ZKV 56

 

ZKV56

 

       [...] Die ihr am goldnen Quelle

       Der sichern Jugend weilt,

       Denkt doch an die Forelle;

       Seht ihr Gefahr, so eilt! [...]

       (Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart)

 

I know why Pa loves ‘The Trout’ – it’s the chugging double bass in the first movement that sets him off. And later the long-held notes followed each time by an elegant flourish before the black-haired bow seeks the strings once more. He brings me to the work early on, before I have bought myself a gramophone, one of those with a centre spindle and arm, so that the records can drop down automatically, one with a two needles and a switch at the end of the pick-up, one for 78s and one for the 45s and 33s. And no more than two knobs on the front – an On/Volume one and a Tone one that ranges between the muffled and the shrieking. So, only one knob really.

The record sleeve has a blue band across the top with the title and a huge black&white close-up of a speckled trout. I have no idea that the famous theme is from a poem ‘Die Forelle’. The whole piece seems so utterly carefree – I want to be the pianist, happily tinkling away.

Thirty years later I find a section in the music library called ‘Minus One’ – records produced with one part omitted. And one of the records is ‘The Trout’. I hurry back home, put it on and listen to the first movement without the piano. Totally weird it sounds. I look at the score provided. A major. Looks a doddle. I discover in no time that I am technically completely unequipped to play with the others. I am the minus in minus one. Perhaps it was a good thing to learn that in middle life. The rest follows naturally.