Formidable Fauré

I just got home. Literally, just walked through my door, and I have to savor this moment...I just saw a really fantastic concert at the Salle Pleyel, with the Orchestre de Paris, playing all FRENCH music by the master, Fauré.  It's really sad that I could have nearly forgotten how the sight of an orchestra makes me feel - WOW!  I almost cried.  About 3.4 times.  I did cry 1.5 times.  What an amazing performance - not to mention the chic-ness of the program.  Beginning with the Pavane, one of those pieces that you hear or play (especially on the flute) when you are learning to hold the instrument, followed by a piece originally for cello and piano - Elégie, which is stunningly set for cello and orchestra (I learned about this piece last semester - beautiful!), followed by two lesser-known Fauré pieces, which were marvelous. (Oh, have I mentioned yet that the choir of the Orchestre de Paris was also singing??? AH!)...The second half of the program was the Requiem, which was equally as great as the rest.  Only in Paris, in a concert hall full of French people, with a French orchestra, playing French music by one of the greatest French composers, could the concert manage to end successfully with the last movement of the Requiem, "In Paradisum," WITHOUT the orchestra doing an encore after ten whole minutes of clapping from the audience.  This is incredibly peaceful music!  And, oddly enough (it took me a while), I realized on my walk home that the opening of the Pavane and the end of "In Paradisum" sound slightly familiar with the arpeggiated passages...Fauré, you sly dog, you've done it again.  Not only did the music come full circle, but the French-ness of it all was out of control, for lack of more sophisticated vocabulary.

Indulge my nerdiness here.  For comparison, listen to the opening of the Pavane and the opening of "In Paradisum"...AH! SO GENIUS!

Anyway, it was a really incredible concert, and I just had to write these wafty words before I forgot...which, let's face it, I won't forget, but it's still too exciting to put off...

As a side note, I sat next to a very nice lady from Normandie who used to be a geography teacher.  The French continue to charm me!

I'll write later about other exciting things, but I wanted to make sure I got to write from Paradise while I am here...

Bonsoir,

Laura