Brahms

 

Sometimes when I get on a writing jag, I put music on to play in the background.  Often, it's Brahms.

Back in the days of 4 track reel-to-reel tape recorders, the 60s, my sister presented me with a recording of the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto played by the famous Sviatoslav Richter.  In those days, the Soviet Union was a brutally repressive regime that made it difficult for its citizens, especially its famous and/or talented citizens, to travel abroad.  Often, they just wouldn't come back.  Richter had been offered a gig with the Chicago Symphony to record a few piano pieces including the Brahms PC#2.  It was that recording that introduced me to Brahms.  I didn't even unwrap it for nearly a year, but when I did and listened to it finally, I was awe-stricken.  It became such a favorite of mine that I probably damaged the tape by playing it as often as I did.

Twenty years ago in the heat of the Y2K 'crisis', I was working a contract in Houston for EXXON and living in an apartment.  I flew home for Christmas, planning to come back to work the last few days of the contract before packing the apartment into my car and driving home to Florida for the last time.  At Christmas, my girls gave me a CD of Brahms' 2nd and 3rd symphonies.  It went back to Houston with me and, with my car packed to the headliner, I slipped the disc into its player and began my 2-day journey home.

Between Houston and Oldsmar, I didn't change the disc.  I let it play on repeat-forever for 2 whole days.  It was that enchanting.  It is, to this day, one of my favorite CDs.  I'm listening to it now.

Thank you, ladies.