In the not so recent past, it was absurd to think that sitting down without digital distraction would be an anomaly. Even ten years ago, smartphones weren’t as present at every single moment of our lives. I watch television with another tab of social media open on my computer—scrolling on Instagram with Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy’s nasal whine of innuendos in the background. I walk down the street while checking my email or hate-reading essays about celebrity divorces in The Cut. Am I proud of these admissions? No. In fact, saying them out loud makes me feel a little gross. But our reality now is that there are few occasions where you can put down this tiny, hand-held extension of your brain. However, performances of the Pittsburgh Symphony are among them.
I had never been to an orchestra concert before. Lately, I’ve been trying to seek out more experiences that take me out of the constant information stream and get me out of my own head. I had the opportunity to go to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra through a friend. In a world where the lines between public and private and personal and professional are so blurred, there’s real value in putting on your prettiest, most sparkling clothes and walking into a gleaming hall of culture when the lights dim. This is one of the rituals that is healthy for the soul.
A New Voice in Classical Composition
The matinée I attended started with the world premiere of Mt. Lebanon-born composer Hannah Ishizaki’s “Spin.” Ishizaki shared that she was trying to evoke a swirling Viennese waltz and the chaos of electronic music DJs. One of the piece’s most triumphant moments was when Ishizaki managed to combine the sonic efforts of the percussion section and the string section into a womp-womp-womp that almost mirrored the way the walls shake in a nightclub.
But the piece didn’t veer into trying to turn classical into something it isn’t. It still honored the traditions with sweeping string portions and the gentle flutters of flutes and oboes. It was refreshing to start with a piece by a young composer. The work reminds us that even in the hallowed worlds of opera and classical music there is fresh talent.
A Virtuoso’s Take on Mozart
Headliner Emanuel Ax’s piano performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 5 was exuberant and light. At various moments the keys sounded like falling rain, the thundering hooves of horses, or a heartbeat. My companion told me that Mozart’s early death and his child prodigy status meant he couldnt’t mature as a composer.
Even never having listened to it in a symphony setting, there’s a youthful cadence to Mozart’s music. The Piano Concerto No. 25 was one of Mozart’s favorite compositions, and Ax’s interpretation of it was both spirited and gentle. Ax also projected such a sense of calm while performing, as if he was as lost in the music as the audience was.
Emotions Through Music
The performance concluded with the work of another child prodigy (coincidentally also with a Wolfgang in his name), Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Korngold’s Symphony in F-Sharp Major was tempestuous—it suggested for me the cycles of fighting in a dramatic, unhealthy relationship. The music built up pressure, then released it through crescendos of sound. When I thought it would finish, the strings would build up again, release, and then jerk you back into the blast of horns. It was beautiful and meditative, revealing the places where our brains anticipate music to escalate or de-escalate.
If you’ve never been to an orchestral performance or feel it’s too stuffy, too old, or not for you in some way, it’s worth it if only to focus on something beyond yourself and give your mind some time to wander. Listening to classical music let my inner self wander and expand with what I was hearing. Sure, there were times I thought about what I was going to make for dinner or wondered if someone had texted me back. But true meditation allows your mind to wander freely instead of trying to block the thoughts that come. Listening to classical music freed me up to imagine and daydream based on what I was hearing. I felt connected to something greater than myself, to another time and place. You should, too.
Story by Emma Riva
Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Symphony
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