A New Take on an Old Invention

Today’s piano group “Works in Progress” ended on an interesting note. Hal, the host, had an entirely new take on the Bach Inventions.

A month ago I could not have pictured myself even showing up for this monthly gathering of amateur musicians who get together more or less monthly on Capitol Hill to entertain one another.

But I left myself plenty of time to drive to the beautiful house on the Hill where we were meeting, plenty of time to get up the front steps, plenty of time to try out the piano ahead of time.

When it was our turn Deborah and I played our Bottesini concerto, actually getting to the end without having to backtrack and start over, although leaving out her difficult cadenza this time. We’ll play it again next month, a little more polished.

I then played the Chopin mazurka I’ve been working on, once again reasonably well, at least well enough to put the dog and two 9-year-olds to sleep.

When it was Hal’s turn, he announced that he would play Bach’s Invention #13. But first he told a story about the piece that only a psychiatrist could “invent”. He described it as a dialog between a trial lawyer and a therapist, in which each becomes agitated and at one point learn to talk to each other. He gave it to us blow by blow and then played the piece, which was true to his description.

You never know what gems you are going to take away from this meeting of friends. But an added benefit of today’s session was the knowledge that I can now negotiate regular toilets. Life is indeed returning to normal.