It was another of those crazy weekends requiring me to shift gears quickly for the music at hand: A rehearsal with the Early Music Hawaii ladies for their dress rehearsal for “Triumph Against the Odds;” a concert with the Iolani School Chorus and Hokuloa Singers (John Alexander, director) in which I played a Mozart orchestral transcription (Missa Brevis); a last minute rehearsal at my apartment for the Early Music Hawaii concert on Saturday with Renaissance music by women composers, followed by the concert; and Sunday, Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai (Nikolaimesse) rehearsal with the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus. Plus, I am hosting my niece, Madelaine, for ten days in her first visit to Hawaii—we’ve been doing sightseeing in between all my rehearsals and concerts!
Friday, though, was a bittersweet moment for me, as I heard my late husband’s fortepiano for perhaps the first time since I sold it to local piano teacher, Mark Russell, after Carl died. Mark invited me to a run-through of a short program he was going to perform in his apartment—in fulfillment of the Silent Auction that was held to raise funds for the new pew chairs at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Mark offered a Fortepiano and Harpsichord recital with pupus by Rudy Riingen, and I was lucky enough to be part of a small group of six people who heard the preview on Friday (no pupus, though!)
What was so bittersweet about hearing Mark’s program on the fortepiano was that he played Mozart’s “Fantasy in D minor,” — a piece that I heard Carl practicing dozens of times when the fortepiano was still in our apartment. The fortepiano was built by Philip Belt in 1970, and was based on an instrument by Johan Dulcken (ca. 1785-90) now at the Smithsonian Institution. It was originally built for Else Geissmar, Carl’s college piano teacher, who when she retired, decided she didn’t want to play modern pianos anymore. We visited Else when my son was just an infant, and absolutely fell in love with the fortepiano. When she died, her daughter asked if we wanted it—Else had told us that she wanted Carl to have it as he was “the best student she ever had”—and so we had it shipped from Seattle.
The thing is, Carl used to drive me absolutely crazy when he practiced the fortepiano—and the Mozart D minor Fantasy was a piece he loved playing and practicing! I used to shut myself in the guest room and close the door so the sound was somewhat muffled. (I didn’t like hearing him practice because I thought he played too fast, and made mistakes instead of practicing s-l-o-w-l-y!) So when I heard the piece again on Friday, on the instrument that Carl used to practice, it left me with a tinge of sadness, knowing that he is no longer with us.
Mark’s other piece on the fortepiano was “Opening” by Philip Glass (b. 1937). He also played “First Prelude” by François Couperin (1668-1733); “La Volta” by William Byrd (1540-1623)’ “Ancient Capital (1986” by Isaac Nagao (b. 1938); and Edwin McLean’s “Sonata for Harpsichord (1991.” I really enjoyed listening to the Nagao piece, a contemporary Japanese piece played on the harpsichord. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a recording of it online.
I dashed up to the Lutheran Church for a final dress rehearsal for Saturday’s concert, then immediately had to switch gears to play two movements of Mozart’s Missa Brevis on the Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. Andrew’s Cathedral for Iolani School. Because it was an orchestral transcription, I worried about it endlessly—these transcriptions are soooo difficult! — but the concert went well, better than I expected. We ended the concert with Gilbert Martin’s setting of “When I survey the wondrous cross,” which went just fine.
Everything for Saturday’s “Triumph Against The Odds 2” for Early Music Hawaii also went well—it was a triumph for everyone involved, but especially for Naomi Castro, who has been the rock of EMH from the beginning. She has been involved as a choral singer, soloist, and now director—and we will miss her as she moves to Oregon to attend graduate school. In case you would like to see the program, click here.
After a whirlwind tour of downtown Honolulu (Iolani Palace, King Kamehameha statue, State Capitol, Washington Place, Kawaiaha’o Church, banyan trees, etc.) I drove around the island, showing my niece the Pali Lookout and stopping at Island Snow for shave ice (where President Obama always visits!) We then drove to Kualoa Ranch to see the island nicknamed Chinaman’s Hat, then drove through the Koolau Mountains via H-3 to Dole Plantation for a quick visit and then back to Ala Moana Center for a late lunch… in all, the 5-cent tour that we always give our visitors.
And then … I went to rehearsal at Chaminade University to rehearse the Joseph Haydn Missa Sancti Nicolai (Nicolaimesse) which I will perform with the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus (Tim Carney, director) on their tour to Austria and the Czech Republic. I did end up sightreading my part since I was only handed the music two minutes before the rehearsal began! Luckily, it was easy enough and entirely predictable!
