My best friend of some 53 years died on February 9; circumstances were such that I didn't find out until February 22. There was no better friend in the world than Carolyn! I have a terrible void in my life now.
The selection below accurately reflects my frame of mind right now....
Arvo Pärt's elegiac meditation Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten:
According to science (A music psychologist has said the perfect 'happy' song should be 137BPM, in a major key, with a short intro and bright tones, and four beats in every bar), this is the happiest song in the world:
For me, the above song conjures up wonderful memories of cruising in my 2000 Mustang GT convertible, especially at the beach.
Virtuoso pianist Jeffrey Siegel has performed with the world's great orchestras as a solo artist. He also tours as a music appreciation teacher; these programs are called Keyboard Conversations.
A sample of one of the past offerings of pianist Jeffrey Siegel's Keyboard Conversations, on tour now and always appropriate for both new listeners and seasoned music lovers:
I have attended more than one of the Keyboard Conversations. Wonderful! Each time, I came home and found, and started practicing) the music for at least one of the pieces he presented.
Bonus video (excerpts from Leonard Bernstein's musical West Side Story):
I've always loved the sound of the lute! For me, it conjures up images from Shakespeare and the royal court of England around the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
From Google Search:
In the Renaissance era, the lute was the most popular instrument in the Western world. It became the symbol of the magic and power of music. The lute was the instrument of kings and queens, playing the sublime music of great composers. The lute was heard in the theatre in the incidental music of Shakespeare's plays.
Please enjoy J. S. Bach's Lute Suite in E Major BWV 1006a, performed by Evangelina Mascardi, playing the Baroque Lute:
Index for the above suite:
0:00 I. Prelude
4:38 II. Loure
8:53 III. Gavotte en Rondeau
12:25 IV. Menuet I/II
16:39 V. Bouree
18:38 VI. Gigue
This weekend, let's take a stroll down memory lane to a better time, over a half century ago with Henry Mancini's incomparable Baby Elephant Walk (1961):
Instead of "Auld Lang Syne" (the typical musical fare for this time of year), a round-up of events in 2022, or a list of New Year's resolutions, enjoy this selection:
From the days of unforgettable television-show themes, enjoy "Park Avenue Beat," the Theme to Perry Mason (1957-1966), composed by the prolific radio, television, and film composer Fred Steiner (1923-2011):
The [Perry Mason] theme music is one of the most recognizable in television. Composer Fred Steiner set out to write a theme that would project the two primary aspects of Mason's character—sophistication and toughness. "The piece he came up with, titled "Park Avenue Beat," pulsed with the power of the big city and the swagger of a beefy hero played to perfection by actor Raymond Burr," wrote the Los Angeles Times. Described by Steiner as "a piece of symphonic rhythm and blues," the Perry Mason theme heard at the opening and end credits became the composer's best-known work.
I was in the midst of the final days of packing up the last family homestead in preparation for an early-September move when Warren and I decided to get married.
Warren and I had been planning to go to the justice of the peace.
But no!
At my cousins' insistence, the farewell party for me became a perfect garden wedding for Warren and me.
All I had to do that day was show up with my hair washed and my nice shoes, and step into the wedding dress. Somehow, in the midst of all the packing, Warren and I found time to go shopping for a suit and shirt for him. Everything else for our wedding was taken care of by my cousins, two of whom walked me down the path and gave me away.
Not a dry eye anywhere in the assembly or at the altar when Warren and I took our vows!
PS: One of the aforementioned cousins was in my first wedding as a flower girl—way back in 1972. The second time around, her eight-year-old granddaughter was our flower girl.
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The very first song that Warren and I ever danced to:
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) has now been dead longer than he was alive. Hard to believe!
The selection below originates from the 1700's French love song "Plaisir d'amour" and was updated by George Weiss and others for the 20th Century. Elvis first performed "Can't Help Falling in Love" in the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii, and his version went on to soar to the top of the Billboard charts and remain there for 20 straight weeks, a record which stood until Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1976).
Even today, over a half century later, Elvis's "Can't Help Falling in Love" is the most popular piece used by wedding couples for their first dance.
Note: the above song was the last song [Elvis] performed live, at his [last live] concert in Indianapolis at Market Square Arena on 26 June 1977.
One of my favorite movie themes, albeit a lesser-known one, by film composer Michael Gore and from the poignant, award-winning 1983 film Terms of Endearment:
Music to fit my mood lately (the 2021 political and social scenarios — and a major flare up of my ongoing-since-2016 neuropathic pain, aka "the suicide disease"):