I know from the get-go that I won’t be able to adequately describe the experience I had on Saturday evening. My sisters, my niece, and I gathered to attend the Rachmaninoff Festival at the The Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. I knew it was going to be an evening of huge emotion since all the music would be by Sergei Rachmaninoff, but I couldn’t have imagined the experience I was about to have. Three major works were performed by three different pianists with a relatively new symphony orchestra–The National Philharmonic. First, “Variations on a Theme of Paganini,” followed by the 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos. All are much loved, enormous pieces of music, but again something fresh and new happened. An unexpected delight.

It was during the opening bars of the 2nd Piano Concerto that I knew I was about to hear something special. Each chord followed by a single low-bass note was alive and grew organically through those first few measures driving me deep into the sound. The pianist was previously unknown to me, but since Saturday, I have listened to many of his recordings. His name is Inon Barnatan. He was so skilled not only technically (Rachmaninoff is HARD to play!), but artistically so nuanced. For some musicians, performance becomes a showcase of ability, but his performance was so much more than ability–it felt more like a love-letter, a poem, or a familiar story.

The magic happened in the 2nd movement. Whenever the piano was paired with a single instrument such as the flute, oboe, or violin, Mr. Barnatan made eye contact with that member of the orchestra. He held that connection while we were privileged to listen as he played (without looking at the keys!) in conversation with the other musician. I’ve never witnessed anything so intimate, so beautiful, and so memorable as the feeling of oneness created through this performance. I imagined that the woman playing the flute especially had “a moment” perhaps unlike any other–the kind of moment which musicians and artists dream of creating. I know I had “a moment” which felt whole and pure, even spiritual, as tears freely rolled down my cheeks.