Let's try phrases that illustrate moments during the day, times that are revelatory, that open up a window to a new understanding or sense of human compassion all wedded to a sincere belief that love is the glue that holds all we humans together. I'll list and perhaps, later, connect:
- She (Zariana -- Doh boh botch neeya - Ukrainian equivalent of the Russian - Dos vee danya) is demure, so frail and lovely in her youth as she waits in line for Body Pump at the Western Y this Friday morning. I recognized her (met her yesterday as I noticed and commented on her accent -- an annoying foible of mine) as Ukrainian with elementary English. I mention the peace treaty between the president, hated by many in her country, and the dissidents. She is doubtful and skeptical about peace and presses her hands to her heart and says that the divisions are so great and that the peace must come from the people and not a written document. I concur, wholeheartedly. Later, during the exercise time, I help her put up her platform as we both go to store ours at the same time.
- The morning airing of Performance Today on Georgia Public Radio's Augusta station, WACG via by iPhone NPR app always enlightens. Today, Fred Child had the conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Bill Eddins, on for the hour to give his personal music choices. They included Bach, Beethoven, Ravel and a surprising choice that he compared to the young genius of Mozart and Mendelssohn. She was the younger sister of the great French teacher of composing, Nadia Boulanger, her name was Lili, and he played an extended operatic piece she composed at age 19 centering on the story of Faust. She died, tragically, of Crohn's Syndrome, at the precious age of 24 on the Ides of March 1918. What a loss to the world of music.
Lili Boulanger
3. A third and concluding revelation on this day involved the final song of Schubert's Die Winterreise of "Der Leiermann" and the recording of Hans Hotter, baritone, and pianist, Gerald Moore, and it concerns the playing length of notes and a 1/16th rest. The ultimate artistry of Moore, a favorite of my dad's and the greatest accompanist bar none of the 20th century, is seen as he pauses for that slight moment throughout the song, that 1/16th rest, and the singer, how he holds out the 1/4 notes to their full length. It is so easy to rush but you can't rush the organ grinder in the cold, playing his music and being ignored and unheard. You cannot ignore or hear the beauty of this song, a spiritual centerpiece for dad, especially when Richard Tauber sang it.
Hans Hotter Gerald Moore
