I Have Fallen in Love with a 22-year-old Armeian 'Cellist - Saturday, 21 January

One of my highly anticipated events this trip was the recital of Tchaikovsky Competition winners at Salle Pleyel - I bought my ticket in September!  Little did I know that the recital would feature the first- and fourth-prize-winning pianists as well as the first- and third-prize-winning 'cellists.   And that I'd fall in love with the first-prize winning Armenian 'cellist, 22-year-old Narek Hakhnazaryan.  What a gorgeous rich sound!  What impeccable technique and pyrotechnics!  What humor!  What style!  What soul!  And what a cutie pie!!!  If he doesn't already have a US fan club, I'm starting one.

He played the Tchaikovsky "Pezzo capriccioso op. 62" (gorgeous rich melodies, astonishingly fast and intricate passage work with delightfully humorous leaps and sighs and moments of suspended animation); then the profound and personal Fauré "Élégie" (wherein the audience collectively almost stopped breathing and waited for several seconds before applauding, starting only after a deep Russian-sounding voice shouted "bravo"); then the Paganini "Variations on a theme by Rossini" (even more pyrotechnics and perfect harmonics) after which the audience could barely control its enthusiasm.  Narek was accompanied by the first-prize-winning Russian pianist, Daniil Trifonov, who returned after intermission to play solo Debussy and Chopin - he also performed with brilliant technique and understanding, and the audience loved him, but I preferred the stylings of my new sweetie Narek!

It wasn't exactly smooth sailing getting to the concert - I was sure that I had placed my ticket in my folder of papers, but alas I seem to have left it at home (of all the things to forget!!!) so I had to find a cybercafe in which to download it again and print it.  There used to be cybercafes all over the place earlier this century, but with almost everyone having laptops or netbooks or iPads, there are only a few cybercafes left in town, at least as far as I could find.  I tried to take a bus to one near Luxembourg Garden, but there was a "perturbation" (disturbance) and the bus went only 1/4 of the way there.  So I had to regroup and find a multiple-stop Metro route.  But I did eventually make it to the place and reprint my ticket.   Then, taking the bus to the Salle Pleyel neighborhood, I went one stop too far so I had to backtrack in unfamiliar area.  And it was raining.  And my umbrella blew inside-out several times.  But I got there in time to grab a coffee at Le Do Ré Mi Café across the street.

My seat would have been wonderful (1st row, 1st balcony, keyboard side) except for the fact that there was no leg room and my feet were quite swollen from all the walking, and keeping them at a 90 degree angle was quite irritating.  Plus the concert started with about 15 minutes of talking by a Salle Pleyel official and Valery Gergiev, the Director of the competition (whose remarks, spoken in Russian were translated into French).  There seemed to be a bit of coughing from the audience during this long intro, so perhaps I wasn't the only one finding it too much.  And I didn't have any music to take my mind off my swelling feet!

At intermission I asked the usher if there were any empty seats - it was only my row that was horribly cramped - but he wasn't aware of any.  The place was sold out - one of those "I have good news and I have bad news and it's the same news" kinds of things.

Anyhoo, keep your eyes open for opportunities to hear Narek Hakhnazaryan (he is starting to tour all over the world).  You're not going to confuse his name with anyone else's!  And let me know if you want to join the fan club.