Thursday, December 3, 2009

blessedness is...



Doctor's appointment yesterday morning. The clock-radio came on just in time to tell me all about troop build-up in Afghanistan. I shut it off and went back to sleep and slept in until 2 minutes, 2 actual minutes, before I was due in the Doctor's office. She was running later than I was, so it wasn't critical. Summation of Doctor's assessment, I'm wonderfully healthy for the shape I'm in.

I also confirmed that Taize chants repeated under one's breath are more than equal to George, the auto-blood-pressure-reading-mechanism...
bwahahahaha...

Went home with my medical paperwork in hand to elevate caffeine level, just in time to take phone call from opera-going friend with a most happy message: "I have two tickets for Emanuel Ax. Tonight. At Colourful University. Are you on?"

I'd seen the concert notice in the paper, thought wistfully, "Pretty snazzy concert, there, for Prairie Metropolis and one of the smaller venues...sigh" -- so I was definitely on.

He played Chopin, Schumann, and more Chopin. Plainly, it is time for the Rambler to know more and hear more Schumann (a blank spot in the collection till now).

Oh my goodness gracious. I think three times, maybe, in my life, I've been carried away by a live musical performance...once when a young clarinetist played Mozart for the University Women's Club after their annual banquet (and the wine may have had something to do with that); once when Leonard Rose played the Richard Strauss' Don Quixote Suite with Prairie Metropolis Symphony; and once, last night.

Reflecting this morning on the power of music to "decentre the self," as they say.

2 comments:

Tim Chesterton said...

Ditto the power of music stuff. For me it's not only enjoyment, it's often the best form of prayer as well.

mibi52/ The Rev. Dr. Mary Brennan Thorpe said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely...I haven't been to a piano recital in a while, and this reminds me I need to remedy that. What a gift to have such friends who call up and whisk you away for a couple of hours of something that soothes the soul!