Mompou!

Last night a few other kids in the department and I went to this piano 'concert.' It was a bit funny because we were expecting some Cuban and Spanish piano solo stuff and it turned out to be like a 45 min talk about complete boring randomness and how anyone can go to grad school. I think the guy was trying to inspire the undergrad kids to go on for more schoolin'. After fighting off a nap for 45 minutes, the dude played some music for us.

It was awesome. I love to watch people that are really good at music play. More than that, I love to watch solo performances. A lot of the time the piano is the best to watch, too. So much of the time they play these complex pieces totally from memory, and when they are playing, they are so enveloped into the music. Mompou is a Spanish dude that is know for his delicate and intimate compositions. The guy playing was super awesome. His expressions as he played made it all the more better because he would have these expressions that made it seems as though he was as surprised as I was at where the music was taking him. He looking like he wasn't sure what to expect from moment to moment.

I guess that is how Mompou wanted his music to be. He wanted his intimate composition to be carried through each time it was played. He didn't put measures on his sheet music to tell the musician the time count because he wanted the music to be a bit more open and inviting each time it was played. There was some influence of Flamenco music mixed in as well, which is heavily influenced by improvisation - another thing that Mompou tried to retain. So, maybe the guy last night really was waiting moment to moment to see what would happen.

Either way, I think it is always interesting all of the different way that people are able to, or at least try to convey their life to those around them. Many of us (if you are like me at all!) struggle to convey everything that is going on inside and experientially to those around us that we want to share these things with. I love to see when people are able to do this successfully in whatever manner they find fitting - music, art, photography, writing, ect. Maybe this is one reason why I have a love/hate relationship with photography. I may have something in my mind, but am rarely, if ever, able to share that. The love is in the potential, the hate is in the failings and frustration. Maybe it takes more time than I give it, too......