Fan Mail 2003
Fan Letters re: Yo-Yo Ma & Appalachia Watlz
Appalachia Waltz Experience
Dear Mr. O'Connor,
In spring of 2001 I was a graduate student studying for qualifying exams. As a break from the stress, my now-fiance broke our (then-empty) bank and took me to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to see Yo Yo Ma perform the Bach Cello Suites. Though I know little about music, it was a heady experience. My brain, taut from intense study, cleaved to each piece. The result was probably not the release that Tom intended for me, though it was wonderfully cerebral and exciting.
Then, as an encore, Ma performed your Appalachia Waltz. Everything dissolved for me. Tom looked over and tears were streaming down my face. It was most unlike the panic attacks that can ensue when very good live jazz gets crazy. It was more like the power was cut to a lifetime of anxiety, allowing me to experience a beautiful composition in a much less mediated way than had been possible only minutes before. In any case, I have never had such a transformative encounter with a piece of music. I am grateful to you for composing such an exquisitely moving piece, and I am thankful that you shared it with an artist whose mass appeal and wide circulation exposed your work to me.
Tom and I will be married next month and we have been wondering if it would be possible to use Appalachia Waltz as processional music. I have been checking your website, intent upon purchasing sheet music to send to the musicians that we have hired, but there is a message posted there saying check back in a few days. Our wedding is in Lucca, Italy, and we have hired a string trio (viola, violin, cello) from the Boccherini Institute there. Do you think that it would be possible for me to purchase sheet music for that piece?
Thank you in advance for reading this, and thank you for your music.
Yours,
Dana
