Beautiful match

Arioso; J.S. Bach

Now, here is a mystery. I can give a likely account of why I chose to download J. S. Bach’s beautiful Arioso onto my iPod. One word: wedding. I’ve played this music so often that I don’t need the printed music anymore. Let me assure you, however, that it’s nice, good and convenient to have a recording on hand, just for a refresher before heading for the gig.

But, why I chose this version is beyond my capacity for reckoning. There are sooooo many versions of this brilliant little gem on iTunes. I could have chosen an orchestral version, a piano version, a string quartet version, a brass quintet version, a woodwind sextet version, a saxophone septet version, maybe even a Mormon Tabernacle Choir version.

Tonight, after a warm, outdoor, three-hour, under-a-tent, in-front-of-a-fan, one-hundred-and-two-percent-humidity, silent-auction, fund-raiser reception, it’s nice to unwind with a harp and flute version of Mr. Bach’s Arioso. Talk about a match made in heaven: flute and harp. They sound so good together that one could easily assume that God invented each for the other.

The Clinton White House so loved the sound of flute and harp, indeed, requested the combination so often that the US Marine Band had to acquire a second harpist to keep up with the load. W. A. Mozart loved the pairing enough that he wrote a whole concerto for flute, harp and orchestra. I love the integration of the two musical instruments, too, and I have them on my iPod.

Credits: To brides and grooms, everywhere, who chose this lovely work to open their marriage ceremony. It’s such a nice break from Canon in D by Pachelbel, and so much more appropriate than Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road”.