At the end of April I had to make my way from London to Brasília, a trip which turned out one of the longest ever: first a long flight to São Paulo, with a lay-over of some 4 hours, before continuing on the domestic route… It was the first time I had disembarked with luggage, but not at the location of my concert. Finally arriving exhausted at that final destination and not finding a soul waiting for me, something went wrong with the pick-up. On long-haul trips, the artist should not have to worry about local transportation and is usually escorted to/from hotels and halls. As a matter of interest: by refusing to be available “on demand”, any such indispensable gadgets as mobile phones that I own are as a rule turned off until an emergency occurs: so it was I had to use my British mobile to ring my agent in São Paulo (through Europe) to report on what was going on. As I waited, and waited … the skies opened quite dramatically for a very heavy downpour which reminded me of the “white rains” of the Amazon, where one sees nothing but a white sheet of water almost like a cascade! When at last someone materialized to take me to the hotel the sun had come back: no need to worry about not having the right clothes…

You’d expect that my two pre-requests for accommodation: a smoke-free room plus a bath-tub -- would have been taken care of? No. The thought of looking for another hotel at the end of such a marathon of a journey was unbearable. Although to start with, it seemed the hotel could not find me an ideal solution, I managed to convince the young assistant-manageress on duty after a long desperate while, who sent me to view the only two or three available alternatives; by then nothing but a bubbly hot bath would soothe my ‘dented’ being, that indispensable item won over… room space and street noise!

A hidden world, to most . The choice of performing a concerto like Prokofiev # 3 – or Brahms # 2-- with an orchestra not familiar with it is not a good recipe for ease during rehearsals. Many conductors think that because they know a piece, that is enough to go by: wrong. Lack of preparation can only cause unnecessary tension … Of course it depends totally on how each person works! If the ensuing result, thanks to experience and mostly good nerves, does not suggest anything has happened, who cares? In that case only any future rapport between that artist and another conductor will suffer. Unfortunately it happens only too often! And in my case it simply ends up in … “again?!”

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Brasilia ’s audience is extremely young; therefore, following that most exciting of Concertos, enthusiastically they just about growled for more! So much so, that we repeated half the 3 rd movement. Then as a second encore, I opted for a gentle Chopin Nocturne.

On the last evening in the capital, some orchestra musicians invited me for a relaxed evening –whoever could play anything did: we had all sort of musical samples: forrós, tangos, sambas. I mainly leave it to others to do this sort of thing, so when my friend flautist Ariadne, suggested that we do the Franck Sonata on-the-spot, I obliged. Later on Antoine her handsome ‘ex’ accompanied with Bass a young man who proceeded to play a ‘mean’ jazz… I admit that being quite a party girl by nature, I don’t need much to have a good time. So with a few shots of what has become the Brazilian national drink: caipirinha* (see footnote) -- lethal but delicious -- let’s say that I had a …great evening!

Fairy story.

Firstly let me mention that I never believed that “fairy god-parents” existed in real life! Well I was wrong. A very special and classy soirée was in store for me in São Paulo. As part of a birthday party forhis lively and bubbly wife, Eliane, Paulo (amateur pianist of incredible prowess ) and I, had planned a recital to inaugurate the new acquisition to their gorgeous apartment: a Fazioli Concert-Grand, the very 1 st in Brazil!

No doubt in my mind that the Fazioli is a wonderful instrument, but this particular one, arrived perfectly ready for performances, all round and warmly-toned, possessing the clearest of basses plus a top register of diamond-like brilliance. Apart from the fact that it was hand-picked by Paulo, with the expert help of Paolo Fazioli himself, a personal friend of many years, it felt like the “cherry on the icing”.

Other pianists who were present, could only mouth-wateringly ‘beg for more’, after trying themselves the beauty! By all counts, an unforgettable evening was had by all the 90 + present: the house sparkled with ambiance; catering was immaculately provided; there were Princesses, Counts, plus the nicest of music-lovers one can expect to meet. I must mention here that the cake that had been commissioned for the joint occasion of birthday + inauguration was … hilarious -- v. Picture Gallery, soon.

I presume anyone would understand the pleasure for someone like me, living this most solitary of lives, that being a guest of such people, filled with never-ending enthusiasm, joie-de-vivre, generosity and personal warmth. Eliane’s charm and imagination plus Paulo’s extreme wit make them great fun to be with: knowing them is a chapter indelibly remaining engraved on my mind and heart.

I had happily accepted to play another concert with the Banda Sinfônica. This time on the stands was Ravel’s Concerto in G, transcribed especially for the occasion (unlike last year’s transcription of the Rachmaninov # 2, which had been written in the 50 or 60s by an American. Rocha, the very capable conductor in charge had indeed provided a harp (my first concern) and after some wonderfully comprehensive work, so that it was another unbelievable experience, the way those unassuming musicians become real partners in my quest for excellence! “Genial, Abel!”

The cor anglais player, really understood how to deal with the phrasing – my compulsive way of working personally with the player of important solos (even calling her for a last-reminder, 10 minutes prior to the performance) paid-off, making the performance a perfectly cohesive interpretation of it! Awesome: even the audience captured the sheer beauty of the exercise, vocally asking for a repeat of that unequalled slow movement. “Parabéns e obrigada, Rosana.”

Next I was off to the adopted hometown of my childhood, beautiful Rio de Janeiro, which I really miss most of all, having lived abroad all my life! As well as that, I so looked forward to working with Minczuk, the new all powerful big-shot of Rio’s musical world and what a pleasure to discover, not only a charming man but also real and hard-working musician striving to get the best results from the orchestra-in-hand properly preparing the accompaniment to a Concerto as if it was his show-off Symphony! “Fabulous job: obrigada, Roberto!”

The possibility of a week-off (in another idyllic property belonging to my fairy-god-parents, whose generosity knows no limit) with my husband, who came all the way from Europe, plus the gentle company of “brother n° 4”, Joel and his delightful Marília, was a rare treat in this crazy life of mine! “Obrigada mil vezes, Eliane e Paulo!”

From there I went to Salvador - my actual hometown - where I was to perform the last concert of this trip: Brahms’ “little” … 2 nd Piano Concerto.

It was good to perform again in the Teatro Castro Alves, and spend some time with old faithful friends but most of all to find that the Steinway -- chosen by me some 11 years ago in Hamburg-- was in very good conditions: and that made my day! Sadly it’s quite common mainly due to ignorance from lack of information/knowledge of Hall managers that these rather expensive instruments (around £90,000+) are left to deteriorate in less than ideal conditions: extreme changes of temperature, worst yet without any constant or competent maintenance by highly trained technicians: people assume that all that is needed by the instrument is the occasional tuning (so-so) for a performance…

As far as reporting on that evening is concerned, let’s just say that the 1 st half recital – a fashion in Brazil these days -- played on ‘my’ gorgeous Steinway, remains the highlight of that concert. For a Concerto like Brahms 2 in my opinion can only ‘happen’ if there is total commitment from people completely on top form at the best of their abilities, whatever that is!

Next day I flew back to Europe for all of six days before unexpectedly having to go back ... to São Paulo! I’ll explain next month.

* My favourite drink: lemon juice, brown sugar, plenty of crushed ice + cachaça.