Walter Piston

Passacaglia

I didn't know why this kept going through my head tonight until I remembered it was about this time of year I played it in a night recital while I was in college about forty years ago. I remember being so scared because it was the slowest thing I'd yet played in public and was having a hard time holding it together. By the last variation I was playing so loud that when I got done someone said they thought the piano lid was going to fall shut.

There isn't any indication of who the pianist is in this recording and I don't recognize it. Anyone know?

[Anthony McCarthy]

Update: I asked a friend who was in the audience that night if he remembered it. He asked me if I remembered how it took a few seconds for anyone to clap. "We couldn't believe a little shrimp like you could make so much noise". Shows you that making more noise is no substitute for control and coherence.