when you talk music

one of the nice things about working in a music-related industry is that i get to go to a lot of free concerts. (don't get excited, i'm not talking about fancy famous rock bands, i mean jazz and musical theater and classical. although if that's your thing, please get excited.) one of my very good friends works with the american classical orchestra, and she offered us tickets to "levin & mozart", an evening featuring robert levin on pianoforte. i went tonight with aa, and yes, the mozart was great, and beethoven's pastorale symphony no. 6 was really fantastic.

but the absolute best thing was levin's improvisation. he asked audience members to write out two measures during intermission, and then he picked four to play and improvise with (in the style of mozart.) he then explored this incredible piece created from almost nothing. when the improvisation exercise was first described, i pictured a kind of halting exercise, him just goofing around. you know how people talk about music as another language? i'd never really understood that until tonight. he played music with the same ease that i tell a story or make conversation, picking up on patterns and themes, exploring tangents while remaining true to the original point. it was amazing to hear someone play such beautiful, complicated music off the top of his head. (and yes, i recognize that this is what jazz is, and i understand that as a language, but classical music has such strict connotations that i had never experienced this before.)

i am thankful i was able to go.

(the title is a reference to one of my most favorite podcasts from this american life. give it a listen, it's really great.)