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On Scheherazade and other transcendent moments
C. Fraser Smith
WYPR-FM
One night several years ago, sitting in Row D, Seat 103 at
the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, I heard Scheherazade
for the first time.
Actually, I had heard the piece many times. But for some
reason on this night I heard the melodies with every sensory
portal open, every emotional receptor embracing the sound.
If it wasn’t the music of the spheres, it was as close as I may
get to that experience in this life.
And there was more to the moment.
It led to some not so magical thinking: Music like this could
be an antidote to meanness and ill feeling—even violence.
A big leap? Maybe, but isn’t this idea at the heart of the hopedfor connection between the arts and real life? We believe in this
connection. We believe that music and painting and sculpture
and literature improve the quality of life. We have to imagine
we are making the world safe for the next Rimsky-Korsakov or
Debussy or a Jay-Z or Piaf—or you and me?
So whatever thoughts may follow your transcendent moments
of BSO listening, you may want to have them as often as possible.
It’s not a remote possibility when your orchestra is the BSO.
I come with high expectations. I’m never disappointed. The
quality—a reflection of professionalism and love of music at
least as high as mine—is the guarantee. Even if the program is
not entirely to my liking, I love the idea of an orchestra willing
4 O v ertur e |
to stretch and experiment. It’s that arts thing again: I may
not love the “Man-Woman” statue in front of Baltimore’s Penn
Station (actually I do like it), but I do love the idea that our city
welcomes the artist’s vision.
A year or so ago, I stood in the middle of the Meyerhoff
for a rehearsal of the Orch-Kids Nation, now the anthem of this
program’s very own ode to joy. Commissioned by Maestra
Marin Alsop, that short piece is based on the testimony of the
kids themselves. I was there recording it for WYPR’s “The
Signal.” A bonus for me, as it turns out: I have a CD to be played
when the mood demands.
In July, I heard Concertmaster Jonathan Carney and a
Baroque-sized orchestra play two of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons,
“Summer” and “Winter.” Carney led with his usual precision and
flare. Another all-time session for me.
We are, of course, blessed here in Baltimore to have such
quality players. They are the ones who give us moments of
incandescent brilliance. For 80 to 100 of us doing something
so well and so uplifting is a phenomenon of human striving.
It is the definition of symphony.
Except for the brilliance, I have no idea why things come
into alignment for me so on any given evening. You can’t know
when that moment is coming for you.
So you just have to be there.
C. Fraser Smith is senior news analyst for WYPR-FM. He is a member of the BSO’s Governing Members.
www. bsomusic .org