This Sunday morning as I prepare for work, I am listening to piano Concerto Number 3 by Bela Bartok on CBC radio, the last piece he wrote before dying of leukemia, and the last 17 bars of which he was unable to finish.
It is said he wrote it to provide his widow with an income. It is unusually melodic, introspective and sometimes playful with none of the percussive fireworks of some of his other pieces.
The performer is pianist Janina Fialkowska who lost the use of her left arm because of cancer, and played for two years with only one hand while she underwent surgery and therapy to regain the use of the other arm. This recording was her first performance with both hands after recovering.
This music puts things in perspective for me, and as I listen to it I get a chill running up and down my spine at the glimpse of the creative power of the human spirit.
It didn’t occur to me until I pulled up her website that I have seen her play before, and it was on September 20th last year (see my blog of the same date) at the Orpheum Theatre, in the company of my daughter Chaya who had comp tickets.
No wonder I got a chill listening to this piece, a lovely little sensation of déjà vu!
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Hey, Brother,
Glad you were inspired by a Hungarian composer! Did I ever tell you that I met Zoltan Kodaly briefly years ago? He was visiting New England and we drove all over three states looking for him. Finally found him in New Hampshire in a college town, having dinner with the Italian maestro who has been leading the CBC radio orchestra for the past I don't know how many years, Mario Bernardi.
Anyway, Kodaly came out and greeted the five Hungarian students in rumpled clothing who had been trying to track him down for days. He was very gracious and shook hands with all of us, who could only mutter what an honour it was to meet him. When he died a few years later, I wrote a letter of sympathy to his young, beautiful widow.
Only the other day I looked in the mirror and realized, consciously or unconsciously, that I was beginning to wear the same hair style that Kodaly sported in his later years. The man inspired me more than Bela Bartok, although they trudged through the Hungarian and surrounding countryside together c. 1905 collecting folk tunes.
Glad to read that your big fever is over, Baba, but please take care of your high blood pressure. I take three different pills each day to control mine.
Love,
Abdul Qadir
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