My first "Lynn
Harrell Experience" (among a few!!) was almost a no-show...not on his part
but mine!!
As a music major at
Baldwin-Wallace College in 1980, I had somehow procured a ticket to his artist recital
in Cleveland at Severance Hall. Like lots of college music students, one of the
first things I didn't have (or trouble myself over not having) was my own
transportation. So in my best of intentions but not best geographical
navigation, I took the "Rapid"--RTA, Cleveland's rapid transit train/bus
system (I can still remember their advertising jingle: “RTA, The Energy
Saver!!”) to the University Circle station.
While I have countless childhood
memories of visits to my aunt, uncle and cousins in Oberlin, Ohio, which has
ALWAYS been “home away from home”—I was and still am FAR LESS familiar with the
geography of Cleveland. Instead of walking/wandering my way toward Euclid
Avenue, hoping to see a vaguely familiar sign directing me toward Severance
Hall. Instead, I made the presumptuous error of boarding a bus that had a
destination sign reading “Severance Mall” (now Severance Town Center). Yep…a costly ride it was, not for money but for timing as Mr. Harrell’s recital had a 3pm start time, and by 345 I was
looking at the surface streets of Cleveland Heights instead!!
Once I finally mustered the guts
to ask the driver where Severance Hall was in relation to Severance Mall (!!)
and got the necessary bus transit directives back to University Circle, Part
One of my adventure concluded, and the walking tour eventually toward Euclid Avenue
began!! While the Sunday afternoon weather wasn’t unusually warm, I sure was in
my power walk hoping that Mr. Harrell’s recital was too short or already finished.
As I continued walking, I managed to noticed what turned out to be the lagoon
and still unblossomed gardens (below street and sidewalk level) of the
Cleveland Museum of Art. Drawn to the walkways out of curiosity, while making
my way toward them I happened to look up and to my right…and noticed the
chiseled name of Severance Hall adjacent to the gardens!! Hallelujah!! I had
accidentally and most ineptly ARRIVED!!
Well, by the time I walked
inside through the main lobby, the ushers had done their jobs and gone home for
the afternoon. But praise be to God, the recital program was still going on!! I’ll
list my recollection of the program later, but Lynn Harrell was playing one of
his first “homecoming” recitals since departing the Cleveland Orchestra as one
of the youngest principal cellists to do what he’d been doing clear until April
2020. Rudolf Firkusny was his collaborative pianist, and I got to hear him play
MOST of the Chopin Sonata and one brief “corny” encore: “The Pink
Panther” of Henry Mancini!! Needless to say my lesson for the day was not about
the cello or performing, but finding who to ask, how to ask and what direction
to wander in…when I don’t know where the hell I am!!
Several years and a
wealth of musical experience later, Lynn came to Toledo and Detroit to perform
as a soloist. He came to Toledo during my section tenure with the TSO; he
played the Dvorak Concerto, and upon meeting him I told him my story!!
He laughed with me (politely!!) and quipped to me that “Firkusny hated playing
encores”!! He came to Detroit a few years later to play the Prokofiev Symphonie
Concertante with the DSO, and I was fortunate enough to be in town and free
to pop in for the rehearsal and a performance. At the rehearsal break, I greeted
him backstage and mirthfully called him “Papa Bear”, on account of his tall and
imposing stature!!
The last time I saw him in recital was here in the Triangle Area. Thankfully I had no trouble getting to Page Auditorium at Duke Auditorium for the program; I don’t recall the complete program but remember that a few Schubert lieder were included. I regret that our paths did not meet for master classes, where the best lesson experiences get gleaned through the fellow cellists who get the distinct (and temporarily terrifying!!) opportunity to play for him. His passing comes as both a shock and surprise: seventy-six is not old when you’re approaching 60, as I am. The pandemic has claimed so many loved ones, family and friends renowned and unknown…but like most events in life, we didn’t see this “Lynn Harrell slow movement” ending so soon. I know that all cellists, string and orchestral musicians and lovers of concert music will miss the beauty Lynn strove for in every fingering and bowstroke, melody and phrase, movement and entire work. We must and will carry on, bearing his profound influence as legacy bequeathed to us…”another charge to keep on keeping on WE HAVE”… Peace. TWH, Durham, NC
PS: The program for that Cleveland recital is the following, as best I can recall:
Luigi Boccherini, Sonata in A Major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in C Major, Op.102/1
J. S. Bach, Suite No.3 in C Major, BWV 1009
Intermission
Frideric Chopin, Sonata in g minor, Op.65
Henry Mancini, Pink Panther Theme Song (encore)
