder and lightening was brilliantly violent. By the time I got to the restaurant where I was to meet my son Clem ,before the concert, I was completely soaked through, and water was sloshing around in my shoes.
At the concert "hall" (a barge floating woosilly in the harbor under the Brooklyn Bridge) I sat through two hours of brilliantly played pieces by young composers who had for the most part been my students at Yale. I was freezing from the effect of the cold air conditioning on my wet clothing, but I was warm inside because it was such a beautiful concert. As Timo worked his way thorough his program (besides me, pieces by himself, Cerrone, Cooper and Hearne --Boolah Boolah!) the heavens continued the show, sending down fusilades of lighting and thunder, and in the second half, actual fireworks erupted over the harbor. No one seemed to know what they were for.
The evening was full of surprises, and not just from the weather. After playing the last two notes of my piece, and letting them hang in the air for a few seconds before anyone could start clapping, Timo simply began playing Brahms's Intermezzo Op.119 No.1!
At fist I thoght, OMG, people are going to think I wrote this! But he played it so nonchalantly, yet restrained and smooth--just right you might say--that it seemed to make some sense and I sat back, relaxed and took it all in, including the water in my shoes and the flashes of lightening in the sky.
It was a truly memorable eveing and I'll probably never know what the fireworks were all about
