04 December 2006

Symphony of Life

I had the pleasure of hearing the Hershey Symphony perform this past weekend, under the direction of Dr. Sandra Dackow. The highlight of the evening occurred when a stage full of strings performed Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium. Nothing against the choral, brass, wind, or percussion sections, but there is just something magical about the simple beauty of a stage full of strings. The piece was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I fought to hold back tears through most of it. It spoke so abundantly of wonder!

So today, my friend tells me that it's normally performed as a choral piece, and that Dr. Dackow arranged the orchestral version. It was a crushing bit of news. The pain of knowing that I may never hear it again, in that form, nearly moved me to tears a second time. I fear that in every sense, it was truly a one-of-a-kind, perfect piece.

But here's the thing -- do you not see the flawed reasoning above? It seems quite foolish to hang my head in despair over losing the perfect piece. I mean, I should be searching for that next piece that'll move me even more. And the fact that I went into the evening not expecting to hear such a beautiful piece should speak to me of the hope that exists for the next symphony. But in my humanity, all I desire is to hear that piece over and over and over again. I guess I'd rather be comforted by something familiar, than risk finding it in something unknown.


Photo by JK Orvik

2 comments:

troy. said...

And maybe, just maybe, the next piece doesn't have to be better, just different. Equally perfect, but different.

Anonymous said...

Maybe our experience with this piece will grow us and enable us to enter more deeply into the next piece...whatever that may be.