The Mood of a Master IMG_0319.jpg

In many ways, it’s the excitement of a circus coming to town. Not just any circus, but the greatest show on earth. The Water Music Festival has offered it all for nearly forty years: a fecundity of fine music. But just to single out a particular artist — an American master in my humble opinion — Alpin Hong just launched another homerun.

Alpin is a piano man, an artist with extraordinary hand coordination, renowned showmanship, and a masterful performer with humor to boot. Fingers and hands shouldn’t move like his, not with such speed and finesse. No human should. His are a splendid blur: thunder and lightning and downpour, a sublime mastery of eighty-eight ivory keys. The music reminded this reporter of everything from a child’s touch, delicate fingers massaging a mother’s adoring face, to a kiss and — OK — love, as if love is all we have.

Whether fugue or sonata or a message from beyond, this man doesn’t just move, he surges. I was held spellbound, as was the audience for nearly three hours. The chair of the Water Music Society board, Diane Marshall, was moved to tears and Diane is no lightweight. Praise was universal. The master guitarist, Dave Drury answered my question as to Hong’s talent like this: “I had to hold back my tears.” One artist to another. There were many wet faces emoting from this Saturday night audience.

After enthusiastic applause, it was strangely quiet. Folks were mesmerized, held spellbound by a force that music offers, at Hong’s God-given gift. “Watch his hands,” a neighbor whispered. “Watch the fingers.” Well, for a change, I was ahead of the game. “Watch life spinning in a mad gyre.” That was my response after Hong played Franz Liszt, when Hong played a thirty minute sonata from memory. Who could deny his inspiring talent? As Hong put it himself: “When I play this music (Liszt), I see my entire life — past present and future — dancing before me.”

In the pandemic, when Hong and others were caged at home, he practiced this masterpiece, one key at a time, as though it were life, itself, unraveling, unfolding. Liszt’s Sonata in B minor is all of that, shifting and surging, a journey encompassing both grace and struggle. Common daily challenges, with children and adults. The tug of family. War and the longing for peace. Hong has a way of imbuing a composition with his own life experience and passion.

Somehow, he was pulled back to our small community. He expressed affection for our sandy peninsula, its inhabitants. Appreciation for his fans here. He has played all across America and Europe. Played at the White House. Played — joyously — in my living room. And that was an experience I will never forget. Of course I bargained for a song: a basket full of porcini mushrooms picked the day of. And a gourmet breakfast. Sometimes, one gets lucky.

During those long twelve months of isolation, Hong, like so many other musicians, was sidetracked. He moved from California to Hawaii. He wanted unpolluted space. A homeland free of gun violence. His wife, a brilliant physician, couldn’t muster a pay check — hospital funds dried up. Nor could Hong, masterly hands or not. Like the draw of his music, he trusted in fate. Don’t ask to explain the difference between luck, karma or fate. He simply trusted in divine presence and lots of practice. “I moved with the Force.”

He got a job in Hawaii, school and desk, two computer screens and a boss who had little idea of his immense talent. He survived. Hong does not have to brag. Talent follows him like a shadow. And that is what he does with nearly every venue: While learning, he teaches, children and adults alike. He gives life his all, because that is what he knows best; all that he pursues as an artist. Only the best. Only his best.

Watch his stage presence. Watch the concentration and emotion on his face. And then, remember how lucky we are. We hear grace when Hong plays Johannes Brahms, or Johann Sebastian Bach, or “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, all to a standing ovation.

Big thanks then to the volunteers. Profits go to the music programs on the Peninsula and in Naselle.

If you missed this year, sign up before next fall. These concerts can sell out. The festival brings in the best talent year round. The festival committee spares nothing to offer up the finest musical performances. With four events annually, the attendees have to count themselves as uniquely fortunate. To find out more visit the Water Music Society website: watermusicsociety.com.

Finally, here are Hong’s last words. “You — the audience — can’t know what it means to me [to be here]. I’m so grateful — one more night. Grateful! I put on my batman suit for you tonight. I’ll always come back.”

We can only hope.