RootsRain

If I had to choose one place where life-altering experiences most often occur, it would have to be inside a concert hall. Like earlier posts have suggested, I have extreme reactions to beautiful music, especially when it’s live.

One concert I’ve been able to return to over and over was a concert Emily and I heard in Friedrichshafen (FREE-dricks-HAH-ven), Germany. We went to the Friedrichshafen Schlosskirche with Dudley and Eva Baines (my mom’s cousin and her husband, who live in Germany [although they're from South Africa] and two of the nicest people we’ve ever met). The concert featured Matthiäs Schlubeck playing the panflute with organ accompaniment. I was a bit skeptical of the panflute since Zamfir was my only exposure to it before this concert, but Eva and Dudley raved about Schlubeck, so we went with them. I’ve been able to revisit the concert over and over because 1) I bought a CD of his while we were there, and 2) I recorded some bootleg video during the concert, which you can watch by clicking the image below. But WAIT! Before you watch it, there’s something you should know about Matthiäs Schlubeck. He’s considered the world’s greatest panflutist, playing with amazing speed, sensitivity, and control.

And he has no arms.

Yes, you read that right. No arms. He was born with only small stubbs and he’s overcome that handicap to become one of the finest musicians in the world. My bootleg video doesn’t exactly show off Schlubeck’s talents very well (excepting maybe his breath control), so I’ve actually included an MP3 file below (of a different, full-length piece) for everyone’s edification:

• Flute Sonata in G – II. Allegro (Georg Frederic Händel)

Keep in mind when you’re listening that Schlubeck has to move his head to get to the different notes (half-steps, though, are formed by also tilting the panflute forward). It’s simply amazing to watch. And Schlubeck himself was pretty funny. He had the crowd laughing almost every time he talked, which is unusual in Germany where everybody seems like they have obituaries playing on their iPods.

That concert is still the highlight of my trip to Germany/Switzerland.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 20th, 2006 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Music, Travel.