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LUNCH
March 12, 2010, 08:17 AM posted by Maria Choban So, I'm enjoying my Every-Thursday lunch with my friend yesterday. He's a physicist mad about music. I'm a musician mad about (but clumsy with) physics. Yesterday was his turn to process stuff going on in his life, but I think I sucked the air out of the room. In my defense, it was his fault. He asked me pointed questions about music: He: "Do you consider Shostakovich a genius?" Me: (apoplectic, shaking, stammering, can't breathe) Thought Balloon: "are there those who think he ISN'T?" Me (again): "He's like Bowie (David): You know it's genius, you just can't immediately put your finger on it. So, like with the 15th symphony (Dmitri's), I kept looping that thing, repeating it for about 2 months until it broke open for me, at which point I breathed a huge sigh because I finally got it. Unfortunately, I was working in a record store at the time and if it was my shift - and it always was - that symphony was all you heard for those 2 months when you walked into that store. I think my manager threatened to fire me if I didn't put on a Pachelbel Canon or 2 every once in a while. Fat chance." (not because I don't like the Pachelbel, I do, but because I was in the middle of an OCD phase with Shostakovich's 15th). The conversation meandered through those with high(er) accessibility but not necessarily staying power (Prokofiev), inability to acoustically process symphonic works (too much going on), what differentiates a piece so good one can label it "genius" with staying power from something that isn't......... Again, in my defense, I did ask a few pointed questions of my own: "How was your week?", "Are you attending the MegaBand contra-dance?", "How's your lunch?" |
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