why leaves change colors

(This entry was started on Sun. Nov. 9th)

So today, I took an excursion to Boston to see a concert. A legendary cellist Natalia Gutman was to appear with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra led by Benjamin Zander, who's passion and dedication to education and arts is second to none, and has been someone I admire and look up to, so as an educator and a cellist, I just had to go check it out. 

As I looked out the car windows on my way to Bean Town, I was mesmerized by how beautiful the leaves have changed their colors. Fall is magical. The leaves' colors maybe beautiful enough as they are, but the fact that these leaves are on their way out adds a hint of sadness to it, and that sadness gives pungence to the beauty. I was so taken by them. It inspired me to read up on "why" leaves change color (I was also just a bit bored during the four hour long drive...). I kind of knew the answer, but I wanted to read about it anyway. 

To summarize, leaves change colors because they can't effectively photosynthesize during the dark, dry, and cold winter, so they lose the green color which is the product of a chemical that let's them  photosynthesize, when they no longer need it, and what appear underneath the green is their (in a way) real colors. So they only get to display their true selves right before they dry up and fall off, to make way for the new green buds in the coming spring. It's kind of heart breaking when you think about it. They too, like humans, work and work and work just to survive, putting on the public mask all their lives until the retirement, when they can finally let go of the mask and enjoy being themselves.

The concert was impressive to say the least. The program was a kind of program any professional group would put together. There was nothing in there that screamed "youth orchestra". The program included Shostakovich's Festive Overture (one of the only few "happy" pieces ever written by this composer - written after Stalin's death), Dvorak's masterwork and king of all cello concertos, his Cello Concerto in B minor, and the heavy weight, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, a 20th century masterwork, that is, as the name suggests, "difficult" in more ways than we can count it for all instruments involved - from the maturity of the music, the language used (modern musical language that is on the verge of having no tonal center, or no key), the technical demand, the philosophy behind the notes, the ensemble. There is nothing in there that is "easy" for any musician, not even for pros, definitely not for amateurs or youths.

Yet each piece was delivered with precision, maturity, and soooo much energy! Youth orchestras always have a very different kind of energy than pros, and that's one of the things I love about working with youths. It's that particular energy of youths that we adults can never ever recapture even if we try. And it often gives the music a fresh air, when performed by youths. The music always seem to re-live every time it is performed by youths.

Natalia Gutman was not a cellist I closely followed, but was somebody I was always aware of and check out from time to time, as she is a Russian cellist, just as all my past teachers and my all my idols, and heroes. I've always enjoyed her puristic approach to music. She does not have one of those personalities that entice others to follow her around. Her talent, yes, but not her personality. Definitely respected, but definitely not a celebrity. There is not a gimmick in her stage presence or performance. And her playing is void of any fancy frills, or unnecessary physical, or musical expressions. And now that she is getting old, there seems to be even less of the frivolousness. Didn't think that was possible... 

On the review that I read the next day, it said that she "led" the youth, but to my ears, I think she was following. She led the group perhaps by her sheer presence, but musically, she was following, like a good parent nudging her young kids to walk ahead of her. With super slow vibratos and sure-fingered shifts, she chugged on like an old dog who knew her way back home much better than the owners kids leading her. At times, she would take charge and appear in front when she wanted to suggest a very particular path, but for the most part, she let the orchestra find their own way.

Mr. Zander, in contrast, was definitely a leader. But leading in such a way to spawn more leaders. It was somehow clear to me, that he was manufacturing more leaders like him, in his own factory/orchestra of his. 

Natalia Gutman, age 71. Benjamin Zander, age 75.  Average age of the BYPO members,16? Maybe? The youngest (Mr. Zander told me privately after the concert, as I had a chance to speak with him briefly) was 11! 

I kept thinking back about the leaves. Gutman and Zander both display very different colors. Yet their purpose is the same. When they are gone, it is these young ones that will be shaping the life of the tree that both support them, and is supported by them. The tree (arts/music) must go on living, and live well. The old display their true colors to inspire the young, so they may find their own bright colors within themselves, so in the future, they will be the ones that brighten and beautify the tree with their own unique colors.