A Diamond in the Midst

As I've said more than once on my blog: I don't like Minnesota. I find the people dull and withdrawn, and truly conventional. Their accents grate in my ears, and most of them, including the women, are fat. The myth of "Minnesota Nice" is just that: a myth. They put on this facade to hide the anger, repression and their assorted twists of personality. Having been here a year, however, I have found, in the midst of all this commonness, a diamond, a bright facade throwing its light to all who will come around. That brightness is the Minnesota Orchestra. And this orchestra is not only a diamond, it's a world class gem of the highest magnitude.

On this Saturday night, my wife and I attended this week's performances: Mozart's Symphony #41, followed by a modern piece with which I was not familiar (with which I'm yet not familiar), and intermission, and the finale, Brahms' Syphony #2. One thing that can be said about Mozart is that he's come to us (from?) with that perfect combination of talent, desire, humour, love,and he's lived up to all the hype. Mozart's music can make a listener feel anything that a listener can possibly feel. No one else can do what he can.

Brahms too is an excellent musician, but there aren't many who occupy the pantheon, and I'm not sure Brahms does. He is great, and the Minnesota Orchestra's presentation of the fourth movement was simply kick-ass. I like Brahms's 3rd Symphony better, as it gives me more of those musical "lifts" that I'm constantly searching for. But there are exquisite parts of the 2nd Symphony. As for the "filler" piece, the modern piece, I just wasn't with it, but the grand music of the other two composers sufficiently made up for anything which was missing.

I've often said that music is as close to God as we're ever going to get in this life. And I've heard other "talking heads" assert that music has curative powers. I'm not a scientist, and I really don't know. But music does have an effect, though it can't be quantified. Some work along those lines has been done: however, the truest effect of music is a spitirual one. The way the human body receives and interprets musical sound waves is a truly complicated and profound process And I don't have to understand the scientific process to have a great time sitting in Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis listening to plainly happy men and women give us the hand of an angel and take us on one of the few true spritual flights we get to take on earth.

And the beautiful thing is that you don't even have to be a "believer" to receive each and every one of the spiritual benefits of truly great music. Take note: In two weeks we'll enjoy an evening of Beethoven. Wow, if every facet of life in Minnesota was as fine as the Minnesota Orchestra, people would be fighting to get in instead of wondering how soon they can leave.