Selected Soundtrack – South Vietnam 2012
“A Step Back in Time”

Training at the Harlem YMCA

“In another development for life-long use, I learned that if one plays the ‘Internationale’ five times back-to-back, you can handle anything the bastards throw at you.”

The Red Army Choir performs
“The Internationale”

Cokes all around, with the lotto sellers at “Harry’s”

“I reminded myself that when I return I must bring some Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Wagner’s Overture to ‘The Flying Dutchman.’”

J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concertos No.1-6
Orchestra Mozart
Claudio Abbado, Conductor
Giuliano Carmignola, Principal Violin

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in
E-flat Major, Op. 73 “Emperor”
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis, Conductor
Yvgeny Kissin, Piano

Mozart Clarinet Concerto in
A Major, K. 622
Danmarks Radio SymfoniOrkestret
Thomas Sondergaard, Conductor
Martin Frost, Basset Clarinet

Wagner Overture to
“The Flying Dutchman”
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter, Conductor

Recalling Richard Clayderman at “Harry’s”

[Coming off the Li Jang River] “Still on a high from the river I noticed the pianist playing many romantic songs in a very distinct style, including a song that would turn out to be Richard Clayderman’s ‘Murmures.’”

Richard Clayderman plays “Murmures”

“Play It Again” at “Harry’s”

“While at Harry’s on the evening of the third day, I heard a Clayderman song and asked the owner to play it again, and he did.”

Richard Clayderman plays
“Ballade Pour Adeline”

A Dark Night in the Central Highlands

[Summer Session at UVA Law School] “As we got to the top of the stairs, some guy started playing, loudly, some discordant, weird, powerful and haunting music.”

Mussorgsky “Night on Bald Mountain”
New York Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein, Conductor

“I had recently discovered Mozart’s ‘Piano Concerto 20’—and who doesn’t know 21—and its haunting first movement was burned into my soul.”

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in
D Minor, K. 466
Camerata Salzburg
Mitsuko Uchida, Conductor and Piano

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in
C Major, K. 467
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, Conductor
Dinu Lipatti, Piano

“On that desolate mountain in the Central Highlands the eeriness of the Mussorgsky, and Beethoven’s equally haunting cadenza to Piano Concerto 20, were companionship enough.”

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in
D Minor, K. 466
Camerata Salzburg
Mitsuko Uchida, Conductor and Piano
Beethoven’s Cadenza at 11:50 minutes

A Small Café in A Loui

“After my second Coke I noticed the music sounded familiar—it was Clayderman playing “Rhapsody in Blue”, to my mind the anthem of New York.”

Richard Clayderman plays
“Rhapsody in Blue”