Why is it, I wonder, that the one thing in the world that soothes and refreshes me more reliably than anything else is to play Aaron Copland's "Saturday Night Waltz" (from Rodeo) on the piano?
Even on my poor old piano, with its stuck keys and other issues, there is something about this piece -- which I first played something like twenty years ago now, good heavens -- that does wonders for my spirit.
The piece is deceptively simple in its harmonies and construction, like much Copland. But that final, crystalline open fifth that just hovers above the rest of the final chords ... something about it just gets me every time.
Even after twenty years, I have all but a bit in the middle memorized. I may have played it with more technical facility then, when I took lessons and practiced regularly, but I know I play it with more feeling and more meaning now.
(I'm using this icon because I was sitting on the bench of the piano I have now when this photo was taken.)
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