A great part of our experience in Manhattan has been really digging down and finding events and restaurants and places that would never make it into the tour guides. It is a hit and miss affair with only a few whiffs. Sunday afternoon seemed like a bit of a long shot but it turned out to be a wonderful experience.
There is an older hotel, The Roger Smith Hotel, near here that hosts a classical guitar concert in their penthouse one Sunday a month. The admission is $15 but it includes a selection of wines and cheeses. The guitarist this month was a young man from Australia named Simon Powis.
You know it is vintage hotel when the penthouse is only on the 16th floor. Toni poked around a bit and determined that this was once a large single residence with some period fixtures in the restroom. I am sure it enjoyed wonderful views at one time but today it has been dwarfed by a forest of skyscrapers. It is a little like the Writer’s Place in Kansas City picked up and plopped on top of this old building.
There were only about 40 seats and we settled in with wine in hand and cheese and crackers on our laps. We looked over the program and recognized just two names, Bach and Segovia. By the time Simon came out the seats were nearly filled. He spoke briefly about each piece and jumped right in. The sounds he got from his guitar were incredible. There was no amplification whatsoever but he must have really been using great finger strength to pluck the strings to get such volume although it looked like he was merely touching them. I got the feeling we were the only non-musicians in the room because whenever he was playing everyone would lean in a little and concentrate with so much intensity that I was afraid of making any noise by even breathing. No one would stir one bit until the piece was completed. There were many stops and silent parts to each piece so I was sure to hold my applause until Simon would look up and smile. I have to admit that I was surprised at how moved I was by this…totally unexpected.
Between the wine and the music we were so relaxed that it was almost like getting a massage. I think that we both felt a bit hypnotized at times. There was a brief intermission and everyone recharged. Simon was I am sure exhausted. When he introduced the final piece he said that it was the most difficult of the program. He did not exaggerate. It was a bit like the finale of a fireworks display with all the stops pulled out. His fingers were up and down the guitar neck at a dizzying speed with complete stops at each position. It was blur, freeze, blur, freeze, blur, freeze, like a Jackie Chan fight scene. I often wonder how a musician’s brain works. It seems to me that it would be like writing two different papers simultaneously with each hand on a different typewriter.
This is not something I would want to do every day but was definitely a perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday late afternoon.
There is an older hotel, The Roger Smith Hotel, near here that hosts a classical guitar concert in their penthouse one Sunday a month. The admission is $15 but it includes a selection of wines and cheeses. The guitarist this month was a young man from Australia named Simon Powis.
You know it is vintage hotel when the penthouse is only on the 16th floor. Toni poked around a bit and determined that this was once a large single residence with some period fixtures in the restroom. I am sure it enjoyed wonderful views at one time but today it has been dwarfed by a forest of skyscrapers. It is a little like the Writer’s Place in Kansas City picked up and plopped on top of this old building.
There were only about 40 seats and we settled in with wine in hand and cheese and crackers on our laps. We looked over the program and recognized just two names, Bach and Segovia. By the time Simon came out the seats were nearly filled. He spoke briefly about each piece and jumped right in. The sounds he got from his guitar were incredible. There was no amplification whatsoever but he must have really been using great finger strength to pluck the strings to get such volume although it looked like he was merely touching them. I got the feeling we were the only non-musicians in the room because whenever he was playing everyone would lean in a little and concentrate with so much intensity that I was afraid of making any noise by even breathing. No one would stir one bit until the piece was completed. There were many stops and silent parts to each piece so I was sure to hold my applause until Simon would look up and smile. I have to admit that I was surprised at how moved I was by this…totally unexpected.
Between the wine and the music we were so relaxed that it was almost like getting a massage. I think that we both felt a bit hypnotized at times. There was a brief intermission and everyone recharged. Simon was I am sure exhausted. When he introduced the final piece he said that it was the most difficult of the program. He did not exaggerate. It was a bit like the finale of a fireworks display with all the stops pulled out. His fingers were up and down the guitar neck at a dizzying speed with complete stops at each position. It was blur, freeze, blur, freeze, blur, freeze, like a Jackie Chan fight scene. I often wonder how a musician’s brain works. It seems to me that it would be like writing two different papers simultaneously with each hand on a different typewriter.
This is not something I would want to do every day but was definitely a perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday late afternoon.
This video is at a hall at Yale (his alma mater), a bit less intimate but you get the idea.
What a great idea to create a blog for your year in NY. I'm looking forward to more of your blog posts if they promise to be as readable and interesting as this one. Vicarious thrills... that's what I get when reading about your adventures!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat. Those are kind words. I just added a video of his from a concert at Yale. There were times at this that I thought of Nate at Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteTake care.
I love this; I would have loved attending. I am somehow sad that he has replaced me as your favorite massage therapist ;-)
ReplyDelete