1/20/2021 Musicale Notes by Tom Slavicek

Musicale - Wednesday, January 20, 2021

A beautiful winter's day in Georgia greeted our second Musicale for 2021. We had 6 participants today and we missed all others who could not be with us. A special moment of celebration for us is the birth of Shoko's second child, Emma, yesterday. Congratulations!

Our performers today brought a variety of "virtuosic" pieces composed by Chopin, Mozart and Schuman/Liszt. Before the music began each of us introduced ourselves to our newest member, Tim Anderson.

Judy Darst (living in Colorado) started us off with her interpretation of Rodrigo's (1901-1999) "Rustica" from 3 Spanish Dances. A charming short piece played wonderfully with expression and warmth. She followed it with Mozart (1756-1791) Sonata K330, 1st movement. She brought out the clarity of the piece, dynamics and maintained a light legato so much required of performers of Mozart's music.

Utako came next with Widmung by Schumann/Liszt (1810-1856/1811-1886). Another piece that was made technically virtuosic by Liszt's editing. A beautiful "romantic love song" interpreted with passion and feeling.

Tim Anderson is our newest member to the GMG family He is a retired Technologist with a music performance degree. He attended Wheaton Conservatory in Chicago and is currently living in Texas. He brought us Chopin's (1810-1849) Etude Op. 10 No. 4. One of Chopin's most difficult etudes (they're ALL difficult) Tim kept up a good tempo and brought out the tricky melodic line imbedded within the harmonics. Tim rendered a spirited performance.

Tom Slavicek