Sunday, October 09, 2016

Blogging

I seek out oddities because I have quite a lot of intellectual curiosity.  In the process of writing my music history book I crammed a lot of knowledge into my brain.  I cannot resist the opportunity to experience something that I know only from study, such as Les Indes Galantes, Béatrice et Bénédict or Donnerstag aus Licht.  What I find is that there is with music no wasted time.  I don't always like what I experience, but I always feel that my mind is wider, fuller, more ready for new experiences.

I now feel that I have given to Stockhausen all that he deserves.  I might watch the helicopter string quartet again, but that's probably enough.  But from Rameau I might want more.  If he were performed with the same musical lightness of touch, I would not wish to miss it.

Previous to blogging I had never made it to the end of Tristan.  I watched several famous films and loved only Nilsson and Vickers, though only for the singing.

I cannot speak for you, but I can encourage everyone to seek joy in unexpected places.  Offer your soul the right to expansion.  Find that something you never thought of watching will unexpectedly find its voice.  That Tristan will tell its meaning as never before.  Perhaps here too it is the lightness of touch that speaks to me.  Perhaps the greatest success comes from allowing the music to speak for itself instead of trying so hard to impress us. 

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