Oh wow oh wow oh wow...
To tell you the truth, I didn't know that much about Chopin's first piano concerto before, but now I think it's the BEST PIANO CONCERTO
EVER!!!
Okay, maybe not. But I like it a lot more now.
I hope you'll allow me a little self-indulgent digression...
Spoiler for self-indulgent digression:
I have a friend in my church choir who is a small-time Hollywood producer. (These things happen when you live in Southern California.) A few years ago, she was producing a play about the life of Sojourner Truth at Hollywood's Hudson Theatre, and she recruited a bunch of us to sing African-American spirituals at various points during the performance. On the show's final night, I was the only tenor who could make it, which meant that in the couple of places where the tenor line stood out, I would essentially be singing a solo. I hadn't sung a solo in public in about thirty-five years - not since the first grade. I'd had other opportunities, but I was too scared to accept any of them. This was my chance to face my phobia and do away with it.
So the big moment arrives, the second verse of William Dawson's arrangement of
Ain'-a That Good News. I'm ready to go - but then I notice what the actress playing Sojourner Truth is doing. I've done the play several times, so I know what her next line is - it's a good one, and if I come in on time, I'm going to trample it. So I hesitate - she says the line, the audience reacts, and then I start singing.
It was only for a couple of seconds, and I very much doubt anyone noticed it but me - but I felt like for those couple of seconds, I had the power. I was in control of the whole show, and I could choose to make it better.
And that's what I was reminded of when I saw Nodame performing Chopin. I'd had a brief taste of what Nodame was doing, and I recognized it.
Okay, end of self-indulgent digression.
I said this the other day, but I'll say it again. I really hope that in the last few episodes...
Oh, and one more thing... for me, one of the big differences between the live-action drama and the anime is Stresemann. Yes, he's a goofy character, but he has a serious side too, and that just doesn't show up for me with the actor the drama has playing him. (Not so much that it's a Japanese actor in "white-face," but that it's a Japanese actor playing the part as a Japanese actor in "white-face," i.e. as if his very presence is some kind of joke.) Stresemann knows exactly what he's doing bringing Nodame to London, but I'm not sure how well that will show up in the movies.