Music & Memories*

*obviously since music is linked with memories in the title I am NOT referring to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I've always been one to believe that music is powerful, and affects the mind. I mention it often to friends, coworkers, and complete strangers, because its true! Hearing a work can evoke the time you heard it, or a particular performance can bring about feelings. I was recently impressed when a violinist soloist I hadn't heard for 20 years, told me the piece that he played. I had certainly remembered seeing him and being impressed, and my violin teacher at the time, Nancy Luttrell gushing about his playing too. But I was so impressed when he said he played the Bruch g minor concerto. (He recently played the Weiniawski First Concerto and was equally dazzling!)
This morning I listened to Henryk Gorecki's Third Symphony, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, and had three distinct memories come flooding to mind:
The last time I listened to it intensely was with two very beautiful women in Dallas. There was wine, after a great dinner, and discussion.
A second memory of conducting the second movement at the WSU Contemporary Music Festival. It was a real joy and not had I talked the mezzo into singing it and gathering the orchestra together, but the blessing of my conducting teacher came quite high - we were pretty good friends at that time.
Also another memory came from the chords, of an old professor who made a big impression on me: Myra Merriman, who talked of listening to the Gorecki in a country home, with wine and friends. I told her it was like Richard Strauss in slow motion, dripping notes like a sauterne in a crystal glass.
Great memories just from listening to a disc.
I recommend taking a trip down memory lane, or attending a performance and create some new memories. (Just not Andrew Lloyd Webber, please!)