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Thu, 25 Jul 2002 23:43:02 +0100 |
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Eric Willstaedt believes:
>It would be a far better gesture to NOT play music then to play whatever
>was on that list.
I couldn't disagree more. Whatever else people think/feel/say about that
day, I sincerely believe one thing almost everybody agrees on is that it
was an emotional body blow -- nobody watching the images on TV during that
memorable morning could avoid being emotionally disturbed in some way. And
since music is perhaps the most emotive art, I believe the efforts made by
musicians, presenters and radio stations then and in the days following to
provide an emotional framework were, in many cases, laudable.
I got home from Reagan National Airport that morning, having walked six
miles home watching the pall of smoke from the Pentagon over my shoulder.
The first thing I did was to put on the most uplifting but poignant piece
of music I could think of -- which I would like to add to John Proffitt's
list. The last movement of Reinhold Gliere's "Bronze Horseman Suite" is
titled "Hymn to the Great City" and is a repetitive iteration of a theme
that could make a blind agnostic see God. It worked for me then, since
I need a catalyst for catharsis. Silence rather than music for me --
and I believe for many -- would have been a plain vacuum -- and I believe
the only useful thing you can do in a vacuum is to boil water at a lower
temperature!
Tim Mahon
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