That’s an actual comment I received at our post-concert reception in St Cloud tonight. I admit it, I was touched — it’s a fantastic phrase, and I love that someone thought our performance was worth such a description. Tonight we played Reich Double Sextet and Gordon/Lang/Wolfe singing in the dead of night, and after the Reich I thought we’d totally lost the audience. It went well, but the reception, applause-wise, wasn’t hearty, so I was just thinking it wasn’t their cup of tea, what can we do? But then we came out for the second half and got laughter and attentive listening and gasps and everything else you want from audience feedback. It made for a good close to this visit to Minnesota: Susan, thanks for having us up here again!
Oh, and if anyone knows the wonderful woman who coined the title phrase, please let me know — I’d love to give her proper attribution.
There was one particularly unspectacular point in the evening. During one of the climactically crashing tutti entrances in the Wolfe, rather than enter with a perfectly in-tune A-C# double stop as was my intention, I decided it would be a great time to drop my bow. I was so flustered that I couldn’t remember any of the rest of the passage and it took me about 90 seconds to snap back into it. (Sidenote: I missed giving Tim a cue during that time, and he didn’t talk to me after the concert, I wonder if those two facts are related….) Anyway, the saddest part about all of this is that I was able to utilize a skill that I’d perfectly honed in the past, namely, the ability to catch my bow in mid-air right after dropping it, because I’VE DONE THIS BEFORE. From the eighth blackbird archives, I give you this tidbit from Norfolk 2001:
When in doubt, bend your knees and play louder….
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