PPI – the place where happiness happens
Pick your acronym: Peace, Passion and Imagination? (Or Perfect Presence of an Italian)?
Dear friends of PPI
This week’s newsletter comes from a place of strange complexity. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that the world right now feels particularly weird (and not in the nice “Portland weird” way). And yet. We’re on the road with Filippo Gorini, and if one thing stands out to me with the luminosity of the Luxor lamp, it’s that sincere and genuine musicianship can connect, uplift and embolden us, no matter the circumstance. It always has – and with artists like ours continuing to work in the world, it always will!
Pick your favorite iteration of our acronym, and whether you land on Peace, Puppies and Ice-creams, Pause, Passion and Imagination or Perfect Presentation of an Italian, the takeaway from today’s communication should be: Life is better with PPI. This is where happiness is served, one recital at a time. This is where you hit the “pause” button and escape the world.
Filippo’s program (played on Tuesday night to an enraptured audience at the University of Oregon’s Beall Hall, to be repeated in various iterations in various locations) has at its core Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, a piece I’ve heard played many times but never connected quite so poignantly to its message. In roughly 40 minutes of music, Schumann grapples with the place of art and the artist in a world of fears and superficialities. Although he’s not dealing with a political war, he’s operating from a place of serious personal conflict and struggle – battling (from the position of a small, singular prophet of integrity and right action, the metaphorical David) ever-present demons (both real and imaginary) that seem brutish, enormous, stifling. Tellingly, (and here’s the lifeline we’re dangling!) he’s not fighting with swords and spears and shields, but with song, sincerity, quiet reflection and humor! Look at the titles of the movements: Three mentions of “mit Humor” (with humor, in a lighthearted way); “Wild und lustig” (wildly and merrily), “Zart und singend” (tender and singing).
If you crave goodness, seek joy, ache for the real, we’ve got the next few weeks all figured out for you.
1) Come hear Filippo as often as you possibly can. His March 22nd recital is the “main event” – but the more you get to hear this singularly gifted pianist, the deeper you will feel his artistry.
2) Plan on attending our fundraising gala on April 12th! Your generosity is what makes all of our work possible, and we want to be sure you experience how fully we embrace being “wild und lustig” when we’re not organizing recitals!
3) Learn more about Filippo’s Sonata for 7 Cities project and listen to the just-released recording of his Vienna residency here. A Portland CD will follow in due course, of course!
4) Please play the second round of Piano Madness – enter the Elite Eight! (Can you believe that Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” upstaged Schumann’s “Träumerei”?!)
5) Tune in to Thursdays@Three this afternoon at 3 pm Pacific Time to hear Filippo in your living room, thanks to our wonderful colleagues at All Classical.
Perfect Plans, Indefinitely! Piano Protects Imagination. Pronto.
Love everything PPI? Share our newsletter with your friends and family or have them sign up here:
