Surrender
Friday, October 10th, 2008
I have an admission to make. I love classical music.
Don’t get me wrong I still listen to Triple J and always on scope for new artists.
But who could disagree with music that HAS endured 350 years and still venerated, still played and still brings people (like me) to their knees in weeping piles for reasons unknown. This I’m confident to say is humanity’s greatest musical achievement. So where did it all go wrong? To disintegrate to the paltry offerings of Scremo, Death Metal and Gangsta Rap?
My CD collection is massively outweighed by the Greats of Classical. And by classical I mean just that. Not REALLY into romantic classical or beyond where things get a little experimental – I’m not ready to appreciate the works of Wagner and Mahler.
I like the rules and conventions of Baroque and Early–Late Classical: J.S.Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi and everybody’s favourite W.A. Mozart. Lesser known string works of Manfredini, Corelli, Geminiani, Locatelli – pretty much any Baroque Italian composer ending in ‘i’ are all fantastic in form and style. The Italians back then ruled the strings. They rule the Conerto Grosso.
J.S.BACH is the one that does it for me. I don’t know why but works of his make me stop and surrender. It’s a strange kind of liberation where you get lost into something beyond the music, perhaps it’s a sphere of emotion that becomes overwhelming – I just breakdown. For a man that devoted his life to music and to GOD (though I’m not condoning any religion here), he seems to have gotten close to the realm in musical form and connecting with the ‘Unknown’.
Listen to these pieces in a relaxed state a few times and me what you feel.
Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 988 – Air
Double Concerto in D minor BWV 1043- Largo ma non tanto
Goldberg Variations BWV 988 – Aria
Concerto in C minor for Violin and Oboe, BWV 1060- Adagio
