Today I’m presenting you with the track Remembrance May Recover Variation by the American composer and piano player Reagan Fabry. Reagan started to play the piano at the age of 11, and he started after he lost hearing in one of her ears after an infection. In 2018 he started composing music for the piano.
This track is part of the album The Del Prado Variations, released July 6 2020.
Tell us something about your track Remembrance May Recover Variation!
In December, my friend’s daughter asked me if I would write a song for each of her three guinea pigs. In June, I wrote this piece on her piano while she was in Peru for one month and I was taking care of her house and pets. I read Swinburne and spent time by her pool. I tried to write something that captured the pigs’ essence, but there didn’t seem to be anything to capture, nothing behind their eyes which never close, their eyes which look perpetually stuck in a moment of horror. Except perhaps for Cinnamon, who would rest in my hands when I held her, and even seemed grateful when I fed her. I felt a wave of disappointment and sought instead for discarded, unfinished pieces that I could build upon. But this failed, too. I couldn’t recall the feelings which had brought me the melodies so important back then. Had I forgotten them completely? After distracting myself petting Cinnamon and making sure she was happy, I found my way back to Swinburne: “Remembrance may recover / And time bring back to time / The name of your first lover, / The ring of my first rhyme; / But rose-leaves of December / The frosts of June shall fret, / The day that you remember, / The day that I forget.” Some time later I wandered back to my computer and began composing without any memories to lead me astray. I stumbled on a languid pattern I associate with the hills and valleys of memory and epiphany and which became the basis for the track I share with you now. While I was taking care of my friend’s pets, Cinnamon became ill and passed away. I’d like to dedicate this song to her. “Light love’s extinguished ember, / Let one tear leave it wet / For one that you remember / And ten that you forget.”
Thank you Reagan!
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