Saturday, September 19, 2009

So much going on at once in a four-hand piece by Mozart! Each hand of each player is like a character in an opera.

One may be a king in full regalia, not supposed to let on that he is human despite moments when he is desperately torn between his feelings and proper decorum.

One is our hero, ready to take on all comers, but primarily in search of his beloved, who is concealed in there somewhere.

Then, of course, the beloved herself, perhaps the princess, under her own strictures regarding acceptable behavior, secretly dying to abandon home and princess-hood.

Ah yes, the wicked spirit hovering over all, casting spells, wreaking havoc.

Every note that each character plays is fraught with pushes and pulls like arguments with one's siblings. It is as if the note says "I want to go up!" while the sibling insists "You have to stay where you are!" Out of each minuscule fleeting conflict arises the power, the magic of the piece--time after time, in fact, perhaps even more so with every new hearing.