the d-man and me

It's been a little over four years since I fell in love with Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Major. I had already fallen in love with Dvorak's music as an eighth grader, having seen my childhood music hero Sarah Chang play the violin concerto in person, but something about this piece...the piano intro, the cello solo, the sudden surge of strings that propels the piece forward from there on — it tugged at my heart, and it was something I wasn't able to shake off for years to come.

Over the last three years at Penn, I kept pushing for this piece, but my sophomore year I got put into an octet, and then a string quartet my junior year, but somehow (praise God!), I threw out the suggestion and our string quartet was able to find a pianist and we dove right in this fall.

I have to admit, in the midst of busy-ness and general stressors this semester, being reunited with this piece wasn't quite as spectacular as I imagined it would be. The first movement alone is pretty long and it's very draining because we're playing at high energy levels throughout most of the piece. But as I was walking to rehearsal (our last for the semester already!) today, I was suddenly hit with a wave of remembrance — what the piece meant to me, how much fun I had that summer in Valdosta, GA, how I had the most ridiculous adolescent crush on the pianist for those brief 6 weeks, how it felt amazing to perform it and have people stop me in the dorm elevator to tell me how much they liked it; I played it the summer preceding my senior year, when I became disillusioned with the music world and left the various orchestras that I had poured my time and energy into over four years with a bittersweet heart (mostly bitter, unfortunately, but if I tried hard enough it became sweet).

And here I am, ready to play it again, trying to remember how much I loved loved loved music and loved the community with whom I shared not only the experiences of performing and practicing, but my heart (cheesy, yes. but stay with me now). I know I have a long week ahead, but I'm excited, and I'm hoping to make the best tribute I can to that time in my life and my favorite composer...everrr :)