MOONLIGHT AND WATER

I'm not in the mood to blog or write about medical updates. Instead, I'm going to inflict you with my piano videos.

I heard those sighs of disgust.

 For some uncanny reason, my piano videos are unpopular. I'm probably too good (he says with absolute sincerity).

Moonlight and water?

First video:

Claire de lune, from the Suite bergamasque by Debussy.

Truth to tell, I dislike this composition. It's definitely over-played. Every pianist who can crawl to a keyboard attempts to play it.

This video was recorded in my studio in San Angelo. Bad video quality.

Second Video:

The Warsaw Concerto by British composer Richard Addinsell. 

Technically, this isn't a concerto.....but neither is my blog.

The Warsaw Concerto was my personal war horse - - I probably performed this more times than anything else in my piano repertoire.

BTW this is my own arrangement.

I made three or four different videos of Warsaw Concerto. This one - for some unplausible reason - I incorporated the ocean in this video. Heaven knows why.

The first page of my arrangement of the Warsaw Concerto

Jon, yearning for my long ago piano performances, when I was appreciated.....

💚💚

P.S.

I know my medical updates are more important than my music. First of all, things are going so badly that I don't want to horrify you. I'm absolutely miserable. Second, my Internet connection is so sporadic that I don't have time to elaborate.

I'll try to post more often.

Don't forget me.

WIND, WEATHER, AND WARSAW

  

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I won't bother to mention that this past week was incredibly bad - during which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

I won't mention that I'm completely out of supplies and have to wait until Monday to go to town.  

I will mention that the weather has been horrendous this weekend. The wind was so frighteningly strong this morning that I thought I was back in West Texas.
In Texas, however, I had a house made of bricks - which could courageously withstand the wind.

My Tennessee house is unnervingly flimsy. The Big Bad Wolf could easily blow it down. 
And I feared that some of these gigantic trees would topple over and pulverize me.

A Tornado Watch accompanied the wind, but that didn't bother me. When I lived in the Missouri Ozarks there were Tornado Watches every day (or so it seemed....). Intense apprehension was part of my daily agenda.

Right now, in late afternoon, there is fog, thunder, and torrential rain. The brutal wind has subsided. 
I've decided that I'll probably survive.
Although I might need a rowboat..... 

So, what's this about Warsaw??

I'm talking about the Warsaw Concerto. I love this composition and have performed it publicly more times than any other piece of music.

I also recorded it at least a dozen times. Some of those recordings are now lost, but fortunately a few remain.

The Warsaw Concerto was composed by Richard Addinsell (1904 -1977) and  featured in the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight.

It was originally written for piano and orchestra, but the version I play is my own arrangement for piano solo. I still have a few pages of my piano score - - which I wrote when I was in my early 20's.

I made this video recently. After exhausting my limited ideas for visuals, I decided to do an ocean theme.

When I first watched the result of my creative efforts, my first thought was

Holy crap, this is going to make everybody seasick!!

...but then I decided that it wasn't bad after all.
Take some Dramamine - - and watch the video full-screen.

WARSAW IN THE DEAD OF WINTER

So, how has my life been going lately? 
It has been filled with unpleasant occurrences, multitudinous problems, annoying inconveniences, and ongoing ailments. And those are the positive aspects.

I've been in a foul mood for a long time and I'm ready to bite asses and strangle necks. Come to think of it, I sometimes bite asses even when I'm in a good mood.... 

Mostly, I'd like to hibernate until spring.

My trio of cats are doing well. The 'possums are still around, always looking for a handout. Mysterious animals are still residing under my house. At least I presume they are animals.

Snow is predicted on Sunday. Last night I made (homemade) potato soup and it is delicious. I plan to make more this weekend.

What's this about Warsaw?

This is one of my old piano tapes that I've recently transferred to MP3.

The Warsaw Concerto isn't technically a concerto at all. It was a score written by Richard Addinsell for the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight.
This composition is originally for piano and orchestra. I performed it with a college orchestra when I was in my early twenties.

I liked the Warsaw Concerto so much, that I wrote my own transcription of it for piano solo. I recently found my old musical manuscript and can still play it .

The music in my video was recorded in Los Angeles when I was 22 years old.

Here's a glimpse of the original solo piano arrangement that I wrote.
I have no doubt that you're overwhelmed (*smile*) 

 

 Here's the recording I made in L.A. when I was 22.
Apologies for the poor audio quality.