Confrontation and its Resolution

It was a very long confrontation two days ago. But after the bringing down of the curtain, no applause was heard in the hall. That was the defining moment to me in terms of its eternal beauty. It gave space for recalling the whole musical adventure in just a few seconds.

So, I wrote down the following words when the silence started becoming alive in the hall.

"It was so beautiful to hear the extra notes which did not exist.

They came from silence and faded into silence.

And life continues into silence.

The audience were moved by such.

That's why it's so hard to break the silence in the beginning

and keep the silence at the end

without being interruped by the applause. "

Daniel Barenboim said the music either starts in silence or interrupt the silence.

Two pieces instantly emerged in my mind after the confrontation.

Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor-A breaking into silence

Brahms' German Requiem- A coexisting with silence

I remembered myself once talking about the utter loneliness which was naturally-integrated in his cello piece. Before I went to the UK, I regarded the piece as British style, whereas in the UK, three years after my first listening to it, I felt the strong sense of loneliness. That was the time I stood outside of the Leominster Cathedral with Mr King. He mentioned the terrible sadness in his piece, while I mentioned the utter loneliness derived from his own ambiguity of his musical identity. The saddest thing can happen to an artist is his own work not being appreciated by his contemporaries. It is acceptable for geniuses to be misunderstood, who are destined to work on what they enjoy the most, knowing their work will stand the test of time. Elgar is not completely a genius but an amazingly-gifted composer who had a chance in history to stretch his talent to the apex. That's why he adopted the language which was so unfamiliar to composers in continental Europe in his time. Even today, his language is exotic to me, in the sense that it is a language which seems only belongs to him. However, I read him in a much easier way than I read Schubert who spoke, inevitably due to his genius this time , his own language. Elgar has showed me the way to something I longed for when words failed to lead their way-The reserved gentleness.

It is well-known,of course, that Jacqueline du Pre's playing had a kiss from God.