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Art frees our spirit to soar
All great art frees our spirit to soar.
I experienced it many early mornings on my train ride into work listening to MLTs “Nothing Is In Vain”, When We’re Together and Orange albums, and more recently with the 4 brilliant newest MLT songs including the amazing “Song Bird” masterpiece. I found my heart and soul aloft in the sky somewhere. MLT music makes my spirit soar!!!????????✨????
I remember a certain scene in a Beethoven movie, “Immortal Beloved”, that haunts me to this day, and it is the epitome of what art and good music is about; What it can do to you.
I found this recent article that just mirrors exactly what I felt. I love the writers vivid narration about what great art and music does to our being.
April 13, 2010 by Ron Wells
In Immortal Beloved, the film about Ludwig van Beethoven, there is one scene of such power that it has haunted me since the day I saw it in 1994.
The scene begins with the widow of Beethoven’s brother, doing a voice over as she joins the crowd going to the concert hall to hear the Ninth Symphony. The music begins and eventually we see the adult Beethoven inside the hall, facing the orchestra, as his symphony is being played. He is deaf and cannot hear anything that is going on.
As Beethoven looks towards us and the orchestra plays, he slowly glances up and sees stars painted on the wall behind the orchestra, which triggers a childhood memory. We then flash back with him to the time when he was a boy. He is sitting at a window and staring at a bright and star filled sky. It is a picturesque moment, until he hears his drunken father coming home, and as we have seen earlier in the film, that means the young Beethoven is about to get a beating. His brothers lie in bed terrified.
The young Beethoven then climbs out of the second story window and finds a way to the street below as his father goes up the stairs inside the house. The boy begins to run through the streets as his father screams his name after finding that Beethoven is not in his room.
It is at this point that the film draws us in, invites us to share the journey as this young boy runs through the forest to escape the horrific pain and chaos that the world has presented to him. It is here where we are beckoned to join him and leave all of our personal demons and misery behind us.
Throughout this scene, the orchestra continues to play the music that echoes the boy’s journey, while the adult Beethoven fades in and out of the scene with a barley perceptible smile as he recalls his wild dash through the trees and darkness.
Finally, the young Beethoven reaches a lake. A luminescent full moon glows off in the distance. We watch as he takes off his night shirt and wades slowly, carefully into the water. The chorus and orchestra gradually grows in the background.
Finally, the director, Bernard Rose, changes camera angles and rather than watching the boy from behind, he moves us so we are looking straight down on the boy from above. Beethoven then begins to float on his back in the still waters. Slowly, patiently as he drifts, the camera begins to move upwards and away from him, while the stars begin to reflect in the lake surrounding the future composer.
The music and chorus of “Ode to Joy” swells up behind the floating figure and fills our souls as we move away farther and farther, the boy now just a speck, a star, a part of the cosmos until his bare outline begins to look like a constellation. It is a moment of pure transcendence.
And still the music plays on, the beautiful, dynamic Ninth Symphony with the chorus of Ode to Joy sounding like some angelic choir.
You never want this scene, this moment to end.
Then, we are back in the concert hall as Beethoven, still facing the orchestra, is lost in the memory of his youth, until the orchestra leader turns him around to face an audience which is giving him a standing ovation.
All through this, we are watching, knowing the feeling of escape, the power of the universe to make us feel so small, and yet the music telling us that we are capable of so much, for we too are a part of this very same universe and have within us the power to soar.
It is such a glorious moment. So stunning. So hopeful, even though we know the violence and burdens of the world are out there surrounding us, waiting for us.
The film eventually moves on, but this moment remains. For me, it’s a treasure.
Art at its most dynamic, invites us to dream. To live outside ourselves, and go beyond this mortal coil.
One wonders how a mere man, Beethoven, could write such music. What power graced him with this gift to create a piece known worldwide and with the ability to lift the souls of all who hear it.
And how did the director know that this music could and should be translated onto film in the form of a young boy floating freely off into the universe.It’s staggering in its incomparable majesty.
Yet the world, both his and ours, does not go away so quietly.Does the homeless man on the street, mumbling to himself, have the ability to soar anymore? Does the dying soldier in the dead of night hear this music in his mind so far away from his home and family? Does the mother who has seen her young child die in front of her know of any joy?
When does this world take away our capacity to transcend it? When do we stop looking out into the universe and, seeing infinity, perceive ourselves as tiny and meaningless?
Yet we do have power and value. We have the ability to create within us something, perhaps not the Ninth Symphony, but something that will touch our inner selves. For isn’t it the creative process that is all. Doesn’t it allow us to imagine the stars and then become one with them?
I have wondered that so many times. Questioned myself. Tried to touch the eternal. Tried to create.
One night, I decided to drive out into the desert. When the world becomes too large, just the act of driving at night, and being in the desert, seems to help me regain my balance. With a sense of purpose, I drove to Joshua Tree National Park. I knew a road seldom traveled. When I was beyond human contact, I stopped the car. The night had no sound. No wind. Nothing. You could touch the stars. Away from city’s lights, meteors shot back and forth.
I put on a tape of the Ninth Symphony. I played it so I could hear it outside the car. Standing, I leaned against the hood and looked up. I gave myself over to Beethoven’s masterpiece.
It was a perfect moment. I felt as if I were floating on a lake. Floating off into the starlit sky.
I left the burdens of the world behind and allowed the joy to slowly cleanse me.The music rose and fell, flying off into the cosmos. Infinite. Never ending. Going on forever and forever. This world shrank in comparison. I listened to Ludwig van Beethoven’s timeless piece of music and my being soared.
When it was over, the silence picked up where the music had just been. Everything appeared the same, yet different.I got back in my car and drove home with nothing but the hum of engine on the road and the majesty of the universe to accompany me.
If you ever watch Immortal Beloved, I hope you pay attention to that one scene near the end of the film. Watch as the music and film coalesce. I hope you too can see eternity and glory. I hope, if even for just a moment, you can leave the burdens of this world behind.
It’s your right, as a person on this planet, to know you have the capacity to behold a sacred moment of transcendent power.
The right to float away in the splendid glory of the Ninth Symphony with its Ode to Joy.
Let it fill you. Let yourself soar. -
35 Replies
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An impressive scene, Jung. Full of emotion and poetry. Poignant and impressive at the same time. Yes, music can do fantastic things to us, an ability that we learn early and that accompanies us throughout our lives. Perhaps the first rhythm of life that we experience is the heartbeat of our mother. About 60 to 70 beats per minute at rest. This is the beat and the rhythm that will guide us throughout our lives. Music with about 60 beats per minute is experienced as calming and relaxing. Everything that is faster is experienced as either positively stimulating or threatening. And there we are again with the young Beethoven. A lifelong learning process begins. Music and life are coupled with each other. Music that we experience in an intense emotional situation will trigger this emotional state again and again later on. This is the jukebox of our life. Choose the right coin and press the right combination of buttons and the most beautiful feelings and images will flow through your head. Of course, if you hit the wrong button, the opposite can happen. Especially in difficult situations and times music can help us not to despair and give up. To relax and regain a positive feeling of life. Why this is so who knows? You can try to find a philosophical and poetic explanation for it, or you can choose a more sober view: neurophysisological and neuropsychological processes in our brain (the more exciting approach for me). Both are very interesting aspects. Neither approach can fully explain the phenomenon of music. You have chosen the poetic path, so I would like to follow you on this path, as I know you want to encourage us. If you could ask a bird why it can fly, it would answer you: “I don’t know, I just can”. If you could ask a dolphin how it perceives this world with its sonar, it would look at you questioningly and answer: “I have no idea what you mean. I see the world as I see it”. And so it is probably with the music. If you had asked Beethoven or Bach how they managed to compose such complex and wonderful melodies, they might have answered: “I have no idea what you mean. I just follow the inner melody in my head and write it down”. And if you would ask me why I like a certain song, I would answer you: “It’s just wonderful music that I feel comfortable with, more I do not need to know“. Wherever the key is that allows us to open the door to our inner harmony, the important thing is that we know it exists and that we use it. A form of magic inherent in all the arts. And empathy is also a form of art: to understand what your counterpart means, to reflect it and perhaps to give it back in a completely different way. Like the director of the movie „Immortal Beloved“ did it by dealing with the history of Beethoven, feeling and sensing the emotions of the music and rendering them in images. Empathy is a beautiful way to communicate with each other. Perhaps that is what music is: it is a universal language that we use to communicate with each other. When words and language are missing, melodies can build bridges. Just like the mother of a newborn hums a melody to signal to her child: Everything is fine. Whatever happens, we will make it.
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Hi Jurgen. Thanks so much for you insight. Yes it is full of emotion and poetry Ode To Joy is.
As I mentioned previously, another great one is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5, first movement is a magnificent journey from the grand orchestral movements to angelic heart string pulling high piano trills. An amazing musical ride. The second movement I think is where Beethoven introduced the Romantic era to the world for the likes of the Chopin’s and Liszt’s to follow. I highly recommend listening to this one for the Beethoven experience among his many.
I like your comparison of the rhythm in music to that of a mother’s heart beat and how this beat in music has a calming and relaxing effect. I think the phenomenon of music extends into all the arts like painting, sculpture, literature etc. There is something intangible that touches our soul deeply in another plane some how. How can movement between musical notes in a specific way, or composition of a painting, or words of a poem create such amazing emotions?
Despite the harshness of this world we have to deal with, we are blessed with the people we love, one another in our communities, and art; artists like MLT, Beatles, Beethoven, Leonard Da Vinci, Yeats etc to make the world beautiful, captivating, worthwhile, and bearable. Here is one of my favourite quotes from George Bernard Shaw: “Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable”.
I found this amazing music video I thought I’d share here.
Beethoven’s 7th Symphony 2nd movement (Allegreto) is one of his most melancholic pieces. It’s about great struggle and unbearable adversity in ones life and ultimate triumph. It’s about the plight of the homeless, a dying soldier in the field, or a mother grieving for her lost child. Despite the darkness of this composition, it is one of Beethoven’s most moving and beautiful works.
In this video the entire symphony is condensed down to a single guitar, but the emotions it can still convey is amazing, in the simple melody line. This is art, timeless, touching and moving people for ages.
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A very impressive performance, Jung. I just listened to the original in the orchestral version to get a better feel for the composition. I suppose that at that time Beethoven’s health was not very good anymore. You are right, it sounds very melancholic.
I would be interested to know what proportion of the original orchestra performance must be retained in order to transfer this from the orchestral version to the guitar, for example. So how far you can reduce the piece of music so that it is still recognized as the original.
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Hi Jurgen, you raise an interesting point, how much can you strip something back before you lose the essence of the full composition? I guess at a minimum if the main harmony is retained, it should remain recognizable, but whether it adds any value to strip it down would depend on the artist arranging the stripped down piece.
There is a famous transcription by Franz Liszt where he took Beethoven’s 5th Symphony 1st movement and stripped it down for piano. He did such a good job, the stripped down bare piano version has a life of it’s own, and in many ways the impact is equal to the full blown symphonic version. The stripped down version I think can highlight and enhance musical elements of the full version that perhaps does not stand out as much in the full version, and give another perspective and feel to the music, and the impact and enjoyment for the listener of the stripped down version can be just as good but in a different way bringing value to having a stripped down interpretation of a piece.
I think MLTs Duo Sessions are like that too, taking a studio version and presenting a stripped down acoustic version that highlights or drills down into certain elements of the song, like the intricate guitar part, and then the the focus on the beautiful vocals and harmonies, taking on a life of it’s own. It’s like that for me with Sweet Lorraine. The studio version is awesome, but the acoustic Duo Session version also presents another unique intimate experience that is just as awesome. I love both versions!
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Jurgen, here is Beethoven’s entire 5th Symphony first movement stripped down for piano. Here Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is transcribed for piano by the great piano virtuoso legend Franz Liszt performed by the modern piano master Glenn Gould. It can’t get better than this. At the 4:30 mark to 5:30 mark take note of the magnificent chord progression and counterpoint. It made me appreciate the 5th Symphony even more.
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Here is the incredibly melancholic Beethoven 7th Symphony second movement performed by the orchestra for perspective. It’s so moving.
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Hi Jung,
thank you very much for the two pieces of music. Although Beethoven’s 5 is probably better known, I like the 7th Symphony somehow better. It’s hard for me to describe it, I find the piece richer and more refined than Beethoven’s 5. Maybe I just experience it as more harmonic, although it is actually a rather melancholic piece. But as you so rightly wrote elsewhere: Often the slightly sad pieces are sometimes the best (Maybe just because so many emotions of the composer are involved). The transcription by Franz Liszt is beautiful.
PS: Every time I hear the beginning of Beethoven’s 5 I’m always waiting for the drums and the guitar to come in 🙂
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Hi Jurgen. It’s interesting you brought up Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven”. It is Chuck Berry’s earliest rock and roll song and considered by some to be the the song that defined rock and roll. There is an earlier post about Roll Over Beethoven you might find interesting. Here is a link to that post:
https://test2.monalisa-twins.com/forums/topic/roll-over-beethoven/
Apparently when Chuck Berry was growing up, his sister Lucy was a formal student of classical music and always played on the piano. Chuck on the other hand hand was into his rough and ready self taught popular music and a rivalry developed between the siblings for time on the piano. Inspired by this rivalry with his sister, Chuck wrote “Roll Over Beethoven” as a reference to how Beethoven would roll in his grave if he knew how classical music had given way to a new genre of music Chuck Berry was promoting that would become rock and roll. It was one of Chuck Berry’s earliest hit songs in 1956.
Per Wikipedia,
“Berry’s single was one of 50 recordings chosen in 2003 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2004, “Roll Over Beethoven” was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The accompanying review stated that it “became the ultimate rock & roll call to arms, declaring a new era”.
The opening guitar solo sounds similar to Berry’s most famous hit, “Johnny B. Goode”. The sheet music for the two songs is very similar.[8] Koda calls it a “masterpiece” that helped to define rock and roll.”
How Chuck Berry’s – “Roll Over Beethoven” defined Rock and Roll
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MLT Duo sessions are all works of art. 2 acoustic instruments plus 2 magnificent vocals create such amazing beauty, that is so moving. Time stands still.
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To honor art in the form of paintings, here are the three most famous paintings of all time. Of course this is subjective and varies depending on who you ask, but they would all agree these are one of the all time greatest paintings of all time. I present them with one of Beethoven’s sublime works. You may enjoy this one even if classical is not your thing.
I suggest listening to the music while you admire the paintings. Enjoy the beauty of art in both music and painting.
In the Sonata, the violin and piano are in such perfect harmony. It sounds like a conversation between two lovers expressing emotions to each other, not in words but in music. The piano expresses something, and the violin answers back, in a back and forth conversation between two musical voices.
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When a musician becomes one with their instrument, it’s difficult to not watch them. These two are really amazing. Thanks for sharing this one.
JP
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Thanks for that JP, well said. These two musicians created a pure moment of absolute beauty, a Mona Lisa moment, or musically a MonaLisa Twins absolute beauty artistic moment.
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When I first heard this one, I knew I was going to have to it listen to it many times to absorb it all, there are so many wonderful things happening in the music like a Beethoven Sonata or a Beatles ballad. It keeps drawing me back to it every day. That is great art, that keeps on giving timelessly whenever you listen to it. Bravo Mona and Lisa and Papa Rudi for creating such a masterpiece. When you played it live at the Live Stream, we all overflowed with joy! You said it took only a month to finish it, amazing!
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Here are three more great masterpieces of rock and roll chronologically. Timeless, sounds as good today as it did 50 years ago:
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The Beatles filmed a promotional film for their song “A Day in The Life” at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of orchestral overdubs.
It was all done with a party atmosphere with many friends and relatives present.
Colour outtakes from the filming appeared in the 1968 film “Watch Out For Your Ears”
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A classical composer I also find very interesting is Frédéric Chopin. Not only his music impresses me, but especially his eventful life story up to his early death, has fascinated me, made me think and somehow also saddened me. Although Chopin’s short life was overshadowed by illness and disappointment, he traveled extensively (not always by choice) and music seems to have given him the strength that his body and fate denied him. Maybe his talent and his music freed his spirit to soar.
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Hi Jurgen. It sounds like Chopin’s plight was not unlike Beethoven and Van Gough. They were heroic artists who were dealt such debilitating illnesses, but looked inward into themselves and created such great beauty that would last the ages.
Great video. If I was not familiar with Chopin at all, I would think this was a modern composition. Further evidence for me that the modern music starting in the 60s is just a continuation of classical. Just different instruments now, like electric guitars and drums kits, electronic synthesizers, technology and multi tracking studios.
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If you walk through an art gallery, it is not uncommon to see art lovers spend hours admiring great art, sitting taking in all the magnificence. The great art, they never tire of gazing at, time after time, year after year.
I feel that way in the MLT Duo Sessions gallery. Such beauty and elegance, like precious pearls in a deep dark ocean. Timeless moments of beauty and magnificence in music.
In the Louvre, the sitting time to admire the Mona Lisa might be more limited as 30,000 people arrive each day to see it behind a barrier and a thick layer of bullet proof glass.
Duo Session Art Exhibit A:
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Duo Session Art Exhibit B:
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Duo Session Art Exhibit C:
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Duo Session Art Exhibit D:
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