Oh What a Beautiful Morning

It has happened twice now, that a gorgeous sunny morning here in Southern France has prompted a "Radio Classique" disk jockey to play the rich, full, resonating voice of Bryn Terfel belting out "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein song from Oklahoma. That is to say, I have caught it twice. Maybe they do it a lot more often.

The weird thing about this is that everything else on Radio Classique is in French. The announcers, the ads, the news. Or else it's just traditional instrumental classical music, with no words at all. Then all of a sudden this rich, golden, anglophone dominates the scene for a few minutes, winning every listener's heart with his fullness and joy. Or maybe it's just my anglophone heart responding to a fellow English-speaker, enhanced by the beauty of the weather around me. Or maybe it's the brilliance of the songwriters. I don't know, but it lifts my spirits. I would definitely go see him in concert, although I had never heard of him and had to guess on the spelling of his name based on how the French announcer pronounced it. Not very common first or last names either!

It's another beautiful morning out there, nothing but blue skies...maybe I'll hear it again. Or maybe I'll download it from the Apple music store.