Folks who decided to spend Friday evening at the Los Altos Main Library on September 18, 2009, will quite agree that it was well worth their time. In fact, they got a real bargain, getting two for the price of one evening: Poet Laureate Nils Peterson and classical pianist Maureen Draper.
Once again Peterson’s poetry and eloquence struck a chord with Draper’s rendering of Schubert, Bach, and Chopin. The two artists have frequently performed in tandem, and again, at the Los Altos Main Library, they interwove the music of poetry and the poetry of music with such finesse, the audience was totally enthralled. They chimed in unison, I Get a Kick Out of You…
How do they choose the music to go with the poetry? As explained to the audience, both Nils Peterson and Maureen Draper have an interest in music as well as poetry. When Peterson chooses a poem, a piece of music comes to Draper. The presentation has been composed in such a way that each poem has to face the music to allow the audience to get deeper into the poetry.
Besides reading his own poetry, the Poet Laureate read some of the poems from The Music Lover’s Anthology of Poetry, edited by Helen Houghton and Maureen Draper.
For several among the audience, it was their first time they were Getting Ready for a Poetry Reading with Music, with Maureen Play[ing] Bach, and Nils Peterson Playing the Piece… For Steve and Wanda… and For Charlene until it was time to bid Farewell.
The Woman at the Piano was terrific. As for Nils Peterson, if you listen to him read his poems, hear him sing, or simply listen to his voice, you cannot help Longing for more. Just more.
And truly, Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing!
Poetry and music share countless virtues, affecting us in many of the same ways. We respond to their lyricism, move to their rhythms, and anticipate their refrains. In antiquity, the two forms were one and the same, performed together, not as prima donna and accompanist, but as inseparable aspects of a single piece.
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