Many Thanks are due to Charleston Southern and USC for two splendid venues for the first performances of "La Mer" in the transcription by Lucien Garban. Charleston Southern has been generous in inviting me, and this year we had a full house. I presented my new Piano Portrait "Debussy and the Sea", and I found the audience entirely receptive and involved. At USC I returned to the "September Concerts", still going after almost 35 years, first as the Fall festival I organized for 5 years, and then, in the same format, September Concerts since the early 1980's. Columbia audiences can be difficult to predict, but this series draws out the best in the concert going public. You can tell when you walk on stage that this is a very special atmosphere, and that has existed since the beginnings. I have decided to document the genesis of this unique festival, and place this with my papers in the USC Music Library.
As for "La Mer", the thing that struck me was the many comments about the power of this score, even in the smaller frame of a piano solo. It transcends the medium, and comes across as a musical drama on its own terms.
I was amused when leaving USC to see a tremendous storm approaching. Indeed, parts of the city had a terrifying hour of pounding rain and wind. Such is the peril of playing "La Mer"....don't mess with Mother Nature!
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