“Oh, well, if you insist.”
“Look, I’ve sort of assumed you’d accompany me.”
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going and leaving you here, dumbass, if you don’t let me get this question out.”
He cleared his throat, straightened his face, and looked at me with perfect seriousness. “Yes, Dane, I’d be honored to accompany you at the recital. What are we playing?”
“That’s the second reason why I’m here. Brent gave me the music he wants me to work on for the recital. I thought we might play through it together.”
“Let’s see it.” I handed him the piano score. “Oh, Mahler, lovely!”
We worked for two hours and by the time we quit we’d both fallen in love with the piece. Kurt was wonderful, too. He made suggestions about phrasing that seemed perfect after we’d tried it but which hadn’t been obvious a
