Desert Island Music

 I was reading a short story this morning by Haruki Murakami titled "Carnival" from his collection First Person Singular. In the story, a man meets a woman regularly and though they develop no romantic interest in one another, they discover a keen mutual interest in classical music. At one point, the question arises as to which classical piece of music you would want to bring along with you if you were stranded on a deserted island. They arrive at the same answer: a piano composition called Carnival, by Robert Schumann.

When I came home after reading this, I looked up Carnival on YouTube and played the piece, or at least some of the peace. My conclusion was that I would never choose this piece to have with me on a deserted island. Now I suppose that if one had nothing else to do and nothing else to hear in the way of music, this piece would be certainly better than nothing, and though it is a boring piece, to my ear anyway, I suppose that it could become quite entertaining as compared with silence.

That said, however, I determined for myself that when and if I should ever be stranded on a deserted island, I would much rather bring along a piece by Ravel called Scarbo, from his suite Gaspard de la nuit. This is known to be among the most difficult pieces to perform, and indeed so is Schumann's Carnival. But Scarbo is just much more to my taste. Its swift, captivating phrases catch you off guard, its range of rhythms and moods. Moreover, I would insist of the performance of Katie Liu.

It's something to keep in mind just in case.