Robert Schumann: Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra op. 86; an excerpt from which
was performed by the Louisville Orchestra on April 4, 2014, at the Ogle Center.
Last evening, we attended the Louisville Orchestra's
"Nightlites: Portrait of Robert Schumann" at the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center, on the campus of IU Southeast. The musical selections chosen were meant to convey a flavor of the composer's various compositions, with explanations by the conductor.
Robert Schumann was one of the most talented and revered men of his time – a masterful composer, powerful critic, husband to gifted pianist Clara, and mentor to a young Johannes Brahms. Bob Bernhardt takes you inside Schumann’s complicated life, debilitating depression, and the music that continues to move us.
My thoughts, in no particular order:
I vaguely recall a Louisville Pops (or some such) appearance at a Louisville Redbirds baseball game in the mid-1980s at Fairgrounds Stadium. Bernhardt was conducting then, and last night's concert quite possibly is the first time I've seen him since. He is a wonderful narrator; who can resist the linkage between a composer who died 150 years ago and Oprah Winfrey? Among Bernhardt's musings: Had Prozac existed in the 1840s, would we have any of this music today? I often wonder the same about the origins of the artistic instinct and the more mysterious recesses of the human mind.
In terms of Southern Indiana, the Ogle Center remains a hidden gem. The same must be said, and apparently regularly, about the campus of IU Southeast and the Purdue tech center, a short distance away. In my book -- given that I actually read -- two institutions of higher learning trump the Amazon fulfillment center in doltard Kerry Stemler's River Ridge oligarchy masturbation zone. It's too bad that seemingly not a planner or politician exists who can grasp that linking our thinking generators on the north side with a revitalizing downtown is an absolute priority. Instead, we deforest, offer political paybacks, and in general, underachieve ... perhaps because too few of them ever read books.
Lastly, as the four horn players were brought to the front of the orchestra to perform their part of Schumann's Konzertstück for Four Horns, Bernhardt observed that horn players come equipped with towels and the frequent need to unburden their instruments of condensation in the form of human spittle. The principal horn player agreed and demonstrated the process, removing the u-shaped section, blowing into the mouthpiece, and spraying the ground.
We had a very good view of all this from the second row, and it didn't offend me, as I played trumpet briefly as a child, before learning that one actually was compelled to practice to play successfully. What was truly funny was the horn player's comment, glancing down at the puddle: "Tomorrow morning, this might be New Albanian Hoptimus."
It is the first time Hoptimus has been mistaken for
Chicha, and gives me a valuable seasonal beer idea. In fact, a Chicha Horn might become the next trendy fermentation vessel.
We have resolved to subscribe to next season's slate of Louisville Orchestra appearances at the Ogle Center. If classical music isn't your thing, check out the
Ogle Center web site, and see what is.
