There are at times those moments in life which are as beautiful as they are rare, when you are truly MOVED by something.
Have you ever wondered what the (old) slogan of this blog means, when it says:
Never stop being amazed
It’s not a cheesy line from a sports shoe advertisement. Even if it has been made into that, it is not meant in that spirit. Nor has at anything to do with the content of the blog. Not really. It’s a philosophy and way of life. While that is an entire discussion unto itself, the idea is that one lives in a way that you are surprised at all times. Can you imagine it? you can be surprised at the most simple of things. Think how full of wonder the world becomes, every single moment?
To achieve this, we must unlearn everything we know, and most importantly, MOST IMPORTANTLY, live without expectations. I cannot tell you how many times in my life this has hit me. Whenever (almost without fail) i have gone into something with expectations, i have been disappointed. On the other hand, the most amazing, memorable and pleasant moments of my life, are when i have gone into an event without the slightest expectation.
Many of these such incidents have been when i’ve gone to a concert not knowing what to expect. The first was the first time i went to a piano recital. It was the inimitable Vladimir Ashkenazy. He was playing the piano sonata no. 17 of Beethoven (the tempest), which i’d never heard. By the end of that piece i was felt nearly out of my body. Another such incident was the first time i heard the 3rd piano concerto of Rachmaninoff live, being played by at-the-time-unknown-to-me Russian virtuoso Boris Berezovsky. It was as though Rachmaninoff had been reincarnated. I could list some others, but that’s not the purpose of this post.
One of the greatest things about living in Paris, is the fact that on any given night of the week, there are at least 3 or 4 classical concerts, either free or quite cheap in various churches or small theatres. Tuesday nite i went to the small but nice Salle Cortot, because there was a program of 3 young pianists, playing around 30 minutes each. It was free, and some of the pieces were ones which try to not to miss a chance at seeing live (there was a chopin scherzo, rachmaninoff’s vocalise, etc.) but there were also some pieces i didn’t know, or didn’t care for.
The first kid, 17-year russian, did some Liszt and Rachmaninoff, with more theatrics than should be allowed at his age. Technically he was fine, but nothign moving. But then again i wasn’t expecting anything of that order from a bunch of no-names. The second was a japanese-american girl of 21, a prize-winner at some smaller scale international competitions. She was alreayd much better than the russian teenager. Her chopin scherzo was commendable if not memorable. She also played an apparently famous piano sonata by Samuel Barber (1949) which i had not heard about, but was pleasantly surprised by (because i can’t stand much of modern classical pieces).
The last pianist of the night was a round-faced bony-cheek young Jie Chen. Much like the others, and not surprisingly, she was an unknown name. A petite and delicate little lady. The first piece on her list was a Busoni transcription of a Bach Chaconne. While i had heard of ‘the chaconne’ before, i’d always glossed over it. I shouldn’t have. From the first note she played i knew somethign was going to happen. Ironically enough during the first two pianists performances i was casually wondering to myself, what is it that sets one pianist apart, makes one stand out in yoru memory and the other not? And i was unconciously lamenting the fact that it had been some time since i’d truly been moved during a performance of live classical music (despite the long list of world famous performers i’d seen in teh past two years).
And so i sat there, stunned for 16 minutes, unable to help the tears welling up in my eyes, feeling my entire body vibrating, about to float away. I am so glad i had no idea to expect that.
There is something about Bach. There is one Bach, and only one. No other composer is like Bach. No other composer of his own era, nor of any other era quite has what he has. It’s not even something expressible. He was/is visionary. He wrote baroque music but he was so far ahead of his time, with a voice so unique and so beautiful, that i dont know if you can even put him in that era. For me, this aspect of Bach sometimes comes out when other composers of other eras take his music and adapt it. The best example i can think of this, is the Liszt’s transcription and varaitions on Bach’s “weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen” cantata. It is a divine piece of music. other examples could include the motif for Brahms beautiful and haunting fourth symphony.
One of the modern composers who had a great relationship with Bach, was the italian supervirtuoso Feruccio Busoni. He did numerous transcriptions for piano of Bach, cantatas, chorale preludes. The haunting Chaconne in D minor, is one of them. The original, part of the Partita number 2, is a visionary piece of music for the violin. The Busoni transcription is just as incredible, possibly even more beautiful, becuase of the richness of the piano sound.
And so i sat there, stunned for 16 minutes, unable to help the tears welling up in my eyes, feeling my entire body vibrating, about to float away. I am so glad i had no idea to expect that.
Thank you [1] Jie Chen.
So, now for you listening pleasure, Here is the lovely and incredibly talented french pianist Helene Grimaud performing the Bach-Busoni Chaconne in Dm (BWV 1004) (turn your lights off, and just sit back and listen).
