Select Music Recordings

Egons studied music and performed solo piano at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a graduate student in musicology. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any recordings of that performance, nor of his many no doubt accomplished recitals at Ward Hall at the Catholic University of America, where he studied. 

Music played a huge part in Egons’ life so it seems appropriate to share some recordings of his playing here. At the time of Egons’ death it was not at all clear that any recordings of his playing still existed. I knew that when I was five or six years old he had made a home recording of himself playing piano. I had grown used to hearing the melodies and cadences of the classical pieces he was practicing into the night as I went to sleep. So, when my maternal grandmother planned a trip for her and I to spend a week or more away from home to visit relatives, Egons prepared a cassette tape for me to listen to when I went to bed in unfamiliar places. I remember that it contained my favourite piece at the time — something I later knew to be Rhapsodie by Brahms. I remember attending a backyard barbecue on what was probably the last day of our trip. As day succumbed to twilight, the evening revealed to me the existence of fireflies. Lots of them. I had never seen them before, and now it seemed that the entire sky was filled with their magical glow. I had listened to dad’s recording throughout that trip but that particular night, falling to sleep after discovering fireflies, stands out in my memory. 

 Long story short: the tape he made for me still exists. After Egons passed away I spent days looking through old family photos and documents. When exploring a high shelf in his home office, I discovered a shoe box full of cassette tapes. Two of them stood out for me: one was dated 1978, the other 1984. The one dated 1978 was the tape he had made for me. I hadn’t heard it since the night of the fireflies. 

The piano recordings shared here are not from formal performances but, instead, home recordings that Egons made himself on cassette tape using whatever equipment he had to hand. The first is the tape he made in 1978 to serve as a letter from home to a young child. The second, from 1984, is from after he had earned his second masters degree — this one in arts administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison — and started along the path of his career with Proctor & Gamble. He’s practicing for a performance, however, and this one is subtly marked by the presence of another child: my younger brother Richards, who is two years old at the time and can be heard in the original recording punctuating the space between songs with exuberant outbursts.

The 1978 recording surprised me when I listened to it again for the first time. It’s not just Ravel and Chopin. It’s interspersed with nods to songs I knew from my childhood: the theme from the Spiderman series televised at that time, a riff on the famous melody line that served as communication between humans and extra-terrestrials in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind — which we saw in the theatre together. Davy Crockett, Chattanooga Choo Choo and Swinging on the Star — songs people sang to me when I was a toddler. I had not remembered that he had woven all these elements into the recording, let alone that it was done so effortlessly. In some ways I love these recordings because they demonstrate such a striking thoughtfulness and playfulness, and because of that they speak in a way that a formal performance could not. 

I’ve done what I can to capture and improve the original recordings without compromsing on the dynamics of the performances. The background noise and static are still present to some degree, but speak to the age of the recordings and the devices used to record them. 

—

Spiderman/Close Encounters Medley. The 1978 tape starts with this.

Brahms Rhapsodie, Davy Crockett, Schumann Fantasiestücke, Op.12: Aufschwung

Chattanooga Choo Choo and a piece I’m still trying to identify

Ravel Jeux d’eau. This is amazing, and the 1978 tape ends with it. I can imagine my younger self finally finding sleep as this lilting piece reaches its conclusion.

The following are from the 1984 practice tape:

Chopin Etude Op10 No3 in E Major ‘Tristesse’

Chopin Prelude Op28 No17 in A Flat Major (Alegretto)

Ravel Sonatine I. Modere. Not only a beautiful piece but probably my favourite recording in terms of young Richards’ voice in the background throughout — and the sound of domestic chores in the background. It really feels like a moment in a life.

Chopin Op10 No5 ‘Black Key’ Etude. This was another favourite when I was younger because of it’s frolicking exhuberence.

Beethoven Piano Sonata No17 in D Minor, Op13 No2 ‘Tempest’ (Alegretto)

—

The shoe box of cassette tapes in Egons’ home office also contained two live recordings from a couple of the bands he played in while a student: Boxcar and Musique. I will endeavour to capture and post selections from those at a later date. 

Lastly: if you have any recordings of Egons playing music — from a recital, a club or a church, please reach out and share them!

Kris Plavnieks, Sept 2021