when I say that a performance like this "makes mere virtuosity seem commonplace" I meant this:
That she was not just expertly displaying a set of extremely polished skills with breathtaking vigor and ease: Her hands dancing on the strings with jaw-dropping mathematical precision, so that every half note, quarter note, eighth note and the tiniest of nuances in each off-note pluck, and each bow just so very slightly askew, is pronounced with clarity and finesse. The stark contrast between elongated ethereal passages like some magical lake you stumble upon in the woods, and fast, abrasive clusters of angular notes like lightning, was only a lesser thrill compared to their masterful integration. The richness of the bass tones and evasive slivers of resonant highs made compelling images at once seductively sensuous (in an otherworldly kind of way) and gave a distinct sense of sharpened apprehension which made the mind awake and the body alert: this is dangerous territory.
But it was more than all of that; this next bit might sound trite but I really do get the sense, while watching her knitted brow and closed eyes which were for sure seeing more clearly than the hundreds of open ones before her, that she was literally, directly, channeling the music from some distant part of the universe. A part access to which is denied to most.
frances-marie uitti, solo cello, played mid period works (mostly 60s) by Scelsi
That she was not just expertly displaying a set of extremely polished skills with breathtaking vigor and ease: Her hands dancing on the strings with jaw-dropping mathematical precision, so that every half note, quarter note, eighth note and the tiniest of nuances in each off-note pluck, and each bow just so very slightly askew, is pronounced with clarity and finesse. The stark contrast between elongated ethereal passages like some magical lake you stumble upon in the woods, and fast, abrasive clusters of angular notes like lightning, was only a lesser thrill compared to their masterful integration. The richness of the bass tones and evasive slivers of resonant highs made compelling images at once seductively sensuous (in an otherworldly kind of way) and gave a distinct sense of sharpened apprehension which made the mind awake and the body alert: this is dangerous territory.
But it was more than all of that; this next bit might sound trite but I really do get the sense, while watching her knitted brow and closed eyes which were for sure seeing more clearly than the hundreds of open ones before her, that she was literally, directly, channeling the music from some distant part of the universe. A part access to which is denied to most.
frances-marie uitti, solo cello, played mid period works (mostly 60s) by Scelsi