One of my problems is I think a tendency to Stoicism.
Ill understood, I think, I adopted like many Anglo-Celts a tendency to scorn emotionalism and to look down upon romanticism. This deprived me of a lot of good music for many years.
I only discovered Rachmaninoff ten years ago, because till then I had assumed that real mean don't listen to the Romantics. At a particular low-ebb I discovered the Piano Concertos and would listen to No. 2 every day for about 6 months.It kept me alive.
Even now when that driven beginning starts I feel myself perk up, so as I have mellowed I have become more open to romanticism.
Literature wise I am more impressed by over the top Romanticism, rather than the wishy washy
Mills and Boons sort of stuff where everything works out well in the end. The outlandish stuff, however, has an element of extremism (always attractive to me) which enables you to get it into perspective. It being obviously 'unreal' you must look deeper for the reality.
This is what I discovered about Rach 2, look beyond the faniciful florid flying from one end of the keyboard to the other and allow yourself to be drawn into the narrative and you can be transformed by something more profound
So I was bemused this week to hear the youngest S in our family singing (too loudly because IPod was plugged in to her ears)
"Taylor the Latte Boy" by Kristin Chenoweth with such feeling that it was impressive . And such melodramatic power that I listened to the words...really poetic amidst the mundane. Consider the chorus-bridge:
Taylor the latte boy,
Bring me java, bring me joy!
Taylor the latte boy,
I love him, I love him, I love him
…
You have to hear the song to fully appreciate the moment but it did remind me how maybe we can let ourselves be open to the romantic and be seduced by the idea that amidst the humdrum we might find love. Very incarnational really!
And you have to applaud a song that can get the word "caffeinated" into the lyrics
So many years my heart has waited,
Who’d have thought that love could be so caffeinated?
Taylor, the latte boy,
I love him, I love him, I love him.
I love him, I love him, I love him.
For a brief moment, the youngest S Clark and I were going to NY, NY (so good they named it twice!) for 10 days after Christmas. But it was not to be ( despite how much we would love to see Sean and Kristin in Promises Promises...(what DO you get when you fall in love?)
