eleven for dad

Goodness me, what is happening to me? 

Two posts in a row focused on music?  That is waaay beyond my expertise and comfort level.















But today is the eleventh anniversary of my father’s death.  He was a polished concert pianist, as a teenager — and then a bit of a perfectionist about it all when I was a teenager.  There was to be no talking when he played the piano!  On one long winter holiday in Delhi I remember a piano-appreciation session in which he took us through different pieces, explaining them in some detail to us. 

This last New Year’s Day we took my mother for a drive.  I turned on Concert FM, hoping to find some ambient memory-sparking classical piano music for her to enjoy.  Her immediate response was, “You know Dad never played music in the car.”  “What? Why?”, was my response.  “Because the noise of the car on the road interfered too much with the music.”  Yikes.  Is it any wonder that my own piano career never took off — alongside the minor matter of being in such a small boarding school that my piano teacher, F. Sharp, doubled-up as my cricket coach.  It was difficult to stay on topic… 

Great musicians tended to pass through Delhi in those days and Dad would drag us along to a concert here and there.  On one occasion it was Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline Du Pre, which will make a few readers salivate.  On another occasion, the long, tedious evening finally came to a close.  I stood up and started walking down the row towards the ‘exit’, overwhelmed by relief.  And I clapped, as you do, as I walked — and over the years, Dad was always quick to remind me of the night I offered a standing ovation.  

However, in these years since Dad passed away, I’ve absolutely loved listening to classical piano pieces.  They are my favourite companion while I work.  I love to recline my chair on a plane, as much as I can (!),  and listen to it for hours.  When I signed-up to Spotify, I developed a ‘Classical’ playlist (23hr 53min and counting — seven minutes short of a day!), loading it with pieces that remind me of Dad — and all these years later I can still become misty-eyed as I listen. 

So on this eleventh anniversary, I offer eleven (shorter) pieces for Dad.  When I think of him as a pianist, it is always Chopin that comes to mind.  So we’ll both open and close with a couple of Chopin pieces — and then find seven different composers to place in the sandwich.  Enjoy.  

1. Here is 13 year old Tiffany Poon playing Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat Minor, Op.9 No.1

2. And Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Major Op.9 No.2


3. Kreisler-Rachmaninov’s Liebeslaid (“Love’s Sorrow”)


4. Liszt’s Liebestraum #3 (“Love’s Dream”)


5. Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F-major, Op.102 No.2 

6. Schubert’s Ständchen (“Serenade”)



7. Schumann’s Träumerei (Kinderszenen Op.15 No.7)


8. Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte (“Pavane for a Dead Princess”)


9. Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhaugen


And back to Chopin for the final two… it is hard to beat those Nocturnes!

10. Chopin’s Nocturne in D flat major, Op.27 No.2

11. And the ‘show off’ piece from Chopin—Étude Op. 10, No. 12 in C minor

Thanks, Dad — and nice chattingPaulPS: But, of course, just as every letter needs a PS, and every First Eleven needs ‘a twelfth man’, so also does every musical performance need an encore.  How can I reach the end of a post like this without a mention of the three supreme piano concertos which I will always associate with Dad — Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Grieg.Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2 in C-minor  — here with 36 million views…

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1 in B-flat 

Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A-minor — played by Arthur Rubenstein himself

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About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

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3 Comments

  1. Mark Windsor on August 10, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    Well written, Paul. Your memory is better than mine but there are many pieces that remind me of Dad. I will enjoy listening to your choices.

  2. the art of unpacking on August 11, 2022 at 3:54 am

    Like I say, I don't remember Dad playing all of these pieces — but most of them are from the (post) romantic period which I find has such soul and emotion in it, something I associate with him. Thanks, Mark

  3. Andres Jaramillo on September 27, 2024 at 4:18 am

    Thank you for sharing, Paul!… These memories are sacred. Finding the beauty of God through music, and even more so through fatherhood, is something rare, yet profound and transformative. A big hug in the company of the piano.

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