Day 339: Hungarian Dances Nos. 11-21, Misc. Piano Music

BrahmsCD33Brahms CD 33 begins on a somber note with Hungarian Dance No. 11 in D minor.

Of course, we all know what Spinal Tap‘s Nigel Tufnel says about D minor.

Here’s the scene:

[Nigel is playing a soft piece on the piano]

Marty DiBergi: It’s very pretty.

Nigel Tufnel: Yeah, I’ve been fooling around with it for a few months.

Marty DiBergi: It’s a bit of a departure from what you normally play.

Nigel Tufnel: It’s part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I’m working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don’t know why.

Marty DiBergi: It’s very nice.

Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like – I’m really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it’s sort of in between those, really. It’s like a Mach piece, really. It’s sort of…

Marty DiBergi: What do you call this?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called “Lick My Love Pump”.

No wonder today’s Brahms CD starts off somber. D minor is the saddest key of all.

But it doesn’t stay somber. Other compositions are downright lively.

The pianist on today’s CD is Louis Demetrius Alvanis. He does a fine job with all of these odds and ends from Brahms’ repertoire.

I’m gonna have to classify this as a Favorite!

Day 24: In Narnia

HaydnCD24When I arrived at the Panera near my office this morning, I had to park so far from the back door that it reminded me of the scene from C.S. Lewis’ classic book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Lucy felt a little frightened, but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree-trunks, she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. “I can always get back if anything goes wrong,” thought Lucy.

NarniaDoor2Lewis, C. S. (2008-10-29). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia (Kindle Locations 95-98). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

All I could see was the dot of the door, beckoning to me.

It’s a good thing it wasn’t the dead of winter,  otherwise the scene from Narnia would have been complete.

Only without Mr. Tumnus to guide me through the woods.

Symphony No. 79 in F, composed in 1784, is the first of another trio of symphonies that includes Symphony No. 80 in D Minor and Symphony No. 81 in G. Haydn was 52.

The first of the trio opens with a bold Continue reading