mesmerizing Liszt, masterful Romero

yesterday i saw one of the best piano concerts
i've seen in my life!
a selection of Franz Liszt works by pianist Gustavo Romero

[i have a life-long love relationship with classical piano playing
i started studying classical piano, fortuitously, almost not by choice
at age 8... one day i was very sick and my mom thought
i needed something to cheer me up
3 houses from mine in Mexico City, there was a small piano study,
Ludwig Van Beethoven, was called and Dolores Solís Amezcua
was my teacher for many years to come...
but back to Liszt and Gustavo Romero]

so yesterday my mom and I, along with our friends
M & J Conner, we were able to attend to one of the
4 concerts series organized by
La Jolla Athenaeum commemorating the bicentenary
of the birth of Franz Liszt



the selection of Liszt pieces varied from the romanticism
and beautifully spaced pieces that Liszt composed
to the incredibly hard and complicated compositions
that made of Liszt so well know for his technically advanced
almost impossible to play pieces, such as the Hungarian Rhapsodies

the complete program for Sunday, July 24, 4 PM

Cantique d'amour (S.173/10)
Andante lagrimoso (S.173/9)
Invocation (S.173/1)
Funérailles (S.173/7)
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6
----
Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (S.161/4)
Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (S.161/5)
Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (S.161/6)
Harmonies du soir (S.139/11)
Spozalizio (S.161/1)
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 "Rákóczi March"

more than ever, now I know why Liszt is considered one
of the greatest pianist of all times, and why Gustavo Romero
is considered one of the best piano interpreters alive
his interpretation is just stellar! technically superb
while soulful and introspective
I am lucky to have seen him play!

the opening piece, Cantique d’amour, brought back such emotions
and memories of piano playing to my heart that literally
brought me to tears... thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoqJ46ljjVI

you can read yesterday's notes here
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/musicfest.html#three


Gustavo Romero photographed outside The Neurosciences Institute


my mom, yesterday outside the Neurosciences Institute too


another view

Liszt and Romero, what a pair!

I had tickets for only 1 of the 4 concerts
but I think I am repeating next week...
last week Romero played a selection of obscure Liszt piece
that sadly i missed, but next week's closing series
sounds rather promising, includes the famous Liebesträume No. 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebestr%C3%A4ume

it's that amazing
if you live in San Diego, you must attend to at least one
of this concerts of the summer series, last year was Chopin
and before Beethoven, Mozart, Hayden and Mendelssohn
i think i just found out what to do every summer around here

a list of past Athenaeum Summer Festivals by year

1999 Chopin
2000 Bach
2001 Beethoven
2002 Beethoven
2003 Mozart
2004 Mozart
2005 Schubert
2006 Schumann
2007 Brahms
2008 Ten Years, Seven Composers, One Pianist
2009 Haydn and Mendelssohn
2010 Frédéric François Chopin
2011 Franz Liszt

I wonder who will be interpreted next year?

by the way, these were our seats
apart from being able to see exquisite Romero's hands playing
we could hear him breath...