A piano recital was held last Saturday in the Los Medanos College Recital Hall. Music instructor Katherine Thompson performed with her husband Eric Thompson. The title of the concert was “Piano Duo Polyhymnia” and was solely two pianists. The steady flow of music and timing was impressive in the continuity. Teamwork between the two was shown by complimenting each other in sync.
It was shown in the first section when both were playing on a single piano, their arms were crossing as they continue to play. This showed a lot of focus and precision. The first selection was six short pieces played consecutively from Debussy, which was titled “Six Epigraphes Antiques” The following selection was “Polonaise” by Chopin, performed by Eric Thompson.
Eric explained how polonaise is a Polish folk dance, and that Chopin does the most best version of it. He explained how it goes from the folk dance to a marching sound for two pages and goes back into the polonaise, a “two for one” said Mr. Thompson.
The third selection was performed by Katherine Thompson, titled “Ballade No.2” composed by Chopin as well. Katherine explained how this piece goes from dreamy to nightmare-like, and it is up to the listener to decide which side wins. This piece was interesting as it sounds like a battle going back and forth. Both Katherine and Eric played the fourth selection on separate pianos.
A piece composed of three songs by Mozart was per- formed. Eric Thompson explained how one of the songs from the selection titled “andante” is used in psychology to stimulate plant growth and human cognitive capabilities. The music and lighting were soothing, making it easy to focus in. Raw talent was featured to the audience, through two people creating beautiful music that sounds almost unreal.
It’s rare to find so much talent shown in such a short period of time. Pages of music continuously flowed out without hiccups or misses, like a music box almost non-human in the precision of its sound. Just the focus of the pianists was amazing, how they can continue to precisely hit the keys in the right combination for such a length of time.
It was evident that the skill of these pianists was high and that the performance was something special. Even for someone who does not listen to classical music, I would imagine it hard to not enjoy the performance. One has to tip their hat. There is nothing that comes to mind in lack of performance, while I am no music critic I believe it was near flawless.
There were about 20 spectators in attendance, the performance felt personal even in a big hall. The hands of the performers were moving in a mechanical fashion, creating seemingly perfect tunes. The skill shown here com- pared to that of a rock concert is more obvious. It’s inspiring to see, definitely something to work towards.