classical

I’m in Colombo for a bit now, so I’m using the eventimes, by my lonesome to catch up on film as a) I will not be able to afford to do so in Boston, and b) will not have the time to do either.

I watched the film “Ordinary People” with Timothy Hutton, who was naught but a boy in Robert Redford’s debut directorial venture, for which he won an Oscar. (He was rather excellent in the film, but execrable now) The film was prosaic, but real, and a sturdy effort in examining one family’s sadness at losing their older boy. But it was unique in that the entire film was set to one soundtrack, and movements from that soundtrack would be played and it lent a weight and sadness to the movie that otherwise might have listed to one side. The soundtrack was Pachelbel’s Canon.

And set me off on a discovery of classical music. That and Ave Maria from the West Wing when Josh talks about his sister dying. (Note to self: must find Brothers in Arms, the piece that the Season 2 finale is set to). And now I’m swimming in discoveries of Bach, by far and away the most capable of crossing the bridge between the human and the divine, Beethoven, Schubert, and a few others. And sometimes, when I’m at my most depressed, it is classical music that has helped fill the void of a break-up, of the end of a path.

Went to a party last night. Spent most of the night reminiscing about how my tenure was soon going to end. And how could I leave?