Gorgeous playing. As you are listening, you’re probably thinking, “What could one say about such a performance? It’s so beautiful. It’s so beautifully realized and it’s so utterly musical at every moment. So, bravo. Go home.”

But I could say something. So if I had one thing to say to you: this is beautiful, but death is not present in this room. What is present is a gorgeous cello playing, and a wonderful sound, and a wonderful sensibility, and a beautiful musical personality. But you are not bringing us in touch with death. And that’s what the elegy is. Do you know about who he wrote it for?

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

It says here Jules Loeb, a cellist. I understand he wrote both piano and orchestral versions.

Ben Zander:

Yeah, but he wrote it for his wife. His wife died, and this is the piece he wrote for her. And so it has a tremendous air of tragedy to it, which is not quite coming out yet. So let’s begin at the beginning and see whether we can bring death into this room. Okay, here we go.

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

You’re smiling.

Ben Zander:

You know, one of the things that would have to happen to you? Your body is free. I love the freedom in your body. But it’s the freedom of somebody who’s expressing love and joy and all those things, and it’s not expressing the darkness and the sadness and the loss of this. Okay, so that’s right.

What is that? What is that representing?

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

A procession.

Ben Zander:

Well, it could be, but it has a diminuendo on it. So what does that? What does (singing)? It’s a bell. It’s a tolling bell, isn’t it? Not too slow. So that you hear (singing). So like that. (Singing).

Yeah. Can I suggest you don’t play each note separately, but rather (singing). So it all comes from the first attack of the bell.

Good. Beautiful. That’s already better. You are thinking in terms of that darkness. The last six inches of bow is where the death lies: that last six inches where you pull it even more intensely. Just try it again. And it goes from the high E-flat all the way down to C, step by step by step by step down. Once again, just the (singing). That’s a little too loud for metaphor, but it’s the right idea.

Yes.

Now sempre e forte.

Yes. Now what comes next?

Beautiful. That’s great. Can you play even softer? So, so soft that it’s almost in (singing). And you play as soft as you can. Right from there. We are recovering from the tragedy of that first statement. And now as soft as you can. Can I suggest you begin up-bow? (Singing).

Now this is even softer. It was pianissimo and now it’s three Ps. So you already played as soft as you can, and now you play softer.

Yeah. Beautiful. Anything that could make it softer. But that was great. Those protests at F-sharp (singing). And it comes three times and each one is more than the last. I wouldn’t do (singing) because when you are singing, you don’t do (singing). It’s a little artificial. Should we try from there? From the G? And you’re building up to that F-sharp and_…

So sad. So sad. Finish (singing).

Now disappear to nothing.

And now a surprise.

You know what that is? What is that cadence? When it goes to A-flat?

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

Deceptive.

Ben Zander:

A deceptive cadence. Feel the deception, because it seems as though it’s going to end in total despair, and now suddenly he’s going to go into A-flat major because he’s going to remember his beloved wife. So that should affect you in your sound. That was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So gorgeous. Yeah, so gorgeous.

And suddenly you’ve allowed death to come into this room, and you give it as a gift to these people because everybody has a relationship. Even Sequoia there who’s only 13, she has a relationship to death too. And everybody has a relationship to death. And our job as musicians is to bring whatever the music is saying fully to the people who are listening. And you just did that. You probably didn’t realize that in the piano part, while you are playing that very soft thing where the_… Yeah, here, the piano’s going, that rising scale. So you have to play so soft that that can come out. Should we just do that? Right from that very place? There we go. Beautiful.

Yeah. You can’t be accused of doing what Rostropovich did when he played this piece. I heard him do this. He sat out here, and pianist was in the back, and he went (singing), as if that was the melody. So get right out of the way so that everybody’s attention goes here. Should we just, right on there?

Why do you do that bowed, actually? It said_… Oh, it is bowed here. But now I know_…

He has no (singing). And this is a French vibrato. Very narrow, fast vibrato, bow floating. Because this is a memory, and the reason it’s syncopated is because it’s full of life. Whereas the other was full of death. This is full of life (singing), as French as can be.

You know Tortelier, the great French cellist? Tortelier was interviewed on the television in England, and the interviewer said, “Mr. Tortelier you wrote a piece for the United Nations. Could you tell us about that? How did you come with the idea?” He said, “In the fog.” “Would you elaborate a little?” “I was in an airplane and there was a great fog, and I suddenly had the idea to write a great piece for the United Nations.” That was it. That was the description. I thought, French music: a tremendous amount of intensity about very little. So play in the fog, in the fog. Now from there.

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

No offense to the French.

Ben Zander:

In the fog. Yeah.

Alan Toda-Ambaras:

Sorry.

Ben Zander:

Yeah. Floating. Can you bring absolute love for this woman? He adored this woman. Can you bring it into your playing? (Singing), the memory of her. And separate bows, I would do it.

Look, you see this lady? She went, “Yes.” That’s it. Because she knows about that love, right? And you just brought her into the story. It wasn’t about you anymore. It was about her. Isn’t that great? And thank you for responding. We need people who are capable of responding. That’s what we need. These three people drove up from Connecticut this morning, three hours in order to get here, because they’re ready to communicate and to be involved. Wonderful. That was great. You might incidentally be aware of them. Here we go from there.

Yes. Listen, listen.

No, no. No, no. No, no, no. The mistake was fine. It didn’t matter at all. We think mistakes matter. Mistakes don’t matter. That didn’t get in the way because your face didn’t fit with what you were expressing. That didn’t fit at all. Okay? It was beautiful, gorgeous.

You’ve won every heart in the room.

Now sing.

Now you are remembering. Gorgeous. Yeah. Good, good, good, good. That was so beautiful. And there wasn’t anybody in this room who didn’t respond to you. Everybody said, “Yes. Yes, that’s how it is.” Gorgeous. You have that capacity, but you forget because you’re so musical and you’re so interested in your cello. Be interested in life and relationships and what the composers are trying to say. Beautiful. Do it one more time. And now you’re going to build this anger, this fury, this desperation, this protest. So from the A, do from the_… That’s a French sound. (Singing). Angry.

Can I suggest at that point, don’t rush. Don’t rush because (singing), that last six inches of bow is the dagger in the heart. Great playing. Beautiful. Just do the lead into it.

Yeah, if you can get, (singing) like that. So you lead into it somewhere there. Okay. Just a little before. (Singing). Courageous.

This is a memory, right? She’s gone. But that’s her tune. And you’ve played it with that same love, but as a despairing memory from the past, as soft as you possibly can. Beautiful. The C was fabulous. You were thinking all the way through that C. I could feel you thinking about what that C meant. That’s a huge gift to us. Huge gift. Should we just try to do the end of your beautiful tune? Beautifully played, Dina. Yeah, there. Now touch it, your sadness.

Bravo, bravo. Good, good, good, good. Yeah, go ahead.

So it’s really a joy and a privilege to be with you. You’ve put so much into becoming a great cellist and a great musician. And what we just did was let into you, into your space, some emotions, some feelings, some memories, some experiences that weren’t there before. And the gratitude they feel is for that. It’s not admiration for your cello playing, you got that? It’s gratitude for letting in to their lives, emotions, and experiences and memories that they treasure. And that’s what music does. And when we are not doing that, we are not doing our job, however well we play.

And what happened when you played like that, people actually forget about you. They don’t think about the cello. They think about their life and their experiences and their memories and their relationships and the freedom that comes from experiencing deep sadness through music. And it’s not about you at all. Isn’t that an amazing discovery? And it frees you. It frees you to be fully available and present to what you are giving, rather than being the wonderful musician and showing how wonderful you play the cello. And you did a fabulous job. I mean, that’s really great, great playing. And Dina, thank you also.

Audience Member:

Twenty years ago, my daughter was a member of your orchestra and played that elegy for her grandfather’s death. Today my mother is lying in palliative care, and will die soon, and you’ve brought it back. Thank you.