I recently transferred a cassette to CD of a performance for a friend who gave a recital in our home. Since I had that set up, I decided to go through some of my old tapes to see what I could find.
I ended up with this recording in 1987 at Tanglewood. I was a personal assistant to Eiji Oue that summer and it was his. The majority of the concert had been taped over and this is what remained. He needed the tape for something else so I grabbed the dual cassette boom box given by my parents as an early college gift and dubbed away.
I remembered sitting last stand 2nds and Thomas Kolbe's bow unraveled during the Stravinsky. He handed it to the back of the section so I could go off stage to grab another as standard practice dictates. I didn't get that chance to so I sat there during the Planets encore, first Mars and then Jupiter. I was disappointed that I didn't get to play in the two last pieces we would ever perform as a group together. But later I realized that I really never had a chance to sit back and hear us play. The encore was incredibly charged and emotional and I had the best seat in the house.
And to top it off, Asadour came to me backstage after the concert and told me I had visitors. What? Fans? Here? On tour in a country I'd never been to in my whole life? It turned out to be my Mom's fellow Newton Public School colleague who was home for the summer and her and her husband made it to the concert. Wow!
Funny after 27 years, I clearly remember it like it was yesterday. But I guess that's what old people say, don't they? Ha!
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring - Part I. The Adoration of the Earth (excerpt) [2:30]
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring - Part II: The Sacrifice - Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One) [17:17]
