Music as Meditation
An Evening in the Country

Crickets begin to sing louder in late August. The sound is lovely, if ever-present in the open-windowed house. It signals the inexorable march of the calendar toward the time when nights will turn cool and the daylight will be in short supply. Though the season turns relentlessly to the cool and dark time of year, it is filled with sweetness. The abundance of garden, field, and forest surrounds us and we bask in the sunshine even as we plan for winter. September's Music as Meditation shares these ideas. The concert takes place at Christ Episcopal Church at 5 PM on Sunday, September 2.

Béla Bartȯk captured the feel of one of those long country evenings filled with the songs of crickets in a piano piece he composed for his album called Ten Easy Pieces. There is a languid melody punctuated by firefly dances--at least that's what I always picture. Bach's counterpoint captures inevitable change filled with beauty; I will play a fugue found in the music notebook J.S. Bach gave to his wife Anna Magdalena Bach. This fugue might be called the appogiatura fugue for its use of that expressive figure so like sighing. 

My friend Chris Nourse, violinist, joins me to play some pieces from a film version of A Secret Garden composed by Rolf Lovland. These pieces are exceedingly sweet and have something in common with the recently-completed second movement of my second piano Sonata. I'll share this piece on Sunday; the strains of which are sweet enough to make the listener appreciate silence at the end.