I occasionally get asked to post me playing the piano: attached is a performance from earlier today of a Scherzo by Edvard Grieg. The sound quality is … an iPad set on record. But it gets the idea across.
Tag: Recorded Performances
“Only In Sleep” by Sara Teasdale and Ēriks Ešenvalds
Only in sleep I see their faces,
Children I played with when I was a child,
Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,
Annie with ringlets warm and wild.Only in sleep Time is forgotten—
What may have come to them, who can know?
Yet we played last night as long ago,
And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,
I met their eyes and found them mild—
Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,
And for them am I too a child?
— Sara Teasdale
To share is human:
then he laid down
he tried, but
there’s an end to every game,
and while days seem the same,
from inside, there is one
that’s not
like other days
he lacked, and
knew he’d always ever lack,
he didn’t have the knack,
for inside, he found one
who was
turned side-aways
for help, he couldn’t reach;
for friends, he couldn’t call —
then he laid down,
he laid down on the bareness of his bed,
and through the aching in his head, he heard
a violin
who understood
it all
To share is human:
My First and Longtime Love
always bringing joy,
and comfort –
and still here, always
(The below is a clip of me playing the last movement of a Haydn piano sonata, mistakes and all. – Owen)
To share is human:
Swans of Fire / Riding
I thought mountains and swans of fire were swallowing the world.
The ocean roiled, the spray splattered, and the rain came in sideways. I ran drenched, no hand one holding, back to a car that smelled like a wet rug. I backed the old Ford out to the highway, turning the feebly lit dial, until I heard a familiar tune:
We are riding on a railroad, singing some else’s song.
Forever standing by the cross road,
Take a side and step along.
We are sailing away on a river to the sea,
Maybe you and me can meet again —
We are riding on a railroad, singing someone else’s song.
Sing along.
Time to time I tire of the life that I’ve been leading;
Town to town, day by day
There’s a man up here who claims to have his hands upon the reins.
There are chains upon his hands and he’s riding upon a train.
We are riding on a railroad, singing some else’s song
Forever standing by the cross road.
Take a side and step along.
We are sailing away on a river to the sea.
Maybe you and me can meet again.
We are riding on a railroad, singing someone else’s song.
**** “Riding on a Railroad”, Music and Lyrics by James Taylor
To share is human:
Some Days, Some Songs…
… just seem appropriate. Today, as I’m driving back from Florida, it’s this song.
Holding back the years
Thinking of the fear I’ve had so long
When somebody hears
Listen to the fear that’s gone
Strangled by the wishes of pater
Hoping for the arms of mater
Get to me the sooner or later
Holding back the years
Chance for me to escape from all I’ve known
Holding back the tears
Cause nothing here has grown
I’ve wasted all my tears
Wasted all those years
And nothing had the chance to be good
Nothing ever could yeah
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
So tight
I’ve wasted all my tears
Wasted all of those years
And nothing had the chance to be good
Cause nothing ever could oh yeah
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
Holding, holding, holding
That’s all I have today
It’s all I have to say
To share is human:
Visions Fugitives
It was 1977 –
I was in an old country chapel
And fifteen years old
There with a “youth group”
Up early, to come and play
The old, battered piano
This is what I was playing
Because
This piece of music
Was (and is), somehow, me —
https://soundcloud.com/janusmarcus/20-visions-fugitives-for-piano-op-22-i-lentamente-boris-berman
I sit down now,
39 years later
And play another piece
From the same set of pieces
Called ‘Visions Fugitives’
Because this piece, too
Is
(and was)
me
https://soundcloud.com/janusmarcus/20-visions-fugitives-for-piano-op-22-xviii-con-una-dolce-lentezza
Music is not always a uniting force;
But love of music is
Or should be
To share is human:
Here is Humanity
Here is humanity, you dwellers of outer space:
Lascia ch’io pianga mia cruda sorte.
E che sospiri la liberta
Il duolo infranga queste ritorte.
De miei martiri sol per pieta.Let me weep over my cruel fate
And sigh for my lost freedom.
May the pain shatter the chains
Of my torments just out of mercy.
(..)
