Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down) 

Enjoy Frédéric Chopin's Waltz in C# Minor, performed by blogger and pianist extraordinaire FreeThinke/Franco Aragosta (April 11, 1941-October 7, 2020).  All the more amazing because Roger had to memorize every note, which he could barely read on paper: he was almost completely blind by the age of 77.

 

YouTube blurb for the above: 

The first section of the C#-Minor Waltz, casts a spell tinged with Chopin’s characteristic aristocratic elegance, but at the same time world-weary, and nostalgic. The haunting, more animated second section has about it a beguiling aura of nocturnal mystery and enchantment. It beckons us, but where it wants to lead us remains shrouded in mystery as the music keeps dancing gracefully but dissolves into the mist. With each of three repetitions we are left ever more curious, - and a bit fearful -, wondering what might be found if we dared to move beyond the edge of the perfumed garden to parts unknown. 

ROGER TREFETHEN began his piano studies with Joseph Erwin of the Juilliard Preparatory School. He also worked briefly with Ada Brant of Aurora, Illinois. At the Eastman School of Music he studied under Cecile Staub Gerhart, Postgraduate studies with Claude Frank at the Mannes College of Music, Adele Marcus and Albert Fuller at the Juilliard, and finally acclaimed interpreter of Beethoven, Bruce Hungerford, rounded out his music education.