The Piano

 There is a movie of this name that came out around 1993. Won 36 awards including three Oscars and a Golden Globe. But I never intend to watch this movie because it is sad.

"After a long voyage from Scotland, pianist Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) and her young daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin), are left with all their belongings, including a piano, on a New Zealand beach. Ada, who has been mute since childhood, has been sold into marriage to a local man named Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill). Making little attempt to warm up to Alisdair, Ada soon becomes intrigued by his Maori-friendly acquaintance, George Baines (Harvey Keitel), leading to tense, life-altering conflicts."

If you don't want to know what happens at the end because you think you might see this movie, skip this next paragraph:

"At the end of the 1993 movie, Holly Hunter's mute character Ada McGrath throws herself into the sea tied to her beloved piano. But rather than allow herself to drown, she fights back to the surface and goes on to have a settled life with her daughter, Flora, and lover Baines, played by Harvey Keitel."

But that's not what this post is about.

In 1994 I saw ads on TV about an album called Pure Moods. It was a compilation album (in my case, cassette tape because I didn't have a CD player) and it had really beautiful songs on it. I loved this cassette and played it often; then I finally upgraded to a CD and it was even better. But after awhile other music took over and I forgot all about Pure Moods.

Until one day last year. I was having a day and Pink Floyd just wasn't cutting it. I perused YouTube and came across Pure Moods. I hadn't heard it in forever, so decided to go down that memory lane.  YouTube was kind enough to list all 17 of the songs. I remembered most of them, but not all so it would be good to refresh my memory.  As the songs played and I worked, I was glad I had put this on. Then came the 16th song...

As God is my witness, I had no recollection of ever hearing this song before.  I looked at the list: it was something called "The Heart Seeks Pleasure First" by Michael Nyman. It wasn't familiar at all. However, it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. It's mostly just piano, and it turns out that it is from the movie "The Piano".

I stopped everything I was doing to listen to this song. And all I could think was, "I bet Robin could have played this song to perfection." No doubt: being the classically trained pianist that she was before she died. I wondered if she had ever heard this song before. I felt in my heart that she had.

I downloaded the song onto my phone. I have it as my ringtone. And when I'm having a day, I put on the half-hour extended version of this song and think of Robin. And I feel her presence, which makes me happy. 𝄞𝄠𝄟 And that's what this post is about.