Andy's at Fairmont Hotel--Four Bass Fiddles

It doesn't happen very often that four people who play string basses form a quartet and perform somewhere, and the fact that they are practically in my back yard is close to irrefutable proof that there is a God. The Pittsburgh Symphony Bass Quartet has formed itself and played tonight at Andy's in the Fairmont Hotel, downtown.

Two weeks ago Tonya, the jazz singer, announced at a gig at Hambones, that the Bass Quartet would be playing at Andy's, and I almost jumped out of my skin. My husband and I cleared our schedules and went to their performance tonight. The pieces were unique (perhaps contemporary?) combining their low, haunting tones and melodies with unexpected sounds, scratches, harmonics, and thwacks with the back of the bow. I felt like I grew an extra lobe to my brain because of the intricacies of the music. The first piece was "Oblivia." They played pieces by Prokofiev arranged by Aaron. Jeff and Aaron played duets. One bassist played Bach's Cello Suite Prelude (thank you!). There was an arrangement by John Moore and Andersen's arrangements of Wedding Music I and II with another piece included. As I listened I remembered the wonderful, rich sounds of my father's voice. Everything they played tonight resonates with me so much that I could easily use it as the soundtrack for my life. One of the musicians said in the middle ages "gambas" (bass string instruments) were used in church music because their low sound complemented the singers. Just gambas. Not much showcasing of basses since then, which emphasizes how unique this opportunity was.

Their performance also resonates with me because I am a high-functioning introvert who is often in the background. These world class bass players usually play a supporting role in symphony concerts, but now they could dance all over their strings and be fascinating by themselves. Let me say that again, tonight I was inches away from musicians who are in the smallest sliver of their top percentile IN THE WORLD, playing for the joy of it! And there is nothing I enjoy more than bass strings. If there is Karma, then I did something to make the Universe VERY HAPPY, therefore I got the opportunity to listen to the Pittsburgh Symphony Bass Quartet play for 3 hours tonight.

Four Bass Fiddles

Unbelievable! Four bass fiddles played for an hour at Heinz Hall tonight. I sat as still as I could and let the amazing, low vibrations sink into my bones. String arrangements written only for bass instruments are so rare, that after the quartet ran out, they played arrangements they had come up with themselves...even arranged during down time while on tour to spice up sound checks. The Barber of Seville on basses! Holy cow!

Season ticket holders were invited to come for a behind the scenes tour of Heinz Hall and a short concert and question and answer session. I think I just experienced something incredibly rare...chamber music with four basses. I doubt there are any recordings like that and I doubt there is anything I would like to hear more than that, so I tried to relax and absorb as much as possible. Answers to our questions were: Their fiddles cost as much as a small house or a really nice car. Most were made around 1850 or 1880; the "youngest" fiddle was made 1930. The musicians don't mind carrying them. If they have names for them, they won't tell you.

My thanks to the PSO organization for pulling together MY FAVORITE EVENING EVER!!! I'm trying to write a post that is intelligible, but inside I'm running around babbling incoherently: "OMG! OMG! It was fantastic! It was incredible! Holy cow! It was amazing! You should have seen it! OMG! OMG! OMG!"

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra "Big Bang"

You had me at hello, PSO! This was my first concert. I didn't know the conductor would lead everyone in the "Star Spangled Banner" as soon as he walked in. I got verklempt and couldn't sing. Then I could barely keep from laughing out loud when the audience jumped out of their seats at the beginning of Gandolfi's "Garden of Cosmic Speculation." It was an 8 minute piece covering the entire history of the universe, so it began with the big "Bang!" [sic] Thank you percussion section.

I knew the bang was coming. An hour before the performance I attended the lecture with the composer, Gandolfi, and assistant conductor, Thomas Hong, who told about his inspiration for the "Garden of Cosmic Speculation." Thomas Hong said next, to notice how the guest pianist for Pagnini's Rhapsody plays with tremendous power even though she is a very petite, Chinese woman. The inside scoop on Beethoven's 5th was that the conductor, Honeck, approached his preparation for the piece as if it were the first time. I was able to listen to it that way also.

The audience was very different from what I expected. Since I was there an hour early, I watched all the white haired patrons meander in and confidently decided that my husband and I will ALWAYS be the teenagers in this crowd. We still have peppered hair. The introvert in me was looking forward to my gallery being sparsely populated so I could sit by myself, but by 8pm it was standing room only and the overwhelming majority was people in their twenties and thirties. Clearly, to them the PSO (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) is a rock star because at the end of the 5th, a young man in the middle of the gallery stood up, punched both fists in the air and hollered, just hollered, and it seemed like the rest of the gallery went with him.

Oh        my        goodness  !  !  !

What if every symphony performance is like this all season? What if PSO fans give it the same loyalty and enthusiasm the Steeler fans do? I'm not going to bother with reality, right now. I'm going to sit here with "what if" for a while.

Pittsburgh Podcamp 2010

I went to support my husband then realized, as usual, Mr Carpetbagger stumbled on to a good thing. I changed my focus and dove into the deep end just for me. I met Amy, Andrea, Kathryn, Rob, The Comic Book Guys, James, Joe, Beth, Steve, Mr. & Mrs. Scarehouse/Etna, and Jennifer. I went to seminars about Podcasts, SEOs, and Twitter because I know nothing about them. I went to Secret Agent L because I knew I’d cry.

With no plan and no delay, my blog begins with this thought: Thai, Chinese societies, and others venerate age due to the preponderance of experience and wisdom. Perhaps our society doesn’t look to the older generation because our nutrition and lifestyles are so bad that the elderly are demented, and by default the best minds available ARE the young. I don’t want to leave the next generation of my family feeling like we all abdicated, so I’ve been working hard and gaining back ground I had lost the past few years. Short term memory has improved enough that in the last 2 months, the only memory lapses were the same struggles I had when I was younger. I credit this to invigorating co-workers, nutrition, ginkgo biloba, water, and walking 5 miles every day. I've reversed arthritis in wrists, neck, knees and shoulder. On Friday, I was able to jog with no patella pain. None.

Let’s all just sit here and be amazed for awhile.