It rains today. Cold day. The world has been sad this week. Young people shooting, and shooting up. In a rare interview, some time ago, George Steiner said a very touching thing. It keeps coming back to me. He said, listening to the music of Schubert, “Because there was a Schubert, maybe, maybe somewhere there is an excuse for the rest of us.” The interview became a documentary with a soothing title, Beauty and Consolation. Today is a good day for beauty and consolation.
This was Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D Minor, 2 used in a peculiar little Japanese animated film called A Journey through Fairyland. Marcello’s composition was later transcribed by Bach for the harpischord, and Bach’s transcription has recently been interpreted by Ryuichi Sakamoto on his magical piano. Beauty goes places. Somewhere, maybe …