Week THREE: Birthday Week!

A favorite recording by Yo-Yo Ma  of one of  my favorite Rachmaninoff song’s Zdes’ Khorosho, Op 21 No 7.

All is well here...

Look, in the distance

The river glows like a fire;

The meadows are like a colourful carpet,

And there is the whiteness of clouds.

There is nobody here.

All is quiet…

Here I am alone with God.

And the flowers, and the old pine,

And you, my dream…

https://youtu.be/JBBw7G-_5S0 Posting my Prelude no 12 in G# minor, op 32. It's for me a melancholic piece but not without a silver lining. I imagine a wintry scene with a man walking down a path in deep thought with the sound of distant horse carriages with sleigh bells resonating through the woods. Towards the end of the piece, a carriage sweeps by him and disappears into the distance.

This is my recording of Elegie Op.3 no1 which I made a couple of years ago on my rather old but faithful digital piano. The keys rattled and the pedals worked intermittently so I finally traded it in for a brand new one. I suppose this could be an Elegie for all those pianos that we have owned and played but are no longer with us!! https://youtu.be/lRh5SMAMsMw

I think my favorite so far is the Polichinelle, op. 3 no. 4 ("A Bunny Dreams of Conquest") I posted last week, but I did find this absolutely lovely Romance and will post it for this week. It is opus 21 no. 5 and entitled "Lilacs." Listening to it, I saw a beautiful still lake with shimmering sunlight. A  family of geese comes into view, swimming gracefully at first but then the little goslings begin to play: dipping down into the water, flapping their wings, chasing each other - interrupting the stillness with their springtime antics.