We resumed with the third piece of the night after a brief intermission—Manfred Symphony. It is the longest symphony ever composed by Tchaikovsky. And while there may be a slight difference in the length of the piece depending on the conductor, it is typical for it to last for about an hour. The first movement is incredibly gloomy and starts off really slowly. Now couple that with Tobirama's calm and sturdy style in conducting, it's a piece that is really tiring to listen to. Two seats away from me, Yang was already sleeping on Ruby's shoulders.
In the beginning, I was thinking to myself: why are they playing the piece so slowly? That may caused them to be harshly criticized by the audience, no? But at the third movement, the atmosphere actually became even more suffocating, where I was forcefully pulled into the meditative sounds. When we entered the last movement which had a rigorous military feel to it, I actually straightened my sitting posture.
Tobirama waved his arms and lifted the orchestra to an incredibly high level. With a swing of the baton, he ended the most rousing part with a climax. After a moment of blankness which felt like I was looking downwards from the top of a dangerous cliff—A ray of light descended from the sky. It was an elegant chorale played by the organ. I could feel a jolt of electricity running up my spine. Goosebumps appeared all over my body.
I used to think that Manfred Symphony is a boring piece of music… but everything's different now. It's because I had never listened to an interpretation like this before one where the conductor brings the whole piece to its climax in such a saddening and theatrical fashion.
The piece ended as if it was sucked into the air. But for quite a long while, there were no clapping or even the sound of coughing to be heard. It was only after Tobirama let go of his baton when the audiences finally jolt back to their senses. It started with a sparse applause scattered about here and there. Next, the whole music hall was engulfed by the whirlpool of applause which grew larger and larger. I was already up on my feet and clapping before I realized it.
I shot a glance at my side. Weiss was clapping with an unhappy expression while still sitting on her chair.
"That's really impressive." I could faintly hear the voice of Ruby. "I have never heard a Manfred Symphony that goes along so well with organ. The tempo felt like it was barely containing something within it… so it was all for the final moment?"
The applause were still going on even after Tobirama had stepped down the stage. The orchestra continued with their tuning as well. The special thing about Tobirama's concerts are the encores—it will always turn out to be an interesting and unique performance. I wanted to sort out my thoughts, so I took out my notebook and my pen.
After returning back on stage, Tobirama spread his arms as a signal, and the noise from the audience died down gradually.
"I am thankful to have the honor of meeting everyone here tonight." Tobirama said that with a stern face. It's a line which he will always say prior to the encore.
"Narcissist," said Weiss beside me softly. I do agree with her slightly.
"We have invited a special guest here, a soloist. She should not be appearing here tonight, so for those who are from the music industry, please try not to publicize this as much as possible, or else I will be in for some trouble from the records company."
A few guffaws came from beneath the stage. A soloist who only shows up during the encore? I have never heard of something like that before.
"I believe everyone should know her as well, but I think it is only proper for me to introduce her. Please welcome the Violinist of Heavens."
That caused a huge commotion in the audience. I do remember hearing that name somewhere before, so I searched through my memories frantically. I ended up not noticing what Weiss was saying beside me.
The commotion in the hall turned into a warm round of applause once more. I quickly lifted my head in shock. At the side of the stage appeared a small silhouette of someone clipping onto a violin beneath her arm. She walked through the members of the orchestra and made her way to the conductor's stand in the middle of the stage.
The beautiful violinist who was standing beside Tobirama has pairs of emerald green eyes and long-orange hair, wearing a fancy white color dress.
"Penny?" mumbled Weiss.
Penny? Ah, I finally remembered who she is.
Penny Polendinna. The American violinist prodigy who was widely known by her moniker "the Violinist of Heavens." It was her moniker back when she was pursuing her studies at the Julliard School—a fact that was well known, even in Japan. She got that name because of her angelic appearance and heavenly performance that reflect the beautiful stars in the sky. She is always praised to possess "the looks of an angel" or "sublime techniques just as if she is Ginette Neveu reborn", and etc. She is a celebrity violinist with crazed fans all over the globe.
It is said that the sales of magazines will increase by many folds whenever they publish her pictures, and since she frequently appears on the covers of the classical music magazines, that is how I got to know her. She is always putting on a serious and stern expression on the pictures, but she actually holds an innocent air around her that is similar to that of a typical junior high school girl, and she is roughly of Weiss' height as well. I think she is two years younger than me?
Penny stood at the conductor's stand and bowed elegantly. That movement of hers silenced everyone in the hall. Nothing was said—Penny lifted her bow, but I could see almost no movements of Tobirama as she conducted. The clarinets and oboes made a serious inquiry, and Penny's violin replied with its solo performance. Then, the background accompaniment of the orchestra began to spread its wings slowly.
This song is… Alban Berg's Violin Concerto. The concerto dedicated To the Memory of an Angel was composed in remembrance of a deceased young girl, and it was Berg's final piece before dying to blood poisoning. The violin solo and the orchestra interwove together to create a sorrowful fricative. The melody sounded like it was sobbing softly.
I did not even notice the notebook had slipped off from my hands. It felt like there were really the wails of someone coming from a place high above. The intense allegro of the second movement tells the story of a girl and her pains as she struggled against her sickness. An intense chromatic phrase which felt like it was shaved off from Penny's slender body was finally surrounded by death which purifies everything. It then merged itself into the calm adagio.
The solo violin began playing its highest note, while at the same time absorbing all the sounds from the orchestra—when the piece was finally over and the music had faded away silently, there was barely a hint of liveliness left in the music hall. The mood was different from that of Manfred Symphony.
Even so, the young beautiful girl in the middle of the stage placed her bow and violin down. After showing the audience a gentle smile akin to that from an angel, the atmosphere in the hall melted immediately. The applause from the audience was like an endless avalanche. I was clapping in a daze. I then realized her smile was not offered to everyone in the audience, but only at a specific person.
Is it me? No wait… I realized the shocking truth, and looked at the seat beside me—Weiss sank herself deep into her seat with an absent-minded expression on her face.