Birthday boy

Today is Leonard Pennario's birthday and to my surprise, it was on Twitter without my putting it there!

Three pianists were on Twitter posting that it was Pennario's birthday. Well, two of them were pianists. I am not sure about the third one but she was a fan, anyway.

Pennario would have been 87 today. That is an early publicity shot of him up above. I used to laugh with him about how great looking he was.

I guess the odds of his surviving until now were pretty slim because of his Parkinson's, but when he was 83 he had a lot of life in him. Pennario had the kind of spirit that lasted. You could not accomplish what he accomplished without a bright and strong spirit. There was so much about life he still loved.

He would have loved it, pianists noting his birthday on Twitter. When he was alive, if he was mentioned on the Internet, I used to love to tell him. Once people got into a fight about a Leonard Pennario recording on YouTube. The person who loved the recording was flinging epithets at the person who hated it. I told Pennario about that and he got a big kick out of it.

Oh well. It will all be in the book!

This morning I listened to him playing this. I like how romantic he makes it. So many pianists make it sound angry. Pennario knew better. I love the turn he takes at ... hmmm.... 1:09. And the seductive sound he brings to the middle section.

My thanks go out to everyone who joins me in admiring Pennario's artistry on his birthday.

His spirit lives.