This ended up taking most of the rest of the morning. When Eileen left for work, I went over to the church and practiced for a bit. Came home and got right back to work on the piece.  I looked up just before 1:00 or so and realized that Eileen was going to walk in momentarily for her lunch hour.

I got weird the other day and decided to learn a couple of Saint-Saens organ works to perform a week from Sunday.

I landed on him because I invited a soloist to sing a solo by him.

The gospel that Sunday is Jesus speaking to the storm and saying, “Peace, be still.”

I figure that this little song about protection kind of fits the readings.

I also figure that Saint-Saens is an aesthetic match for tastes in my congregation that I am not all that drawn to (i.e. the romantic, the rilly romantic).

I know the singer will enjoy rendering this.  I think it’s make a nice balance to some of my other more “quirky” choices.

The organ pieces are Prelude in B Major, Opus 99, No. 2, and “Allegro giocoso” from Seven Improvisations for Organ. These are tough little pieces to learn in two weeks but doable.

This guy is actually going slower than I was thinking of going. Finding recordings slower than my own interpretations is pretty rare for me.

Here’s a recording of the other piece.

In the afternoon I drove out to the lake where my piano student lives in a lavish home and gave him his first lesson of the summer. He winters in D.C. We have been working together for some time. He has learned most if not all of Faure’s Barcarolles.

Two old men sitting at a piano.

Today is Eileen’s and  my 37th Wedding Anniversary. I bought some flowers last night and decided it was silly to hide them and surprise her this morning. This is what I usually do with stuff. So to break pattern I left them on the table so we could begin enjoying them earlier. I told her it was my gift to both of us. This is really the truth.