One of the pieces that always reminds me of my mom is October, by Eric Whitacre. My university ensemble played it during the second semester of my second year of university, when my mom was very ill with cancer, and going through chemo, surgery and a variety of other treatments for problems that kept cropping up (low potassium, needing blood transfusions, bladder/kidney issues resulting in catheterization, and the craziest one-when her left lung pleura filled with 5 litres of fluid...we never found out what could have caused that one)
At that time in my university career, my rehearsals were on tuesday evenings (and thursday afternoons at 4, but we didn't really rehearse the pieces then...it's a long story). I would usually be at the university for about 13.5 hours on tuesdays, and with my mom going through everything, and me not having a cell phone at that point to be contacted in case of an emergency, those 13 or more hours definitely stretched themselves out pretty crazily. Naturally, in pieces that tend to be more emotional, I would start thinking of my mom. October is definitely one of those pieces. Despite what my friend D (a composer) thinks, I personally think that it is both beautiful AND well composed.
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