(This experience was three years ago, but it still resonates in my psyche! The performance happened in Brevard, NC, at the annual Brevard Music Center festival.)
Epiphany
I remember, years ago, being in Florence, Italy, standing in front of Boticelli's masterpiece The Birth of Venus. As I stood there, the sheer beauty of the huge renaissance work of art washed over me and blocked out every other sensory input to my brain. It was, literally, a breath- taking experience, transformative in impact, revealing the very nature of beauty itself. I was transfixed by the moment. This was an epiphany which revealed the unlimited potential of humankind: like seeing infinity, and realizing you are part of it, however small. I never thought I would ever have such an experience again. Tonight, though, I did.
The encore performed by Garrick Ohlsson on piano tonight at the Brevard Music Festival was the musical equivalent of that Florence epiphany. Claude Debussy's Claire de Lune was the vehicle. Debussy's work is arguably the iconic piano piece of classical music. Mr Ohlsson brought his prodigious technical skills and his unparalleled interpretive talents fully to bear during his performance under the full moon illuminating this summer's night, and the magic, only music (that most abstract expression of humanity) can bring, occurred for the length of the piece. The effect was almost palpable. The audience, captured by the art of music given form by a true master, held their collective breath as the total experience wafted over them, collectively swept up in that infinite moment of pure art, experience and consciousness. Succinctly, this performance was the best I've heard in my life. None better, ever, period. This experience changed the audience much for the better. What more could you possibly ask for as an artist? What more could you possibly ask for as an audience? His creation may be over in a temporal sense, but I, for one, will carry it with me for the rest of my days.
Bravo, Mr. Ohlsson! Bravo and thank you! This was a musical gift I will never forget. I wish all my friends could have been there to share such an encounter with the infinite.