The snow has fallen and begun to become a sheet of ice. The wine is almost drunk, but there is another bottle in the wings. Vivaldi guitar concertos are playing in iTunes. I find myself coming back to the music of Vivaldi in its various forms. Some might see it as frantic, but I hear it as high-energy and an expression of virtuosity. There is a rare power behind the sounds he wrote and the nature of Renaissance instruments gives the music a raw, emotional feel. The power of the sounds trumps any plinky, refined tonality of the classical era á la Mozart. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mozart’s music. But when I need to feel the raw power of sound, I turn to Vivaldi.
If memory serves, about a year ago, we had another snow storm and I was drinking wine and listening to Arvo Pärt. Different times create different moods that require different sounds. Last year I needed to feel transcendent. This year, I need to feel like a storm moving across the land. But it is more ( or less ) than that. I need to feel the motion of nature, the passion of fire, the breath of wind, the depth of water and the constancy of earth. I need to know that I am not missing the world in its richness.