The Symphonic Wallflower

It is quite extraordinary how the human brain can tuck away memories into the subconscious, only to be triggered back to the surface later in life. When asked to write a blog about my experiences with Yo-Yo Ma in Louisville in May of 1999, I remembered only a few minor details about the evening. After all, my time with him and pianist Jeffrey Kahane ten years ago spanned a fraction of a day – a mere five hours, if that. My trigger for that evening was a picture of Yo-Yo and me at the post-concert reception that night, which rekindled my memory of the evening and yielded my blog entry on July 7 (see “A Heart of Gold” below).

On October 1, 2009, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Kahane reunited in Indianapolis for a one-night performance at the Hilbert Circle Theatre with the ISO, and what I witnessed will surely be remembered. Humanity in classical music presents itself in many different forms, but this time it was through something the audience rarely has the opportunity to witness in the performers onstage: Humor.

I collected both gentlemen at the hotel prior to the rehearsal. Though some guest artists of this caliber respectfully feign familiarity with management they have worked with in the past, I had a hard time believing that Yo-Yo didn’t remember me. It felt as if a day hadn’t gone by, apart from my extra ten pounds and Yo-Yo’s stylishly new glasses.   A few minutes after reacquainting ourselves, Jeffrey descended and gave Yo-Yo a hug.  It was at this point another memory triggered – I had forgotten the amazing friendship between these two men until they started laughing – and they laughed the entire way to the hall. Not just the obliging gentlemanly chuckle, but the boisterous, wheezing, gut-busting howling at each other’s jokes. Somehow, even Jeffrey’s hilarious description of the Cyclops in Homer’s Odyssey made Yo-Yo’s endless giggling explode into a high-pitched belly laugh. Both men could barely walk by the time we reached the theatre a few minutes later.

This brotherly friendship is equally as evident on the stage, though mutually understood in a purely musical realm. The respective communication between the two was intriguing to witness during the performance of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto. Jeffrey’s animated control of the orchestra and Yo-Yo’s exquisite mastery of the concerto produced a glorious response from the sold-out theatre, whose ranks were captivated by the encore, J.S. Bach’s Sarabande from the Sixth Cello Suite (the same movement Yo-Yo performed at Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral this past August).

What is remarkable is that though I have trouble remembering my own birthday without the help of my Facebook account, I will not forget laughing hysterically at the dynamic between Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Kahane and witnessing their amazing collaboration on stage for the second time in my life. Both have their own solo careers in cello and piano, respectively, and Jeffrey even manages to juggle his music directorships at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony simultaneously. But when these two musical brothers do have the opportunity to perform together, they shine, and the memory is unforgettable.