Roll over Beethoven?

Western Classical Music. Is it for me?

Kubrick's movie, A Clockwork Orange made me, at least, give some attention to this genre of music. Music has a major role in this movie, especially Beethoven's 9th symphony.
The only other entry to my memory on Western Classical was what my friend told me when I was in college, that the electronic music you just heard while the car was backing up, was Mozart’s some symphony. Later i found out that it was Fur Elise by Beethoven.

Where I lived was with my Dada and Mum in municipal flat block 18-A Linear North. It had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now to give it the perfect ending was a bit of the old Ludwig Van.
Oh bliss, bliss and heaven. Oh it was georgeousness and georgeosity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal, or like silvery wine flowing in spaceship gravity all nonsense now as I slooshied I knew such pretty pictures.
-- Alex, A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess )

Ludwig Van Beethoven. Ah, he is not for me. Music without words?

Two years later:
Satyajit Ray's My years with Apu is a good read, even though you are not interested in making movies. In this book, Ray tells us about his passion for Western Classical music. Unavailability of Western records in Calcutta and their heavy price tag made it impossible for him access more of this art, till he made acquaintance with this gentleman in Calcutta who had a vast collection of Western Classical records. They spent evenings listening to records and Ray could borrow them from him (He was none other than Nirad C. Chaudhary!).

Ray's passion for this art form made me more curious. But the curiosity faded away with time.

6 months later:
In the opening chapter of Pankaj Mishra's Romantics, he introduces this lady who spends her time reading and listening to Western Classical music.

One morning as she lay in her sagging charpoy, her legs partially exposed in a way i thought immodest, the oval frames of her sunglasses accentuating the whiteness of her skin, a mysterious haunting melody floating out of her room - Beethoven's Archduke Trio, I later came to know....
--The Romantics, Pankaj Mishra

Mysterious haunting melody. I couldnt wait any longer. I hooked on to Internet and downloaded the 9th symphony. The whole of A Clockwork Orange soundtrack. And some more Beethoven tracks.
Later, I told my brother about this new interest of mine. Was this a sign of getting old? Strangely, he had been listening to Western Classical lately and gave me some pointers to start with. He said that Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Summer rocked! (He is also a novice who thought that Vivaldi was nothing but some kind of bathroom wear, till recently!).
So, I have been listening to these tracks for a couple of weeks now. And they do rock!

PS: I still play those nursery-rhymish Paul McCartney tracks!

Of Mice and Men: The Ghost of Lennie

I read about John Steinbeck and his Grapes of Wrath in the Sunday Magazine of The Hindu and in my next visit to library, I browsed through his books. Grapes of Wrath seemed to be a thick book which would have taken ages for me to read. I found a slim volume in between the books, titled Of Mice and Men. I read the novella the same day I borrowed it. Dark and haunting, I didn’t feel that I have read a great work (In fact, I was not knowing that it was a critically acclaimed and popular book). But the lines in the story kept coming back to me. “Will there be rabbits, George?” - The lines in the book were so lyrical that I thought - If I were to write a song with a book as its theme, this would be it. (At that time, Mark Knopfler had just released his ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’ album inspired by the book Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon). I started singing the lines which haunted me from the book – “Will you let me tend the rabbits, George?” - to the tune of Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet. (May be due to the ‘Sailing to..’ connection or the Shakespearean connection… or may be I felt that Knopfler’s rendition of the song -which was never written- would be perfect to match the mood of Of mice and men. )

IMDB tells me that there are a couple of movie versions of the book. A 1992 make directed by Gary Sinise, features Sinise as George and John Malkovich as Lennie. I am looking forward to watching it!

Songs in the key of life

Sometime in April (04), the Suprabhatham programme on Asianet featured the writer Sudhish. I had not read any of his works, still the programme was engrossing, as they talked about his writings and his love for music (and he sang pretty well too, on the programme). I just went out and grabbed his book, Aatmagaanam. Though most of the songs and artists he was raving about were not of my generation, the passages really made me search for my Aatmagaanagal too. Another book I read in this genre was the seminal work by the British writer Nick Hornby (of Hi-Fidelity and About a boy fame), “31 Songs” in which he narrates his memoirs on 31 of his favourite songs (features British and American Rock n’ roll and popular music). There is always a moment you can attach to a favourite song of yours - the wetness of a monsoon, an adrenaline-pumping high school crush, a dry exam study-leave or something as silly as fragrance of a perfume. Reading these books would be real treat for music buffs who feel that music has got something to do with their lives, if not change the course.

Sit back, turn on the music and sip your black tea while its pouring outside!