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Sunday Morning (59) Playing with a needle
Sunday Morning (59) Playing with a needle
Sifting through some video’s I made, I found this one, from me playing the piano.
Three things are special for me about this video:
- It is music from the Catalan composer Frederic Mompou (1893-1987), who was inspired in his compositions by the Christian mystic and Spanish priest St. John of the cross (1542 – 1591). Mompou tries to convey stillness with his music. Listening to his work is a spiritual experience for us. I wrote a Tale about Mompou on our website, you can read it here. There are many great music video’s of Mompou (almost all piano music) on the tube. You will find some links in my Tale.
Originally, this composition was inspired by a poem from Josep Janés called Damunt de tu nomes les flors (above you, only flowers) and it was set to music by Mompou as song with piano accompaniment. I translated the poem from Catalan into Dutch (comparing it to other translations, because I don’t speak Catalan at all), it’s is on our website too here.
It is projected on a beautiful drawing that Debbie made especially for the poem, which is about the corps of a girl, covered in flowers at the burial, and the poet wishing to be the sigh of those flowers, so that he could be with her eternally. I so much love the melody, that I made my own arrangement of the song, for piano solo. When I was ready, I recorded it on 7 April 2015, in our living room, on our piano Yamaha U3, just using my mobile phone placed on the piano, looking downward. I extracted the audio file of it too, only sound, so you can listen to that here on our website if you prefer.
- The perspective of my hands only, mostly the left hand by the way. I find it intriguing to look at the hands moving very carefully along the keyboard, even without the sound. The reason for my soft movements is the next point:
- At the time of the movie recording, I was enjoying a course of intravenous antibiotics, the uncomfortable needle of which was put slightly wrong into my left wrist, so I had to accommodate by keeping my hand as steady as possible to avoid pain. You can hear the sound of the intravenous pump squeaking every fifteen seconds, which is a nice touch. And the clock was ticking too. Still, I enjoyed this recording and the music making very much. It was in fact one of my last IV courses, in August 2015, after having twenty or so in two and a half years, I was so lucky to break a couple of ribs falling down the stairs and I a started diclofenac as a painkiller for a couple of months. The anti inflammatory effect of the drug was so strong, that to my (and my doctors) surprise, my lungs calmed down considerably and no further IV’s were necessary. I could manage the inflammation and infection with oral antibiotics since. Grace. Of course, after starting Kaftrio 8 months ago, I don’t even need oral antibiotics anymore. More Grace. It’s a miracle how Oneness moves through us. This movie is becoming even more of a dear prehistoric document for me in that respect as well.
I hope you enjoy the video, the music, the Tale about Mompou and have a great Sunday!
Cheers,
Paul
PS What do you think about the melody? I think it’s to die for (later). I heard the Irish comedian Dave Allen (1936 – 2005) recently in an old recording. He said: “I love getting older, particularly considering the alternative. I am looking forward to be looking back on my old age”. That’s priceless.
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