"Requiem for Max" by Nora The Piano Cat™

We recorded Nora improvising her "Requiem for Max" on October 24, 2016, just a week after Max died. Theirs was a bewildering relationship spanning more than a decade and punctuated by regular antagonistic displays of tooth and claw. He would, however, frequently sleep beneath her piano bench, and she was sometimes witnessed pressing her nose into his fur for a few seconds as he slept unaware of her nearness. Their mutual disdain was only mildly tempered by their mutual fascination. When Max died, however, the three surviving female cats, Clara, Jenny, and Nora, all seemed affected by his absence. Jenny adored him, and he groomed her frequently. She became noticeably more affectionate with us (if that's even possible), demanding even. Clara was always pretty indifferent with regards to Max, but even she seemed a little off her game. Their food bowls were always next to each other, and the first time I put just her bowl down, she hesitated as if she was waiting for a second bowl to be set down next to his. Both Betsy and I believed that Nora would be relieved that her nemesis had not returned home from the vet. But, like Jenny, she became more affectionate. When Betsy showed me the video she'd recorded of Nora playing during a student's lesson, I was blown away by the sweet sadness of it. Well, like I said, theirs was a bewildering relationship.