Tears and Goosebumps

Life is always enriched and intensified by experiencing some transcendental and ethereal piece of art. As I write this, I am listening to "Adagietto", the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony no.5.

Brought to the attention of the mainstream by its prominent inclusion in the film "Death In Venice", this is now one of my favourite pieces of music, and to think that I only discovered it at the age of 40....

"Adagietto" is one of those works which, if the listener is not concentrating fully, can float innocently by, just occasionally intruding to remind one of its power and aesthetic charm. However, if the listener immerses himself or herself fully, they can be transported onto another emotional plain.

When listening to the piece, rather than think that I am hearing an orchestra, I think of the sound rather as an amorphous force of nature, with the individual instruments almost indistinguishable.

At the risk of appearing trite and corny, I would like this piece of music to be played at my funeral.

On occasion, "Adagietto" has induced lachrymosity in me, hence the title of this blog post!

For "goosebumps", or indeed a shiver down the spine, the music of Richard Wagner emphatically delivers the goods. I discussed an example of my interaction with Wagner's work in an earlier blog post:

It's Only Music, Or Is It?

The tears precipitated by Mahler's piece may have been due to its poignancy, or perhaps just its pure beauty; I am not totally sure.  Equally, Wagner's fabulous "Siegfried Idyll" may give me the shivers, but I struggle to explain away the precise reason.

Great and potent art, and especially music, penetrates our very being, our innermost psyche and soul, in ways which we cannot hope to properly analyse, and the random and imponderable manifestations of that penetration are part of the mystery and the beauty.

I prefer not to dwell too much on these factors, just relishing the music, revelling in the sensations which it provides, and leaving more high-brow deliberations to the self-appointed experts!

It's Only Music....Or Is it?

This post was originally intended to ruminate on the pretentiousness and vapidity of much comment by music critics, and often people in general. Also, the post would have touched on the "taste-snobbery" and intellectual dishonesty which I feel that much music "scholarship" embodies. Following all this would have been a reasoned argument for us all to take music a little less seriously, to allow ourselves to enjoy music for its own sake, and for at least some objective aesthetic analysis, rather than constant reference to the "cred-meter". The title of the post was to have been "It's Only Music".

Although I stand by much of what I say about music writing and the "arbiters of cool", in the early hours of this morning I was given pause for thought concerning my assertion that "It's Only Music".

I had read about the supposed transcendental qualities of Richard Wagner's music, but whilst finding his work stirring, had not encountered these myself. However, this morning I found myself lying alone in bed in the darkness, listening to some of Wagner's orchestral work on my MP3 player.  Browsing various tracks, I found myself returning to "Siegfried Idyll".

Much popular (and indeed, classical) music seeks to tug at the heart strings, or to summon up our sensual desires and instincts, but this sensation was something entirely different. I felt as if my entire body and mind had been joined, and transported to another plane, and that myself and the music were the only two things remaining in the world.

Attempting to put these phenomena into cogent language is a troublesome task, and the best approximation I can come up with is having for a few moments experienced life and living at their most intense and pure, purged of all insecurities and irritants. Half expecting to break into tears of joy and/or euphoria, instead I found myself breaking into the broadest smile imaginable. The exultation was still present following several hours of sleep.

Of course, I am not suggesting that the music of Wagner, or classical music generally, has a monopoly on such properties. Indeed, jazz, dance music and progressive rock possess the capacity to deliver altered states of consciousness. Our minds and bodies all have different tolerances. This brings us back to our debate regarding musical "taste" and snobbery. I would venture to suggest that transcendent attributes and perceived "artistic integrity" do not always coincide.

Hence the amendment to the title of this thread.....