Up until mid-SEPTEMBER, following my eventful Workshop - a most enlightening experience (see last month's entry) - I had the chance of enjoying a well-earned holiday. But when the season started earlier than expected (yes… read on), on hindsight, it brought back that feeling of being "robbed" when the last morsel of your favourite dessert you'd saved for the last possible moment is taken from your plate, by your best friend (not for much longer, grrr!). In this instance, I had to let go of one last weekend of blissful quiet, combined with as much swimming as possible - good-bye to that luxury until next Summer! - before resuming life, in polluted big towns.

But late on the Friday, the "cancellation-voice" of my agent in London told me that due to an ear-infection, Andsnes was pulling out of two recitals back home - oh, irresistible temptation - in the Sala Säo Paulo, in my opinion South America's best concert-hall …would I be interested? Gosh, what about all the arrangements that precede departure from your holiday place, following a two-and-half months stay... "Details are unimportant and can easily be dealt with" said my encouraging husband, discarding my mundane worries…OK. Now, add a bit more challenge to the mixture (recipe for disaster?): I was to arrive on Monday at 5 o'clock am … and play the recital on that same evening …Of course I'll go, nothing to it! Actually, it means less time for jet-lag to set in! And what better chance to catch up with friends and family as well as being able to offer a program for once - hello, give me a break! -totally of one's choice? This one (see Concert Diary) also happened to fit like-a-glove the buoyant mood I had rapidly moved into! The surge of exhilaration brought by risky manouvres such as these, will never cease to amuse me!

And as usual, it all paid off - as I hoped it would: I had a wonderful time, playing beautiful music on a gorgeous instrument, in one of the nicest acoustics anywhere! And it looks so gorgeous, too! The short trip down was a joy, from the moment I was 'forced' to travel in style: the last available seat being in First Class - tough luck !
Thanks Mozarteum Brasileiro, and next time Master-Classes are also a must, OK!

Then it became a bit harder to function: the tight schedule meant that I barely had time to wash the dirties and re-pack them (a different wardrobe? You must be joking!) Once in Bucharest I was to meet up with the Prague Symphony - some players are also in the Wind Quintet - to play Rach 2 at the Enescu Festival. The conductor was L. Svarovsky (not the guy advertised), who turned out to be most supportive and competent! The process of gently getting under each musician's skin from the first note in rehearsal, is awesome. And when the performance comes we're all one big heart! …Great concert!

If one day I do all 5 Rachmaninov Concertos … how about it, Leos?

One sad note: having heard upon arrival, of the passing of an old friend and colleague - to whom I had played aged 10, in Bahia, and many years later, with whom I played Mozart's Double, at a celebration performance for his retirement from the University of Graz, the Czech-born but for many years Brazilian-based Sebastian Benda! As a personal hommage to the life of one of the most honest musicians I have known and admired, I played an encore: Villa-Lobos' heartfelt "Valsa da dor" … And for 4 minutes, solely Music could be heard in total communion of thoughts, by about 4000 + people in the Palatului … Only after this gesture could I literally breathe freely and get back … to normalcy! Will we meet again Sebastian, sometime, somewhere…?

To end the rather gruelling schedule of that month, I had to zip across the Atlantic once more, to get to Texas. Since becoming a Gold medalist at the '69 Van Cliburn Competition, Fort Worth has always felt like my 2nd home. Alann remains my hostess-par-excellence, more like a big sister … a hard-working, "catch-me-if-you-can" type of lady! Great though, that we still managed to have a couple of mutually-soul-cleansing chats, between a change of outfits, her running from meetings to hairdresser's, from luncheons to garden parties! What a life… My youngest daughter is just like her: their place is their wardrobe! Crazy.

(A paragraph of explanatory self-analysis).

My kind of pianism relies mainly on beauty of sound, depth and variety of colours. The only hope I have for expressing myself, as a pianist, is a 'tool' in good working order, better still, a piano specifically chosen for its abode! But failing either or both of these requirements, only 'duty' will remain … a situation I least want to associate with my music-making! For a long time now, I breathe and live Music …The joy of 'soaring into oblivion' through a perfectly balanced and rounded musical phrase is my privileged freedom! A bad piano will imprison me preventing any such luxury - and a 'trapped bird' is exactly how I felt, playing that recital! Never mind: the Fort Worthians are great fun and Bass Hall is lovely!

The next day, I was to "wear" the teacher's cap: some 6 hours of Master-Classes on Ponce, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Prokofiev, and … Liszt again (…gulp) played by 7 very talented pupils from the TCU. "Grilling", is how my students describe my lessons, at home … Hey guys, it wasn't that bad? I enjoyed it! And with 4 lovely Concert-Grands (two locations) I played to my heart's content (before, during and after the lessons) if only … to feel free again! Phew: bliss restored!

All over now and back home for a supposedly quiet month, when I will be preparing Beethoven 5, Schumann, Brahms 2, Gershwin and Schulhoff's Concerto to name but a few … that is, if nobody else "abdicates", in which case I will accede to the throne, ok, Richard? Not for real, you know? … (personal joke)."