Chapter Four - Extraordinary Performances: the Parisonatina and Others—The Alaska Trip: a Beaver Coat for the Cello

Summary

From Sitka to Seward, Alaska. Hindemith Cello Concerto. The Debussy Cello Sonata. Playing with Benny Goodman. Parisot and Dave Brubeck. Tailor made: Guarnieri, Powell, Santoro. Cello Through the Centuries. Marriage and Professional Association with Elizabeth Sawyer. Parisot's extraordinary performance of Donald Martino's Parisonatina al'Dodecafonia.

On the Parisonatina: “…there is probably no cellist that can equal Parisot's dazzling achievement. If in thirty years there are a dozen I shall not be surprised, but not now.” Michael Steinberg, Boston Globe

“All those fjords—and sometimes there was just enough space for the pilot to go through those two mountains. My heart was going up and going down. I was so scared,” Parisot said of his unique tour of Alaska and nearby locations in Canada. The tour lasted from 17 February to 27 March 1958, and included Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, and many other locations. Parisot traveled to many areas on a small plane that went through the mountains, sometimes up at a steep angle. He had a fur covering and special case for his cello because of the danger that the cello might crack in the extreme cold. The tour was sponsored by the Alaska Music Trail, which had as its mission to bring great music to communities in Alaska.

Parisot wrote of his experience in a piece in the Reader's Digest, which was translated into several languages. He got many concerts from this publicity. The piece was titled, “A Matter of Communication,” and in it he spoke of the importance of performing in small towns as well as in large communities, and of the importance of knowing audience reaction to his performance. This is something he lived as a performing artist and also wants to pass on to his students–something that defines him as a performing artist.

Parisot was welcomed by the local fishermen, who invited him to their homes and made him dinner. “Going up, I never paid a dinner or lunch. I remember King Crab—it was one leg for twenty people.” He described the warmth of the people—and the cold outside.

My Alaskan tour was fascinating, if cold. I played in all sorts of towns and cities and in all sorts of weather. One town was so small that the whole population, including the police department, came to the concert.