OPEN WIDE. Lyn Brakeman, blog post, Hartford Symphony Orchestra Concert

Have you ever seen a grand piano miked up—that is with its lid wide open and not one but two microphones hanging down suspended from somewhere high above the vulnerable open-lidded piano?

It almost reminded me of being at the dentist, all bibbed up and feeling apprehensive about the little tray of sharp picks and tools you have spied. Any minute now, the dentist will approach at your right, lean in with a smile, and say OPEN WIDE. 

I do because I’m a good girl. A treat awaits me for good behavior. At the dentist in NYC where I grew up that meant a brand new tooth brush in a small bag accompanied by a small tube of toothpaste, tied with red ribbon and, of course a good mother who I know will take me to the nearby Schraffts for a sweet treat.

This is self-defeating of course but a ritual to be admired. So it was with the Hartford Symphony concert on April 12, 2024. BUT here the treat paid off! 

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First, we heard the pre-concert talk, organized and offered by Carolyn Kuan, the Music Director. She is personable, fun and smart. Usually there is some history about the players, soloists, and composers, yet it’s not heady. If there is a concerto featuring one of the instruments or its soloist that player is invited to the stage to talk about her or his instrument. One I most remember of course is the tuba, and what I remember about that is how very heavy a tuba is, how little it is featured in most pieces, and that the player sometimes polishes it, raising a shine bright enough to reflect his own grinning face. If the tubist were a woman I imagine she could put on a fresh coat of mascara and grin. The line between beauty and vanity is never absolutely clear anyway! And the tuba is always part of a symphony orchestra.

*  * *  *

But back to the yawning piano, all primped and ready for pianist and composer, Brazil-American, Clarice Assad, often known as a musical polyglot. She played the piano inside and out, once even crawling inside to pluck some strings with her fingers to illustrate the theme of connectivity in her musical piece, FLOW.  She wrote the music with the Erie 

canal in mind. 

Geographically, the Erie Canal, was built in 1825 to facilitate commerce between Albany and Buffalo. Simultaneously, it facilitated the “flow of ideas”—what people thought and felt about life itself, their cultures, religions, and the exchange of ideas and feelings—almost like a memoir would.  

Divinity, in its many expressions, must also flow along,  just like the canal, always thrumming the flow of my own heart, and facilitating the divine connective presence in all things. In short, let’s go with the flow. I wonder who will serenade the Strait of Hormuz?  

GO WITH THE FLOW. EMBRACE THE CRAZINESS.  YES, WE DID! 

2025.12.21 HOPE FOR US—BE HOPE–BE. Spiritual Lemons, blog post, Lyn G. Brakeman

Tis the season to be what? Is it Jolly? Merry? Both or None? How about Hopeful!?

Last Sunday afternoon, we heard another fine concert of The Hartford Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Carolyn Kuan.  I expected a very traditional Christmas concert with at least a few of my favorites carols. I expected to be soothed, as if by a lullaby.

BUT. . .I was jarred to attention, every muscle taut, readied.

We heard a musical portrayal of CHANGE—specifically, climate change, featuring the solo work of violinist, Curtis Stewart, b. 1986, whose extraordinary composition and solo performance was part of a program designed to present and promote recognition of excellence in classical music while addressing systemic obstacles within Black and Latino communities.  How do you do that?????

*  *  *  * 

This is what we saw and heard following the opening talk offered by Kuan and Stewart who described his violin as extraordinarily versatile for its size. He demonstrated various sounds, such as a bike crunching gravel, a car’s screeching brakes, children laughing, traffic horns, door slams, even the flush of, yes, a toilet—and much more.   

FIRST: The entire large stage was filled with stringed instruments ONLY.  Where were all the drums, the woodwinds, the brass, all horns and even the tiny piccolo I always watch and wait for?  All gone. But wouldn’t you need all of these for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? Well, you would if this wasn’t a RE-composition by violinist, Curtis Stewart, the identified soloist and composer of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. 

THEN: A movie screen dropped down behind the orchestra. On it appeared verbal interpretations of the experience the composer had when he first came to America and walked the streets of Phoenix, AZ. searching for HOPE among the poor people on the streets and finding none, as in the experience of being in a wilderness, groping. The words on the screen were all about unanswered questions—searching and searching, seeking hope and finding only constant change.  I followed yet found myself longing for a melody, just ONE tune. There was one but it seldom appeared, and when it did I felt, very briefly soothed. 

THE MUSIC:  This orchestra of strings played this piece with remarkable accuracy and alertness. Their heroic intensity of attention included perfectly-timed thigh slaps, foot stomps, patting the instrument itself (basses)—all perfectly synchronized and chaotic at once. Every player and the conductor had to pay close attention to what I’d call unreliable reliability. 

All I could count on was CHANGE. As I listened I had to remind myself to INhale AND EXhale. I had to stop looking for a single melody to soothe me. I listened AND watched the faces of the players. I saw heroic intensity of attention.  Was this RE-composition of the familiar Vivaldi music really a musical warning about climate change control?  

YES!  It was a demo of exactly what former Vice President Al Gore meant when he produced his  film “An Inconvenient Truth”?  When I first saw his movie, I felt terrified.  I saw that our beloved planet breathed in and out—evenly—Oxygen (O2) in and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) out. If that even rhythm were disturbed we all could suffocate. Too much exhaled CO2 or waste gases such as those emitted from garbage or car exhaust, prevents O2 from being inhaled = the Earth can’t breathe. Inhale deeply, then hold your nose against the exhale. See what I mean?

P.S. Asking for feedback from a few concert regulars as I left, I heard, yes, praise and awe . . . AND  quite a bit of negativity. One concert regular actually screwed up her face, shook her head from side to side, and said: “Not fair. It’s Christmas!”  

BLESS YOU ALL WITH HOPE IN ADVENT… HOWEVER YOU RECEIVE IT.