amazing hall
poets of the piano arrived in Fayetteville, hosted by the Butterfield Trail Village, a pretty upscale home with this brand new recital hall / grand piano combination. the piano is about a B size.
on a personal note the Village is home to the lovely lady pictured here, whose daughter was a long time co-worker of my mother and also our neighbor back in the halcyon Cleveland Heights days. she saw my name and came to the concert., it was a real feel-good moment.
also pictured is my former classmate and friend Er-Gene Kahng, a violin professor at University of Arkansas who made a splash with her recording of undiscovered violin concertos of Florence Price, an African-American woman composer of the first half of the 1900’s. Price’s music is more well known in the church world, as she made several arrangements of spirituals as well as having written some organ music. but the classical concert world has largely passed her by, at least until now.
the world surrounding Price is gone but her music remains, like so many others, waiting for someone to hear it. it reminds me of this quote from the great Polish harpsichordist/pianist Wanda Landowska, “Music grows old only if it is neglected – like a woman who is no longer loved. Take an interest in her, and she will become young again.”