Magic happens everywhere. You just need to keep your senses aware to feel it. Last night I allowed it to myself and it was incredibly cathartic. A friend invited me to their concert with the Salomon Orchestra, which started with Dvorák’s beautiful Cello Concerto. Guy Johnston played the virtuoso part with passion and the orchestra sounded much more compact and balanced than last time I heard them. Congratulations to all the musicians and especially to Philip Hesketh for such a good work from the podium.
The concerto was the bait to encourage the audience, but the real wonder was squatting behind it, ready to surprise us in its majesty and depth: the Asrael Symphony by Josef Suk was a great discovery I did last night.
I must confess I didn’t even know the composer, related to Dvorák in several ways: pupil, friend, son-in-law. Suk conceived his symphony as an elegy to his master, but the sudden death of his wife changed the character of the piece. I could tell it without knowing anything of this story, because the music spoke to me clearly. “It’s moment for change” it said. And these were the arguments it used:
1. Andante sostenuto. You have tried and tried but the way you are doing things, you just don’t progress,
2. Andante. Habit is a powerful thing. You can’t get rid of it easily. It’s underneath anything you do, so beware!
3. Vivace. “Jack of all trades, master of none”. You have to choose something and go for it, coordinate your efforts, the direction may not be unique, but the goal should be only one.
4. Adagio. Death toll. My old me has died. Let the new one come in and nourish in hopes.
5. Adagio e maestoso. No one said it would be easy. You’ll have to fight! …and in the end, the good in you prevails.
Normally my Valencian origins would make me breath with the winds, but the Asrael Symphony spoke to me from the first violins, from each hopeful passage produced from Tara Persaud‘s bow in her dramatic solos… I echoed with them, I’ll evolve as they told me to.
Thanks for all that magic, Josef Suk and Salomon Orchestra!
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