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Re: Best wishes to all Americans
Hello to all my F_Minor friends in the
stunned world.
I think Henryk Górecki's Third Symphony is the most
beautiful and moving music of mourning and commemoration. Hold out for the
version with Dawn Upshaw.
(One F_Minor professional
musician -- string guy, I think -- once wrote me that musicians who have to
rehearse this piece often don't share my love and admiration for
it.)
And Barber's "Adagio for
Strings," which became famous as the music played over and over on the
radio during the funeral of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I went to college in New York City and
have had some of the best times of my life there. In many ways -- certainly
musical high, high among them -- it has evolved into one of the most thrilling
and spirit-enriching cities the world in our times has ever known. For all its
faults, people who love the most wonderful things of life have always
spontaneously wanted to visit and live there.
So far all my NYC friends have checked
in safe and sound, but some have reported close calls, near misses, and
harrowing office window views of the ghastly disaster.
My particular prayers go out to
children everywhere who must make sense of all this, and to the adults who must
try to tell them that there is still hope, safety and love for them and for all
of us in this world.
I love to ride trains, and I know so
well the view of the Towers from New Jersey Mary Jo mentions. It is unimaginable
that the next time I look at the city, they will not be there. And why they will
not be there. Unimaginable. Entirely outside of all my experience.
Mary Jo, thanks for reminding us that
music has a role to play in the terrible recuperation and recovery the souls of
all survivors must endure in the year to come. After a harrowing broadcasting
day, Peter Jennings finally started to cry when Congress assembled and began to
sing "God Bless America."
Bob
>Hello to everyone-- so many of you I have
known through the internet and
>in fortunate real life meetings for many
years.
>
>Rutgers University where I work (and the org that hosts
f_minor) is 33
>miles from mid-town Manhattan-- roughly 28 miles from
where the twin
>towers used to stand. Essentially, I live in an urban
suburb of NYC. I
>always knew to get my bags together on the train the
minute we'd come
>around the bend on the Northeast Corridor line because
there the towers
>would be. I can't explain what the city looks like
without them-- the
>pictures at night on the news-- our whole world has
changed! So many
>people are having such different reactions. I
think for most of the
>people I know it hasn't sunk in. The amount of
human lives that have been
>lost in New York, D.C., Pennsylvania
tonight...is incomprehensible.
>Reports from friends who made it home from
the towers have left me, in my
>relative comfort just a few miles away, so
concerned for them and the
>massive trauma they have endured and stunned
at what lies ahead for the
>loved-ones of those who are missing. But I
think most Americans will tell
>you-- no matter what our political
inclinations-- we won't be terrorized
>and I want to thank everyone for
their well wishes in this difficult,
>stunning time.
>
>I
think I'll put on Verdi's Requiem-- my own personal music of
mourning.
>Does anyone have any suggestions for good 'dark night of the
soul'
>music? Perhaps Brahms?
>
>Best,
>
>Mary Jo
Watts,
>listowner, f_minor