Tag Archives: Classical Music

Glorious Music

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Have you ever been so moved by a piece of music that you cry? I have. I do.

For days, I’ve felt drawn to listen to Max Richter’s, On the Nature of Light. Are you familiar with it? It’s easily one of my favorite contemporary classical pieces of music. I love all of Max Richter’s works Too busy to tune in earlier, as I wanted to give the music my full attention, I found the quiet of this morning the perfect time. I sat with headphones on, hands crossed over my heart, and let the music hold space. I literally shed tears, so captured was I. I felt so many different emotions simultaneously. In my journal I made a list: ecstasy, sorrow, despair, sadness, transcendence, love, intimacy, desire, longing, yearning, hope, sublime, magick, forgiveness, tenderness, tolerance, caress, breath, movement, darkness, light, breathlessness, expression, expansion, transformation, warmth, belief, faith, embrace, connection, self-love, heart, grief, loss, glimmer, truth…And yet words are truly insufficient to describe this kind of magic. I had this piece on repeat as I flowed through my morning tarot read. The first card, Art (Temperance in RWS system) – Making anything you do a work of art; friendship between mind and heart; rest and activity; light and dark; self and others; taking a creative or aesthetic approach, viewing the situation with an artistic eye.

Music saves again and again. My first love, likely my last! I recall playing the piano for hours, eyes closed, in a tiny practice room at Centenary College. Just me and Beethoven or Chopin, or Mozart. No fear or judgment. No pressure to please an audience or play perfectly. Connection to the keyboard, sound, frequency, vibration. It was sublime. In today’s heavy, heavy world, music is the only perfection, always a safe connection.

I stumbled upon an artist new to me, Yannic Lowack. The piece featured below is called Leuer, another work that brings me to tears. He posted a small sample of an orchestral version, no piano, on his Instagram – you can find him on YouTube and IG.

I hear the piano calling to me, calling me back to who I was, a musician and lover of the expressive arts. I’ve been away far too long.

anthem of the trees

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Mother Earth, you are not yet lost
your rivers, oceans, mountains, and trees
raise their voice in desperate plea
a call to all beings,
an anthem of freedom
that cannot be ignored
feel the pulse of the land
steady now as ever before
listen, listen to its command
to all peoples everywhere
bear witness to the hand
of careless humans
who’ve lost the way,
blinded by a lust for gain
what will they say when all is lost,
beauty, purity carelessly tossed?
we weep oceans in grief
our souls in grave disbelief
can’t you hear the trees sing?
songs of peace they mightily ring,
they will not be enslaved to those depraved
life is sacred,
we are connected,
raise the collective must we

Cantus Iteratus by Karl Jenkins from Adiemus-Songs of Sanctuary. Cantus iteratus in Latin means “repeated song.” I’m living in this album. If you read my last post, I’ve been lost in this music lately. It’s truly breathtaking. Thank you, Karl Jenkins, for this masterpiece. I was drawn to the steady pulse of the percussion and lower strings and the beautiful chorus of female voices in this piece. I thought it truly conveyed the spirit of the poem. It sounds like an anthem, march-like and jubilant, and it steadily grows and grows until the end when the music softly trails away, much like the beginning. So clever and enlightened, I think. Our earth is being destroyed, and it deeply saddens me. I wanted that to be present in the poem, but also hope that we can make changes collectively. I think the music brings that to life. The piece reminds me a little of Treebeard and the Ents in Lord of the Rings. I hope you give it a listen as you read this poem. I wrote it at work yesterday during breaks, lol! Oh, and full lyrics to the piece are here.

Photo by Dave Hoefler on Unsplash