Today's Piano Puzzler

This week's contestant is Doug G. from Georgetown, KY.  I was pleased to guess the hidden song in about four seconds, before the song itself even started, just from the fairly well-known introduction.  I had two guesses about the composer, and settled on one.  Happily, I was not only correct, but my other guess was basically this composer's mentor.

What's odd here is how the contestant can't get the hidden song.  It's quite well-known, but he has no idea.  Even when pianist Bruce Adolphe slows things down and highlights the song, he has no idea.  And even almost takes pride in the fact that he has no idea.  At one point, Adolphe strips away most of the hidden notes and virtually plays the song for itself.  Nope, no idea the guy puffs.  Only when Bruce Adolphe basically starts to sing the song does the guy go, "Ohhh..." and "gets it."  But no sense of "Oh, what an idiot I am."  I've mentioned in the past what an ingratiatingly nice and genial host Fred Child is, how he'll go to great lengths to tell the contestant how "You got both the hidden song and composer, well done!" -- this is Fred Child and his most ingratiatingly genial.  It's almost bizarre how he finds it in himself to congratulate the contestant for getting both -- yet the only thing more bizarre was that the contestant doesn't say, "Thanks, Fred, that's very nice, but seriously, I didn't.  Bruce had to shove it down my throat and virtually tell me the name..."  Instead, he happily leaves being told that he "got" it.