Happy Anniversary

Today’s blog is a very brief tribute to Keith on our Wedding Anniversary.

Thank you for thirty-nine years of making beautiful music together. From our first musical “grand” experience until now, you have blessed me. (I turned pages for Keith while he played bass in a performance.) Your passion for classical music, as well as other genres, infiltrated my limited typical teenage repertoire. Whether you were playing Shostakovich on your record player or Chicago on your car’s 8 track player, we were always surrounded with music.

Here, dear friends, is just one musical memory from our wedding ceremony. Keith and I chose Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in d minor” for the prelude. I made sure to be ready fifteen minutes early so that I could stand outside the sanctuary in order to hear every note on the church pipe organ. The swelling bass in the beginning measures still “thrills and chills” me every time I hear it. I mean every time.
As I heard the music in my head this morning, I wondered if anyone ever plays it on piano. Sure enough, I found a YouTube recording by German-born Caudius Tanski (see below). His performance was outstanding. It was a thrill to watch his hands on the keyboard as I enjoyed the music. Whether on piano or organ, the “Toccata” always fills me with overflowing joy as I remember our special day, June 25, 1974.

 

 
“Life is Grand”

Joann