This is the first "tour dispatch" I've posted to the list (with Dave's
kind permission) giving an as-it happens accounting of the Anagnoson &
Kinton piano duo's concert activity.  Up 'till now, I've made periodic
announcements giving notice of new uploads to the "Tour Journals" section
of our website (see signature below), but some people have expressed
interest in reading about events as they happen.

For those who do not wish to read these dispatches, I'll identify them
in the subject field as "A&K dispatch", and will also preface each posting
with this explanation for those not quick enough with the delete button:-)

===========================

Friday, July 26, 2002

Right now, Jim and I are in Parry Sound Ontario where we are playing
four concerts for the Festival of the Sound, one of the major summer
music festivals in Canada.  It was started by Anton Kuerti 23 years ago.
Clarinettist Jim Campbell subsequently took over the helm, and he has been
the artistic director ever since.

Our first programme was last Saturday, July 20, and consisted of the
following:

Sonata for Two Pianos.... Mozart

Rhapsody in Blue (original version by the composer).... Gershwin

Intermission

Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.... Bartok

The percussionists for the Bartok were Beverley Johnston and Michael Perry,
both of whom were fantastic to work with.  This piece is one of the great
pieces of chamber music, and it was a genuine pleasure to play it as a
quartet, rather than a piano duo "with percussion".  Actually, we've been
very lucky in this regard over the 25 years we've played the piece.

The artistic satisfaction from the concert even made our transportation
nightmare tolerable.  Through nobody's fault, we had another concert on
the Sunday afternoon following the Bartok, with a completely different
programme at the *Elora* Festival...  about 300 kilometres driving distance
away!  Even if this Elora concert had been with the two of us alone, it
would have been tough to do the drive from Parry Sound on Sunday for the
4:00 starting time.  What made it impossible was that the all-Stravinsky
concert consisted not only of *Petrouchka*, in his original version for
piano duet, but also his two-piano and choir version of *Symphony of
Psalms*.  Because of this latter, we had to be in Elora at 2:30 for a
rehearsal with the choir.  The upshot was that we drove back to Toronto
from Parry Sound on Saturday night after the Bartok, arrived home at about
2:00 a.m., got up Sunday morning, and drove the 150 km.  to Elora in time
for a 1:30 run-through of *Petrouchka*, and the 2:30 rehearsal of the
Symphony.

In spite of the frenetic travel requirements, as with the Bartok the
collaborative effort with the choir was one of great artistic satisfaction.
The Elora Festival Choir is conducted by Noel Edison, the artistic director
of the festival; he is also the conductor of Toronto's Mendelssohn Choir,
and is a very good friend of ours, so I admit we're biased.  However, we
think he's one of the great choral conductors on the planet, and some
of our best musical memories are of working with him on such things as
Schubert's and Brahms's choral lieder, and Britten's part songs, amongst
others (Jim and I "tag-teamed" for the pieces with piano solo).

Anyway, the concert went well, the choir sounded wonderful, and we made it
back to Toronto in one piece.  I don't even remember going to bed, I was so
exhausted; my wife Barbara assures me I slept over eleven hours straight.

Jim and I didn't have to play again in Parry Sound 'till Wednesday the
23rd, so we stayed home for two days, before heading back north on Tuesday
the 22nd.

More to come tomorrow (or Sunday, since we're playing tomorrow night).

Leslie Kinton
Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo website: http://www.pianoduo.com (Includes
mp3 sound files)