Taos School of Music - Concert

Post date: Jul 27, 2015 4:08:22 AM

The double rainbow may have been a good sign as I walked to the Young Artists’ Concert of the Taos School of Music. Taos School of Music is one of the oldest and most respected summer chamber music programs in the country. Most of the performers were part of the concert two weeks ago, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Mendelssohn String Quartet from 1837 was played by the same faces, but in different grouping this time. Again they played very well together and gave a fine interpretation which had the audience on its feet at the end.

The group of students that played the Bartók seemed to have new faces (to me, at least). I can’t quite wrap my heart around this piece, even though I enjoy some Bartók. It was written at the time of World War I and had themes from Mongolia.

The final piece was a piano trio by Brahms, written in 1886 while he vacationed in the Alps. The middle movements were dreamy. The cellist for this group used in iPad on her music stand, as she did two weeks ago. First time I have seen this. (I wonder how they annotate the music on the iPad.)

My 15-minute walk home was in Seattle-style drizzle, accompanied by lightning all around the horizon, about 7 miles away. By the time I was home my shirt was wet, but not soaked. The gentle rain continues at 10 pm.

The faculty gives a concert next week. (Somehow I foolishly missed the faculty concert last week.)

I will confess that I spent all of yesterday reading The Martian, a nerdy novel about being left for dead on Mars, then being rescued after a year-and-a-half survival alone. I could not put it down.