“I see.” Meyers thought for a moment. “I’ll tell you how we’re going to begin. I’m going to give you some CDs to play.”
Lara watched him walk over to a shelf and pull down some compact discs.
“We’ll start with these. I want you to listen carefully to the allegro in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. Twenty-one in C, Kochel 467, and the adagio in Brahms Piano Concerto No. One, and the moderato in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. Two in C Minor, Opus Eighteen, and finally, the romanze in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. One. They’re all marked.”
“Right.”
“If you would like to play these and come back in a few days…”
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
The following day, when Lara came in, she was carrying half a dozen CDs of Philip Adler’s concerts and recitals.
“Ah, splendid!” Professor Meyers said. “Maestro Adler is the best. You are particularly interested in his playing?”
“Yes.”
“The maestro has recorded many beautiful sonatas.”
“Sonatas?”
He sighed. “You don’t know what a sonata is?”
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
“A sonata is a piece, usually in several movements, that has a certain basic musical form. And when that form is used in a piece for a solo instrument, like a piano or violin, the piece is called a sonata. A symphony is a sonata for orchestra.”
“I understand.” That shouldn’t be difficult to work into a conversation.
“The piano was originally known as the pianoforte. That is Italian for ‘soft-loud’…”
They spent the next few days discussing tapes that Philip had recorded—Beethoven, Liszt, Bartok, Mozart, Chopin.
Lara listened, and absorbed, and remembered.
“He likes Liszt. Tell me about him.”
“Franz Liszt was a boy genius. Everyone admired him. He was brilliant. He was treated like a pet by the aristocracy, and he finally complained that he had become on par with a juggler or a performing dog.…”
“Tell me about Beethoven.”
“A difficult man. He was such an unhappy person that in the middle of his great success he decided he didn’t like the work that he had done, and he changed to longer and more emotional compositions, like the Eroica and the Pastoral.…”
“Chopin?”
“Chopin was criticized for writing music for the piano, so the critics of his day called him limited…”
Later: “Liszt could play Chopin better than Chopin could…”
Another day: “There’s a difference between French pianists and American pianists. The French like clarity and elegance. Traditionally, their technical schooling is grounded in jeu perlé—perfectly pearly evenness of articulation with a steady wrist…”
Each day they played one of Philip’s recordings and discussed it. At the end of the two weeks Professor Meyers said, “I must confess that I’m impressed, Miss Cameron. You are a truly dedicated pupil. Perhaps you should take up an instrument.”
Lara laughed. “Let’s not get carried away.” She handed him a check. “Here you are.”
She could not wait for Philip to return to New York.
Chapter Twenty
The day started with good news. Terry Hill called.
“Lara?”
“Yes?”
“We just heard from the Gaming Commission. You’ve got your license.”
“That’s wonderful, Terry!”
“I’ll go over the details when I see you, but it’s a green light. Apparently you impressed the hell out of them.”
“I’ll get everything started right away,” Lara said. “Thanks.”
Lara told Keller what had happened.
“That’s great. We can sure use the cash flow. That will take care of a lot of our problems..”
Lara looked at her calender. “We can fly there on Tuesday and get things moving.”
Kathy buzzed her. “There’s a Mr. Adler on line two. Shall I tell him…?”
Lara was suddenly nervous. “I’ll take it.” She picked up the telephone. “Philip?”
“Hello. I’m back.”
“I’m glad.” / missed you.
“I know it’s short notice, but I wondered whether you might be free for dinner this evening.”
She had a dinner engagement with Paul Martin. “Yes. I’m free.”
“Wonderful. Where would you like to dine?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“La Cote Basque?”
“Fine.”
“Why don’t we meet there? Eight o’clock?”
“Yes.”
“See you tonight.”
When Lara hung up, she was smiling.
“Was that Philip Adler?” Keller asked.
“Uh-huh. I’m going to marry him.”
Keller was looking at her, stunned. “Are you serious?”