{"id":370,"date":"2024-11-04T12:05:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/?post_type=episode_posts&p=370"},"modified":"2024-11-04T12:05:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:05:13","slug":"episode-5-chamonix","status":"publish","type":"episode_posts","link":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/?episode_posts=episode-5-chamonix","title":{"rendered":"Episode 5: Chamonix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chamonix\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

Ronald and I had met in London on 1 March 1982 while I was grieving the death of my father six months before.\u00a0 Our paths had taken us this way and that, different trajets<\/em> exploring our roles, our purposes.\u00a0 Most often the exploration was individual but sometimes we found ourselves together at the same time in the same place, where we could share the experience from each others\u2019 perspectives. [1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Twenty years later we were celebrating this meeting in Chamonix, where Ronald undertook his annual skiing pilgrimage.\u00a0 Because it was a special year, we had asked for a junior suite on the top floor of a lovely old hotel with magnificent views from every window.\u00a0 We could see the Mont Blanc in her splendor dominating the scene.\u00a0 We were spending two nights in this old-world luxury.<\/p>\n

The hotel had a beautiful large wood-panelled library and fireplace.\u00a0 And of course this was where I found the first piano.\u00a0 The second piano was in the bar, where music of a certain genre is played quietly in the background so that people can talk.\u00a0 Bar pianists all seem to have a tired and sad expression on their faces, no matter where they are in the world.\u00a0 Resigned might be a better word.<\/p>\n

Later in Bratislava I took to slipping into the pianists\u2019 seats when they took a smoke break at the bar of the empty hotel lounges if they gave me the nod.\u00a0 On at least two occasions, when I did this,\u00a0 it was as if they got an injection of something.\u00a0 They returned to their pianos and played as if they were someone else.\u00a0 Or rather they played like their real selves.\u00a0 It was glorious to be a catalyst for this visible and audible transformation.\u00a0 Their music was then real.\u00a0 They were real, honouring it.\u00a0 Shifting up in frequency.\u00a0 Smiling at themselves and at me.<\/p>\n

In Chamonix that evening in the empty library, as guests had gone to dinner in the adjacent dining room, I sat at a Playel<\/em> baby grand\u00a0 \u2013 in lovely condition and resonant.<\/p>\n

A different theme had started to appear recently. \u00a0Ronald had noticed and remarked on it.<\/p>\n

Gently, quite tentatively, it was beginning to explore the space around it like a new growth beginning to unfurl.\u00a0 And these early stirrings rang out in the library.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

I looked up suddenly, aware of a presence at the door.\u00a0 He was like an angel.\u00a0 A young golden boy, holding the hand of his grandfather whom he had summoned from the dining room to come and listen.\u00a0 What an image! He was almost glowing, transfixed.\u00a0 The music had literally struck a chord somewhere deep within him.\u00a0 An unseen thread connected us, this boy, his grandfather and I\u2026\u00a0 At the heart it felt like.<\/p>\n

In the dining room, we were amazed and delighted to find they had listed Arbois Savagnan<\/em> 1982, a most unusual white\/yellow\/straw wine.\u00a0 It was twenty years old.\u00a0 How perfect!\u00a0 We had found this wine years previously during our first encounter with different regions of France \u2013 the Arbois in the Jura was a well-kept secret.<\/p>\n

The hotel had two bottles of this vintage in the cave<\/em> and we had the second bottle the next evening, just as good.\u00a0 After our departure they would have needed to scratch it off their wine list\u00a0 \u2013 forever!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Tanzania 1988; Mozambique 1994; Bosnia 1997-98..<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> This theme was later recorded as \u2018Chamonix\u2019\u00a0 and in another slow version after Ronald\u2019s death as \u2018Au<\/p>\n

Revoir\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrating our 20 year wedding anniversary and finding pianos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":371,"template":"","categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","episode_posts","type-episode_posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-part-2-music-and-my-soul"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/episode_posts"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}