The Nocturnes of John Field: A Story

The
story
behind
it
is
that
I
had
done
some
Beethoven
recordings
and
I
was
just
up
in
Cleveland
about
to
do
another
Beethoven
recording
of
some
obscure sonatas. Bob
called
me
and
it
was
1988,
it
was
10
years
after
Telarc
was
founded.
The
local
classical
music
station
in
Cleveland
decided –
 
Bob
Conrad
was
the
host – 
he
was
going
to
devote
a
whole
morning
to
Telarc and
Happy
Birthday
Telarc for
10
years. And
so
Bob
said
to
me, 
“you
know
you’re
coming
up
to
do
this
recording
anyway, would
you
play
three
15-minute
segments
during
the
live
broadcast?”
And
I
said
sure.
I
flew
up
the
day
before
and
my
flight
was
delayed
so
Bob had sent
a
car to
me.  The
flight
was
late
so
the
driver
picked
me
up
and
was
driving
me
to
where
I
was
staying
and
we
drove
past
this
shopping
mall.
And
he
said,
“that’s
where
you’re
recording
tomorrow”
and
I
said,
“pardon?”
And
I
thought
you
know
I
mean
I’ve
recorded
in
lots
of
radio
stations
all
around
America,
all
around
Europe,
but
I’ve
never
recorded
in
a
shopping
mall!
I
thought
okay,
maybe
they
have
a
studio
in
the
shopping
mall.
And
I
went
to
bed
that
night
and
Bob
was
picking
me
up
for
breakfast
the
next
morning.
I
had
been
thinking
about
this
and
I
said
“Bob,
where
am
I
recording
this?”
And
he
said,
“Didn’t
I
tell
you?”
I
said,
“No.”
He
said,
“Oh,
it’s
a
shopping
mall.
It’s
a
very
nice
shopping
mall.
It’s
a
very
upmarket
shopping
mall.”
I
said,
“Am
I
playing
in
the
mall?”
He
said,
“Yes.”
So
to
placate
me,
he
bought
me
breakfast,
brought
me
along
to
Telarc
and
said,
“Take
as
many
CDs
as
you
want.”
And
brought
me
along
to
the
shopping
mall.

And
there
I
was
in
the
middle
of
a
shopping
mall.
And
there
was
a
piano
there
and
I
was
recording
one
thing
at
10:00,
one
at
11:15,
and
one
at
12:30.
So
at
10
o
‘clock
I
decided
I
was
going
to
record
a
Haydn
Sonata.
Bob
Conrad
introduced
me
and
I
went
and
I
sat
down
and
people
were
wandering
around
and
I
was
playing
live
out
to
all
of
these
how
many
millions
listening,
I
don’t
know.
And
a
lady
came
out
from
the
shop
behind
said
“gee,
this
is
nice.
I
wonder if
they’re
going
to
do
this
every
Saturday?”
And
you
know,
I
was
trying
to
ignore
all
of
the
people
wandering
around,
knowing
this
was
going
out
live.
And
I
had
to
keep
going.
So
I
decided
to
play
to
this
guy
who
sat
down
and
was
looking
at
me.
And
I
said,
okay
I
play
to
him
and
I’d
ignore
everybody
else.
And
I
got
halfway
through
the
second
movement
and
his
wife
came
along
and
said,
“Harry,
I’m
finished!”
So
he
stood up
and
left.

So
I
thought,
you
know,
this
is
an
extraordinary
experience.
I
had
never
gone
through
this
before!
So
anyway,
I
finished
the
Sonata
and
I
was…
Bob
Conrad
thought
it
was
great,
blah, blah,
I’ll
see
you
at
11:15
and
I
said
okay.
And
I
had
said
that
I
would
play
one
of
the
Beethoven Sonatas 
I
was
going
to
record.
And
I
decided
no,
nobody
wants
to
hear
an
obscure
Beethoven Sonata in
a
shopping
mall
on
a
Saturday
morning.
So
I
said
I
was
going
to
play
three
John
Field
Nocturnes.
And
Bob
Conrad
said,
“that
sounds
wonderful.”

And
of
course
Bob, Telarc Bob, 
looked
at
me
and
said,
“What?”
And
I
said,
“I’m
doing
this,
that’s
it!”
So
Bob
Woods 
sat
down
and
simmered
and
I
played
three
John Field Nocturnes.
And
people
came
up
to
me,
they
said,
“my
god,
they’re
beautiful –
have
you
made
a
recording
of
those
and
they’re
absolutely
beautiful
and
they’re
tremendous!”
And
people
were
phoning
in to
Bob
Conrad
and
said,
“they’re
absolutely
magical
music
and
we’ve never
heard
them
before”
and
all
the
rest
of
it.
And
Bob
Woods
looked
at
me
and
said,
“You
did
that
on
purpose.”
And
I
said,
“Of
course
I
did.”
Because
he
had
said
to
me,
“Is
there
anything
else
you
want
to
record?”
And
I
said,
“John
Field Nocturnes.”
He
said,
“No.”
Just
like
that.
So
after
it
had
finished,
he
came
over
to
me
and
I
said,
“Well,
what
do
you
think?”
He
said,
“Let
me
think
about
it.”
So
for
the
12:30
recording
he
came
over
to
me
and
said,
“one
of
the
things
that
he wanted
me
to
do of
all
the
Beethoven
sonatas
with
you
is
your
recording
of
the
Moonlight
Sonata.
Can
you
really
play
the
last
movement
of
that
speed?”
And
I
said,
“Yes.”
So
he
said,
“Fine.
Do
that
at
1230.”
And
I
said,
“Fine.”
And
I
played
the
whole
thing
and
got
through
it
and
got
to
the
end
of
it.

And
so
we
went
and
had
lunch.
And
I
looked
at
Bob
Woods
and
said,
“Well?”
He
said,
“Look,
you’re
doing
another
recording
next
February.
If
I
tag
on
two
days,
could
you
do
a
Field
CD
in
that
time?”
I
said,
“Yes.”
So
he
said,
“Okay.”
So
we
recorded
the
following
February
and
Jack
Renner
was
walking
around
sort
of
saying,
“It’s
all
very
nice
but
nobody
will
buy
it.
This
is
ridiculous.
What
are
we
doing
this
far?
blah
blah
blah
blah
blah.”

And
then
it
came
out
and
it
hit
the
Billboard
charts
and
sat
in
the
Billboard
charts
for
about
15
weeks
or
something
as
one
of
the
top
selling
classical
CDs
in
the
country.
And
I
phoned
up
Bob
Woods
and
I
said,
“See?”
He
said,
“Shut
up.”
Or
something
to
that effect.