As the dear Maestro announced the hunting season for 2015 like a tour starting March 2, I thought March 22 would be the right time to join the festivities, so I invested some money in purchasing 2 tickets for the concert in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. At the moment I did not have any companions but the destination was Paris, so in the end I did not have to take off alone. Moreover, we managed to stuff so much into our programme that when the time came we had to cross the city in haste to arrive to the concert in time. Well, we have not missed a moment but next time I will leave more time to get to the venue.

By the time we reached the theatre the audience was flowing into the hall, so we lined up for the ticket check and with a little help found our seats, too. We sat in the middle of the lowest balcony in a narrow box which had a great view of the stage.

The fact that so close to the beginning the seats in front of us were still vacant only added to my joy. I did not give it a second thought to decide to take one of them in case their owners would not show up. Unfortunately the will of universe was not in accordance with mine and seconds before the beginning catwoman with her 2 meter tall man took those seats. My smile withered away at once but the seat in front of me was taken by catwoman so I still cherished some hope that I would be able to see the stage above her shoulder. Of course, it meant on the other hand that my companion had won the well-built guy who totally blocked the view from her. Well, I may never make it to be a model for the statue of compassion but since she was not as interested in the Maestro as me, I jumped to the conclusion right away that it would be much more of a tragedy if it was me who could not see a thing!

Before I could have realized that providence just showed me a new leaf about myself the concert began. Maestro and Julien Quentin walked onto the stage, humbly followed by a boy to turn the pages of the sheet. From that moment I turned my attention to the stage and I was not the only one. Catwoman tuned in to the stage with her every fibre invoking the possessive instinct of her man. It is no good to be quick to judge but we just could not ignore that some aspects of his appearance such as heights or hair in a bun, resembled those of a certain violinist. But the real thing was on stage playing, so he had to make every effort to catch the attention of his woman. I do not know whether his efforts had borne fruit or catwoman had a feeling that something was blocking her view but the pair changed seats in the middle of the first half of the concert. Oh, yeah. It did not take much for our Lord to repay me with making me busy to get a glimpse of the stage in the rest of the concert. Some broad shoulders are no obstacle for me when it comes to watch the Maestro but I do not even dare to think about how much could see the people sitting behind us.

There were sonatas of Brahms in the programme:
- Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
- Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108  (You can enjoy a part of the sonata in the video footage recorded by Maya15711 who shared it on YouTube. Thank you.)
intermission
- Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
- Scherzo from the F-A-E Sonata (You can watch the whole piece in the video recorded also by Maya15711 who shared it on YouTube. Thank you.)

Our dear Maestro played with all his heart which has almost grown to be an expectation toward him since a big percentage of the audience attends his concerts not only for the joy of sound. I have no idea how much pressure these expectations mean to him but there was no sign of any struggle or effort in his performance to meet any of them. During the pieces he only focused on the music and on his inner self. For a viewer it seemed he enjoyed the music and his own play. It is hard to get to the level where a viewer cannot notice all the work put into the performance but the Maestro brings this quality constantly. He keeps the bar high. That is one of the reasons why we love him so much.

Between the pieces there were some commentary this time, too. Knowing that the Maestro does not speak French I well in advance longed for the day to come when I finally would understand what he says. Well, the day is still yet to come! Because this precious man grabbed the mic and to my outmost shock he started to speak in French. Have I mentioned I love you, Maestro? No doubt it was a nice gesture to his French audience but they were not the only ones at present! Poor Maestro, he obviously goes extra miles but he just cannot please everyone. I am not to judge his French pronunciation since I do not speak the language either but those interested can check it out under this link  (The video footage is also recorded by Maya15711 who shared it on YouTube. Thank you.) and rate the skills of our favourite violinist. Easy, my dear fellow fangirls, I am not talking about that! Back to business, he read the French text from a monitor placed at the edge of the stage.

This time was no exception for the Maestro to make the audience feel euphoric without a single hint of uneasiness by the end of a core classical concert. So, there was no doubt that the applause would not stop until they come back to the stage to extend the experience with an encore or two. They returned. But the commentaries were no longer prepared in advance thus our little sweetie had to switch back to English and finally sitting at a concert I could understand what he said! I failed to celebrate it with sprinkling confetti firstly because I did not have any, secondly because the Maestro and Julien started the first encore. To fit the programme they played another piece of Brahms, the Hungarian Dance No. 5. (The quality of the video footage is good and you can enjoy the whole piece. It was recorded and shared on YouTube by benny04ful. Thank you.) They pampered the Hungarian soul some more with the second encore, the Csárdás of Vittorio Monti. (This video footage was recorded and shared on YouTube by sunlight526. Thank you. The whole piece can be enjoyed.) But the audience still did not have enough, they kept up the applause. Thus the musicians returned for the third time and the Maestro grabbed the mic again. He introduced Tempo di Minuetto of Fritz Kreisler with an anecdote. (The video footage was also recorded and shared on YouTube by benny04ful. Thank you. In the video you can watch not only the whole piece but the closing bow of the musicians thanking the audience for their enthusiasm.) There was a little girl in the first row wearing a princess gown and the Maestro pointed at her when he started the anecdote saying that he might have been at her age when his parents took him to a Brahms concert in Aachen. The performer at the concert picked a little boy from the audience and dedicated him a piece of Kreisler. Ever since then Fritz Kreisler belongs to the Brahms sonatas for the Maestro that is why he chose this piece for the third encore in Paris. Much to my regret I do not remember if the Maestro was the little boy picked at that long ago concert but hopefully the story will come around again and we can fit the puzzle.

Unfortunately there were no more encores though if it was for the audience the Maestro would have spent far more time on stage. Let me note that he could not leave the theatre at the time they planned either since the public will demanded a signing session. Registering the common wish the organizers gave in and gathered the people longing for an autograph into a thick line in the foyer. Well, it is not exactly his autograph I care about but the chance to stand face to face with him for 10 seconds made my heart race.

In the end I left empty handed. It was not the long and packed line snaking up the stairs in the foyer but the universe that made me give up on it. At the time it was half past 7 in the evening and the Maestro did not yet show up to start the signing session. I had two options: I wait nobody knows how long for a 10-second meet or we take off to the piers to catch the boat scheduled for 8 pm to take a look at Paris by night from the Seine. Paris has won. But only this time! One day we will stand face to face, dear Maestro!

To wrap it up let me share some eye candy. I have not been too generous with pictures so far even though breaking the rules I took some this time, too. The quality is pretty good of those I took above the shoulders of catwoman but twisting around her man I could not keep up the quality and my pics turned out to be blurry or overexposed, so I hope you do not mind me selecting some of the first round.