Quite Simply, A Simple Genius.

...Genius does not pander. It invites, and does not compromise much in the process...

Cleveland is foggy. The less-famous city of perpetual precipitation has given us a London-like blanket of mist. I sit on my balcony, finally having gotten away from a massive pile of work.. it's always there, and it never shrinks. Some nights, you just have enough.

Wrapped in a blanket, stealing warmth from a mug of nearly black tea, I stare into the fog and pretend to be somewhere else, somewhere more interetsing. Wanderlust has been striking hard at me again, and my incurable disease must soon be pacified with travel... travel that I really can't afford financially, yet cannot afford personally to not undertake. I'll find a way...

In the background plays my newly acquired copy of Henryk Gorecki's Third String Quartet, nearly an hour long, recorded by the Kronos Quartet. (If you don't know the two names, please do yourself an immense favor: go to Amazon, and order any recording of Gorecki's tear-jerking Third Symphony. Then, order anything by Kronos. I recommend the "Black Angels" or "The Dreams and Prayers of Issaac the Blind.")

There is something magical and childlike that happens when you connect with a particular musician or group of musicians. I know that for all of the music that I like, there are a handful of composers and musical acts that simply speak to my heart, as if the music were written specifically for me. When the music is of a higher caliber, then the experience is even deeper. For me, Gorecki is simply a mystical experience.

Slow, insistent, and tragic, the Third Quartet leaves little to be desired. At first, you may wish that Gorecki "did more" with his material. But that is the price of genius: Artistic genius does not pander, rather, genius comes down to you and offers you a higher place. It opens doors to the deeper things, to the "thin places" in life. In Gorecki's case, he is either loved or hated by many because of his insistence of style. There is not a single moment where he is concerned with "selling you" something. There is no sugar on top with Gorecki -- he simpy is what he is, in a way that nobody else can be.

In all this talk about art, please notice how I haven't used the word "entertainment" as of yet. That's because it is unimportant. Cheap comedy, video games, and spectator sports are entertaining. Art is spiritual. Art is deep. Art is a vehicle of travel, a method of lifting the soul, and a major way of glorifying God. At least, any art that is any good aspires to such things. Personally, I view any artistic endeavor outside of these ramifications as a superb waste of time.

Sometimes I feel hemmed in: on one side of society, the vast majority of people do not know anything about good music, instead pursuing pure drivvle. On the other side, classical-purists and awful serialists seem to tag-team their domination of the "classical" music scene....

...enter Gorecki. His music is part of the "solution" to this dillema.

I invite you into the world of my favorite composer, and hope that you will leave a better person when you have experienced his work. Can honest art make us more honest? Can art that is close to God bring us closer in turn to the creator? I'm quire sure of it. This is why I do it so passionately, working myself to the bone to find a place in the small world of "good" music and honest composers. Gorecki is one of my lightposts, one of the shining examples of truth in music.

Tommorow, I will return to my work. For now, I will let Mr. Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki lull me into contemplation with his six minute unresolved pedal chords. His harmonic scheme stretches over vast distances, and I can feel myself relax... soon I will follow the sounds into expansive new vistas...