A Trip to Argentina

Encounter

I met Martha Argerich when we played together in both Tokyo and Kobe at the Save the Argentina/Food for Children Charity Concert.
Although we both lived in Brussels, we never had the opportunity to meet, nor did I have courage to try to contact her. One day in May, out of the blue, she phoned me. "Could you possibly perform with me in Logan, because a friend of mine, Dora Schwarzberg has suddenly become ill?" asked she. "I would be delighted!" was my reply. Eventually, Dora recovered after five days and as I was tied up with my final exams at the Conservatoire in June, I ended up not going to Logan.

I must admit I cannot resist to her occasional question, "Comment ca va la vie?" (How are these days?) It is with superb timing, totally charming, and broad-minded. Her "Comment ca va la vie?" seems to penetrate to the very core of my mind. It also makes me feel like letting my heart out to her. Well, we do actually talk a lot together.

Schuman's Sonata

I never dreamt that I would be performing with her the following year. Moreover we performed Schuman's Sonata No.1 together! To me, Schuman's music is intimate, full of affection, and the heavenly beauty in this piece is worth spending every effort to overcome all the technical difficulties, if ever one can achieve it. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of passages that are not easy for the violinist to make the music sound clear in both tone and technique.
It is more so in the violin concerto he composed in his later years. Even his famous piano quintet, the piano trio, which Casals/Thibaud/Cortot loved (and even me!), and the string quartets that were often played by the Casals Hall Quartet are all pieces that are difficult to have a clear and bright sound, but, maybe this difficulty makes subtle highlights in the music even more beautiful and warm.

I was deeply moved when Martha said "Let's play Schumann's Sonata No.1", without knowing my strong passion for Schumann. I had a feeling that she understood where I came from and did not want to perform with me on a superficial manner.

Concerts

Our performances were a success in both Tokyo and Kobe. So far, I paid more attention on structuring music but her performance was completely the opposite.

I must admit it was a thrilling experience. If there are ebbing tides, there must be surfing tides. When these waves find each other, there is a sense of unity which is incredibly agreeable that is beyond description. I felt as if I was playing by myself. She responded to and listened to the subtlest feelings I had in me. It was a time of supreme bliss to be able to play with her heavenly and beautiful sound.

Argentina

It is rare to find a person who makes me feel that time is eternal. We stayed in a hotel called Liaoliao, in Patagonia, Argentina. The hotel has superb scenery as if the Alps and the sea were put together. In the middle of the night Martha and I chatted in the corridor with an extremely high ceiling. Other than her fantastic performance, she is such a precious person to me - someone I can share our off time together.

When she invited me to visit Argentina for the first time, it took twelve hours from Paris. It was just like traveling to Japan. Paris was autumn in October, whereas Argentina was early spring - the seasons were opposite. Somehow I had intimate feelings when I arrived in Argentina in the bright sunshine.

There was a nostalgic feeling when I drove through roads from airport to the hotel, although they were all new to me. In retrospect, it was an introduction to my later experiences I shared with its people who had a mutual, considerate, and fast way of showing their feelings to me.

I checked into the hotel and glanced at the ten lane boulevard and the backside of the apartments with plants and laundry hanging and I could see inside the kitchens. I headed to the Teatro Colon without a break because the orchestra was waiting to rehearse. I went through back door and went up and down the stairs many times as these opera houses were often built this way. "Where is the rehearsal room?" "In the corridor on the right." It was puzzling.


Of course it was a corridor that was big enough to fit the whole orchestra. The orchestra was already practicing. Everything was so big including the marble staircase and the high ceiling. An opera was performing in the big theater next to the opera house but not a sound came through when we were practicing because the all the doors and curtains were shut.

Later, I noticed that children kept coming to this corridor. At first I thought they were on a field trip but then they started sitting in the corridor, laughing joyfully. I wondered what they were doing and went around the corner in the corridor.



Real Music Education

Two performers, wearing proper opera costumes, were seriously playing a scene of The Marriage of Figaro accompanied by an upright piano. The children with sparking eyes watched the performance just a meter away from of them. After a while, the performers talked about the story line. "What do you think will happen next?" "The person who hides himself is really someone different." "A criminal?" "No, I don't think so". All sorts of speculations flew back and forth. The performers continued to sing beautiful songs by Mozart. "The story is like this". "I got it". The children looked pleased and happy. This to me was the ultimate music education. This is the way to offer children real musical education without pushing them too far and keeping within all courtesy. Not too long but kept within the limits of the children's concentration. When their interest in opera initiated, they were moved to the real theater that is next to the corridor. They were seated on the second floor behind a thick Bordeaux colored velvet curtain, sat quietly, and listened. They left with no one realizing that over thirty children came in and out. Once they were outside, they stared running shouting with joy under the deep blue sky. They were just ordinary children.

How natural it was.
How ordinary it was.

I really came to like the Argentine people. The performance by Martha and Nelson Freire, who was visiting at the time, was really marvelous. They played Etudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninoff. Their duet sounded like a series of shining sounds from a jewelry box that was completely new to me. I told myself that I came all the way to Argentina to listen to this music. The piano concerto by Grieg that Nelson Freire played was just superb. I sneaked into his rehearsal. Hardly any one was there. He was enjoying himself thoroughly. His music was natural without being pretentious but was moving. Possibly this was because it was a rehearsal. I had the opportunity to chat with him later. He said live performances are nerve wreaking, depriving performers from relaxing. Rehearsals can bring out the best of the performer. I agree with him. A life in music is ongoing.

The audience was accommodating. After the concert Martha and her friends enjoyed being away from the concert hall and talked to their hearts content. There were friends, musicians, and various other personalities. Night slowly turned to day in the warm spring wind.


Youth Orchestra in Venezuela

I was with Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan pianist, in Argentina. She debuted in New York with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maazel. She is a mother with two children. She is also regularly goes to "The project, Martha Argerich" in Logan. I have performed Dvorak's piano quartet and other pieces with her. A German friend of hers, a business person, who has lived in Caracas for a long time, said that the Venezuela Youth Orchestra is presently the best in the world. Apparently they received a standing ovation when they gave a guest performance at The Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Simon Rattle, the current conductor at Berlin Philharmonic, who was there made a speech saying that"They have done something which von Karajan, Abbado and I could not have done".

Of course, this was not an overnight success. The story goes back to thirty years ago when a project with a slogan "Let's build a musical society" was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. They invited main players in Berlin Philharmonic every month to train the orchestra. The level of the Academy, now spreading throughout the country, is outstanding as is the interest the people are showing to music. On the flight back to Europe, I had the opportunity to listen to their Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on my Lufthansa flight. On top of their integrity and high technical standard, they have vigor and energy. Their music was over flowing. I thought this was real. The commentator said that the 19th century was dominated by European musicians, the 20th century was dominated by the Russians and the Eastern European musicians, and now the 21st century, for the first time, may be for the South American musicians.

At Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, there are lectures in the corridor with a considerate audience filling the theater day and night. We should not forget a primitive way of communication such as making eye contact after banging on the hotel door, especially during the days before faxes, e-mails and the telephone. In restaurants, the waiters are quick and natural. Although the roads are full of air pollution, street performers appear quickly to show their performance during the brief period between road signals. I would often take more than ten minutes to cross the ten lane boulevard, because I would take a break in the middle of the street to enjoy their performance. The people may be poor but they are warm and sincere. I felt cold when I came back to Brussels, Europe, not only because of the November climate, but also because the European people can sometimes be cold and superficial.