Thread: Bruckner in Bali

Classical music has just come "by accident" to me. Until I was 20, I didn't like it at all. A new friend, studying piano at the Amsterdam conservatory, borrowed me a few records, and because I wanted to understand this friend, I played one of the records a few times to find what was "in it".

At a certain point, something opened up. It may have been the 3rd or 4th time I played a certain symphony, and it happened. A new channel in my brain was created, and I connected to the music. I went to the library and borrowed a lot of classical music. A few more months later, I had a "mental orgasm" listening to a symphony of Mahler, a strange experience, a progress of chords created a sort of ecstatic brain short circuit. I started to go to concerts and watched the people. Are they having the same experiences as I have with music?

I went to a concert of the La Salle String Quartet in a church in Copenhagen, and in front of me sat a couple in their sixties. The woman was intensely listening to Schuberts Der Tod und das Madchen. She moved her body slightly on the notes and I could see her muscles tighten on certain passages. She, with her almost unnoticeable dance, unknowingly taught me how to enjoy classical music more intense.

One of the most exiting moments in my 21st year was a performance of the 10th symphony of Mahler (finished by Deryck Cooke) in the Tivoli Theater (out of all places) in Copenhagen, directed by Kurt Sanderling. After having played all "official" symphonies of Mahler plenty of times, the 10th was a new listening challenge. Now, 30 years later I still see him raising the score while taking the applause. (Its not really all Mahler, but a still a worthy 10th, resounding lost love and lost life...)

I lost my somewhat fanatic interest in listening to classical music because of all kind of reasons, but I was hoping I would come back to it at a later age. In the last 30 years I sometimes had a few months of a revival, but I never got back to the "same level" as before.

In the last few weeks before I went "back to Bali", now already months ago, I had a revival again, overtured by the 4th symphony of Bruckner. I bought "the Romantic" already in Kuala Lumpur on my way to the Netherlands. There is a nice classical music shop under the Petronas Towers. (And the internet currently provides the rest....)

During my Mahler period, I sometimes tried a Bruckner symphony because people often mention them together, but their "style" was sooo different in my ears, and Bruckner just didn't fit in.

But now in Bali, I started anew with the Bruckner symphonies, and allmost all other music is becoming boring after 10 minutes, while Bruckner becomes, and remains more interesting everytime. Another part of the brain opened up, the Bruckner part I guess. The large contrasts in the symphonies, irritating me many times, suddenly are in perfect place. What conductor Celidibache says in a Youtube video: "To Bruckner, time is what comes after the end, all his apotheotical finals, the hope for another world, the hope of being saved, of being again, bapitised in light" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aU0Q3NTGls ) is not too far sought anymore.

The landscapes painted by Bruckner are vast and full. Bruckner was a very religious man, but "thank God" his symphonies don't have words, so they convey whatever description or search for wonder fits your (un)believe, if you know how to listen.

The Music is best listened to alone, I think, and preferably, in my case, with changing surroundings, so driving a car, or in my case, a mountian bike with Ipod, does add a lot to the experience. Poor Anton could never have imagined people listening to his work like this.... Modern technology applied to older art creates new wonders.

And for some strange incomprehensible reason, Bali and Bruckner seem to blend in, or better, amplify each other perfectly at the moment, the oh so different environments are more than a match up. In my superficial moments, its a kind of a Spielberg / Williams ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams ) effect :) Glorious wind instruments on the roads of Bali. Comforting violins in the rice paddies. Christian eternity in the Hindu temples. Jesus rises in Pura Penimbangan. Anton rules Bali.

The Sennheiser PX100 headset I have doesn't damp all noise from outside, so you still may pick up some "Hello Sir's". But its visible enough to give you an excuse not to respond. Allthough some Balinese just keep talking to you until you are too embarressed not to take the headset from your ears. You really have to search carefully to watch a sunset with the 9th uninterrupted. But it still can be done, at least here in the North of Bali.

My new Shure SE530 earphones are a totally different experience. While the Sennheiser easily exchanges the adagio's for Balinese (traffic) background noise, the Shure damps allmost all, making also the not so loud music enjoyable too. Ok, I hear some of my breathing, especially uphill, but its bearable. And the Hello's behind my back are gone...

Lets try Bruckners Te Deum today....

Te aeternum Bali
omnis terra veneratur.
Dominus Bali Angeli;
tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.
In te, Bali, speravi:
Per singulos dies benedicimus te;
non confundar in aeternum.

Hmmm, maybe better back to the symphonies...

I want to show you a bit on how that looks like a bit so you can judge for yourself. (But for the ultimate experience, you will have to open up your own brain here and there, this means hours of listening "training", an Ipod, a mountain bike, and, uhhhh Bali)

Here is me on the bike in Singaraja on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR04BfuGn3g