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| - One of the few truly great things about Cleveland is the Cleveland Orchestra. I was sad when the annual program ended a few months ago, but then I found out about the summer concert series and there was hope again! I was skeptical about the location, though. (Grass, bugs, and outdoorsy stuff never appealed to this city girl, especially in the muggy Cleveland heat.) Still, I was willing to brave it for one of my favorite pieces of all time, the Rach 2.
The evening started off a bit rocky because this place is HARD TO FIND coming from Cleveland. The freeways split at unexpected times and this caused us to take a few detours. Eventually we arrived (late), and luckily parking wasn't too hard to find. When we headed toward the gate, I could hear the sweet sound of the piano playing and while it was beautiful, I was disappointed that I missed a big part of the Rach 2. Our seats were all the way on the left, so I walked slowly by the massive grassy incline where many folks had set down towels, chairs and coolers. I saw couples of all ages, families with children; some people were sipping wine, others were reading books. Quiet chatting was not too disruptive.
When I headed down toward my pavilion seat, a security guard or whatever suddenly stopped me and told me I could NOT sit down because we were in the middle of the piece. I stared at him. This was MY piece- the Rach 2- and I had already missed some of it because I was late and now this SOB was making me listen to this piece from an inferior position? Let me say that there have been FEW times in my life I have endorsed homicidal ideation and this was one of them. It took a lot of self restraint not to strangle the guy and jump down the stairs. Of course I knew these were the rules, but c'mon...!
Grudgingly, I headed back a few steps to the grass where I was now relegated. By this time the piece was a few minutes to ending so I told myself to forget the anger and just enjoy the music. This was not too hard to do. Even though there were speakers, I could still make out the true sound of the orchestra and piano from the stage ahead. As the piece swelled to its dramatic climax, I felt myself sinking into musical bliss. Then the pause in the last two minutes before the orchestra took over the melody opened the floodgates for the sweeping, unapologetically romantic closure. It was a transcendent experience. I wanted to laugh, cry, and make love to the world but all I could do was speechlessly hug my friend beside me. He asked me if I was tearing up and I guess I didn't realize I was.
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