Re: [F_minor] the key of f minor for most of a recital!

[Brad Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

Back in October 2006 I wrote:
> Not directly related to Gould, but I thought this was interesting. There 
> has been a release of the piano recital that John Browning gave on the 
> same day that John F Kennedy died.  He changed whatever the original 
> program had printed, and announced his music from the stage as he went 
> along.  Almost every piece, for this whole recital, was in either F 
> minor or B-flat minor!
>
> http://www.amazon.com/John-Browning-Vol-I/dp/B000BDH55E

I'd like to report now: I went ahead and bought it, and it's terrific. 
Beautiful playing, and a solemn sense of occasion.  Browning gave a 
little speech at the beginning, asking that there be no applause for the 
entire recital *or* at the end (shades of Gould?!).

He also had the audience stand in reverence for the first piece, in 
honor of Kennedy, and that first piece was the Bach-Busoni transcription 
of "Ich ruf zu dir".

The recorded sound isn't great, and a couple of minutes are missing 
during one of the Chopin mazurkas -- the package claims there was 
irreparable tape damage.  But the magic of the playing comes through all 
this...and the whole recital is indeed in F minor, or closely related 
keys to that.

Browning was just 30 at the time.  The recital was in Williamsburg VA. 
It doesn't say what the original program was to have been, scheduled 
ahead for that evening.  For being short-notice selections, and the 
overall grief of the occasion, he played almost perfectly and with 
excellent concentration.


Brad Lehman
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