Revelations

Was it a science experiment or a concert?

by Peter Burwasser

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Published: Jul 29, 2009

No music lover needs to be reminded that music can change your life. So smack in the middle of this sultry, sauntering summer, indulge me as I relate two such occurrences in my experience, both live events, and utterly different.

First, Beethoven, his Missa Solemnis, a late work for chorus, solo singers and orchestra that is so challenging that it is rarely performed. As a teenager in the late 1970s, I knew the piece by reputation only. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in those days in summer residence at Temple's Ambler campus, was presenting it under the direction of the legendary Robert Shaw. By the end of the opening "Gloria," I noticed that my heartbeat had accelerated to an alarming degree. At this point in the score there is a false denouement, and then Beethoven throws the music into turbo drive, with a huge brass fugue that finally concludes with the chorus hurling the last shout of "Gloria" into a space still ringing with the aftertones of the blaring trumpets. Next, the Credo, wave after wave of ascending counterpoint, until the choristers were fairly screaming, the orchestra scrambling to keep up. Shaw was conducting as if in the midst of a storm. When it was done, everyone leapt to their feet, and Shaw staggered off the podium. This was but the midpoint of the work.

I knew the greatness of Beethoven before that evening, but not at such a visceral level. I was actually concerned with my health, as the effect of the music was so intensely physical. I met Beethoven that day in a profound way, cementing my relationship to his genius. Years later, I had another brilliant encounter that was much more cerebral, provoking the very question of what music is. Electronica pioneer Alvin Lucier was a guest of Relache some years ago, performing sans instrumentalists, and replete with salad bowls, computers and microphones. He was, and is, extremely interested in the acoustical properties of not only spaces, but objects themselves. He appeared delightfully daft as he wandered about the hall, manipulating feedback, yet finding beautiful sound in mundane places.

Was it a science experiment or a concert? Since I heard his sounds musically, it was a concert, which points to the very heart of the composer's philosophy. Lucier's revelation to me was that music is everywhere, only waiting to be discovered.

(p_burwasser@citypaper.net)

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