Dear Angela,
Mission accomplished!
Your marvellous performance this week as part of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's gift to Montreal of Messiaen's "Turangalila" was a joy to hear. It took a few minutes for my ears to acclimatize themselves to this rarely heard language, but when they did, wow! Messiaen's enormous thirst for new sounds saying new things thrust aside any reservations I might have had, and what a world he and all the musicians invited us into. Lush and robust and throbbing with a sense of the sheer joy of the interconnectness (is that a word?) of all creation -- what a beautiful world you all presented!
There was a moment in the piano part where you were challenged to play an impossibly long two handed trill, delicately throughout, and I watched and listened, dreading any loss in synchronization or momentum yet believing at least one of these to be inevitable -- such was the tremendous length of that double trill -- but no, out you came at the other end, speed and delicacy intact as the trill simply wafted easily up and into the ether. And your arms had not fallen off! For that beautiful trill alone, I thank you!
Please do alert us to when the concert will be broadcast. I, for one, will be listening.
Thank you again, and sincere best wishes,
Margaret Hofmann