Friday, October 20, 2006

Suprised by beauty

Driving home listening to "Desert Island Discs" I was caught off guard by Barber's "Adagio for Strings". One of the most beautiful, tragic, gentle, intense pieces of music I've ever heard. Heard it lots before and have it on CD somewhere, but, I love being suprised by stuff like this. You're going about your normal routine and something amazing crashes in like a hammer through a pane of glass and you STOP. Not for long but long enough. It is a very rare occurence (even getting up on time happens more frequently...); the last time was about 7 years ago, doing the washing up in our previous house, looking out the window listening to the radio and being surprised by "Cavatina" played by John Williams. So incredibly moving. Notable that both pieces are used in films about war, "Platoon" and "The Deerhunter" - classic juxtaposition eh? I choose not listen to these pieces now - I reserve them for my next suprise...

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