Awadagin Pratt

Awadagin Pratt, international piano soloist, performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Savannah Philharmonic this past February. Unsurprisingly, he received a standing ovation after his concerto because he’s a boss. After he took his seat to perform his encore, he started playing the most magical and stunningly simple piece of music I had ever heard in my entire life: Mysterious Barricades by François Couperin. I was captivated. I leaned forward from my chair in the cello section to hear him better. I do not think I took a breath. I had goose bumps on my goose bumps and my eyes were filled with tears. How had this piece existed my entire life and I had only just then heard it for the first time?

When he was finished, I had to find him and tell him how much his music affected me. I knew I was feeling extra and when I get extra I freak people out so I gave myself a pep talk, “MB, take it down three notches. Do not do the big eyes thing at him. Just say you enjoyed his performance with your calm MB business voice and walk away.” I found him and looked at him with my tears in my eyes and calmly said, “Wow, just amazing.” I was proud of myself for not freaking him out. He said thank you and I left.

My husband, JB, plays trumpet in the orchestra and after I gave my compliments to Mr. Pratt I ran over to JB and went back up to level ten extra and yelled at him: “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS AMAZING PIECE OF MUSIC!?”

He said, “Babe, I play that piece all the time in the car with you. We literally just heard it a few days ago.”

There was no way he was right.

After investigating his playlist, I was dumbfounded because he was right. He played it all the time. But, I never “heard” it until I heard Awadagin Pratt play it. So I went back and listened to those recordings I had already heard. These other versions were very nice, but they were not “Awadagin” memorable to me. How one person phrases, cadences and takes time versus how another person does makes a huge difference in how memorable a piece is to the listener. My husband says, “Or….it could just be that you don’t pay attention.” Hahaha!!!! 😆

I hope Awadagin will record it one day. I keep searching for one that captivates me as much as his rendition did.