Chopin, Schumann and Lasagna!

Ken Hatch, Suzy Krabbe, Susan Neumann

On Monday evening, Ken and I, along with Suzy and Moe Krabbe  were invited to a small dinner party in their home by Gary Neumann following a private concert performed by his wife, Susan Neumann and musician friend, Wally Hansis.  Susan played the piano and Wally played the viola.

Susan's fingers were flying over the keyboard, especially when she played three solo Chopin Waltzes (No. 6, No. 7, and No. 11) out of the twenty that he wrote during his lifetime.   Together she and Wally played selections from Schumann, Glazunov, Elgar, Massanet and Bruch.  In addition, Susan played the Fantaisie-Impromptu, plus the Schumann Widmung (Dedication). The sound quality in the Neumann's high-ceiling living room was exquisite.  Wally's viola sounded rich and mellow, while Susan's notes were concise and clear and played with so much style and energy.  (I am not really a musician, so I'm not sure that I am describing this correctly, but I can say that I loved the music!)

Susan Neumann & Moe Krabbe

The concert was followed by a casual dinner featuring delicious lasagna and salad from Cafe Lago.  The entire evening was organized by Gary, who sent out email invitations and also ordered and picked up the food so that Susan could focus on her concert.  It was so much fun that we decided that we have to take turns planning future casual dinners at home where we choose different restaurants from which to bring in food.  We did tell Susan that she is the required future entertainment however, since my piano playing ability is excruciatingly slow and my repertoire mostly includes only Christmas carols.