Ed Pong
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Hi Steve,
There is an interesting twist to the recording of the Sollima Lamintatio..
It was planned to be the encore piece, however, Narek wanted to play another encore piece before the Sollima... the weather was starting to get warm in Toronto & Murphy's law would have it, concert day was the hottest day of the year.... I always turn off the AC to have silence so with 80 people in the room, by the end it was getting pretty warm... I saw Narek wiping his brow after every movement... he played the 1st encore Salut d'Amour & after a few bows... did not come out to play the Sollima.. I thought he was too hot & everyone moved out to the refreshments...
I asked Narek, "was it too hot to play the Sollima?" I was so looking forward to hear & record that.... for everyone! He said, "people stopped clapping, so I couldn't go out again.... Well, Narek told me if he was not a cellist, he would be a "footballer" There was a soccer final on & he said, "let me see how my team is doing.... if they're ahead... maybe I'll play it...."
Well, when his team won... he jumped up - with a second wind said "let's do it...!" 1/2 the people had left by then, so I rounded everyone up, to their surprise, & he played the Sollima that is on one of these tapes... the only small glitch, is I did not think to turn off the AC, which fortunately is very low level & not really an issue in the recording...
After this, we rushed to a lobsterfest king crab dinner & then off to the airport for his 10pm flight to his next concert....
WOW - a whirlwind few days with an amazing artist! I'm so happy to finally have him on tape.... the sound of the cello textures are incredible... he is definitely a "formula 1 driver..."
Ed
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