Sonata No.9 | MYG 🔞

34| Wish

Soundtrack: Symphony No.5 in C minor, op 67: II Andante con moto by Beethoven

The Juilliard International Sonata Competition takes place every year in the David Geffen Hall, a 2,700 seats auditorium in New York's city Lincoln Center.

There, the walls, floors, and ceilings are made of carved blonde wood with intricate patterns and there are three levels of balconies to contain more visitors. Everything is softly curved rather than squared to accommodate the acoustics, from the sloped ceiling to the shape of the seats. The white lights, round bulbs hung up from the vault, look like floating lanterns instead of spotlights and contribute to create a magical atmosphere.

That day, the entire space was empty, velvet seats all neatly folded and the lights were off except for the ones over the stage, patiently waiting for the next great musician to claim the area. A shiny grand concert piano was standing in the middle, its lid wide open and the keyboard angled towards the missing crowd.

Yoongi walked inside the room, footsteps echoing against the walls as he made his way to the stage. With the rest of the room darker and the piano at the center illuminated, he felt like he was walking in some kind of dream. Everything around him felt too silent and symmetrical to be genuine.

He often had dreams like that when he was younger; stepping towards the stage with his feet sticking to the parquet, moist hands, and chattering teeth. He would sit down to the piano and forget what he was supposed to play, pee his pants or find out he was naked in front of a laughing audience. Either way, he would wake up screaming.

He had so much to prove then. So much to lose, too.

However, when he actually got in front of an audience, he would always keep calm and maintain his cool, a sort of peaceful serenity taking over him as soon as he would see the piano he would play on appear from the backstage, shiny and promising like the prizes he invariably won.

"How much time do we have?" Victoria asked in his back.

"One hour. That's enough to play the entire Sonata once only, so we better start soon."

This was their last rehearsal before the competition, and the only chance they had to perform in the concert hall before they would be judged. Getting used to a different acoustic was always a challenge and adapting their sound to the space they were in was needed before any appearance.

Victoria put her case on a front row velvet seat and took out her violin and her bow, getting ready to play. Meanwhile, Yoongi climbed up the stage to check out the concert piano. The lid was wide open, gigantic mouth ready to spit out anything his fingers would draw from the keys.

Hello, beautiful, he thought, sitting on the bench and looking inside at the perfectly aligned strings and hammers, the cast iron plate and the soundboard.

It was a gorgeous instrument made of mahogany, ivory, top grade spruce, hard rock maple, and everything about it was as smooth and lustrous as the hall it belonged to. It wasn't just a musical instrument but a piece of art, a status symbol, and Yoongi, as he had before, felt lucky to even get to play on such high-end equipment.

He let his fingers run on the keys, playing a passage of Philip's Glass opening, pressing delicately at first to get a taste of the sound, so deep and rich, then stepped on the pedals, trying them out, savoring the quality of the sonority.

"Are you ready?" asked Victoria and Yoongi jumped on his seat.

He hadn't even heard her walk up the stairs to position herself in front of the piano, ready to begin. Her hair was attached in a knot on the top of her skull, and her shoulders were tense-looking even from the back. He didn't have to look at her in the eyes to know that she was anxious and probably had her face all scrunched up in nervousness.