The violin recital yesterday was sublime. Brother and sister Piotr and Ania Filochowski, 19 and 15, students of Itzhak Perlman at Julliard, played selections from Bach, Mozart, Beetoven, and Brahms, as well as other composers. The place (Ocean C0unty Library in Toms River) was packed and there was barely a sound as the siblings played.
Piotr is a tall, lean young man with lots of dark, curly hair and his attractive--not conventionally pretty--sister has a web site. When I got home, I wrote her an e-mail, thanking her for her artistry.
Of course, I probably didn't get full enjoyment of it because I'm a musical illiterate. One of my biggest regrets is that I never attended to, or learned much, about classical music--or any other kind, for that matter. I like Cole Porter--but it's the lyrics I enjoy most, as I'm a word person--and fifties singers, e.g. The Platters. This was very different and very special and the fact that I liked it so much came as a surprise to me.
It also made me think of William Blake and "The Tyger." I mean that old, old question, maybe the pivotal question of religion and philosophy, that asks, "Did He who made the lamb make thee?"
In other words, how is it that the same Being--generally regarded as supremely benign--could be responsible for the overwhelming beauty of music like this, but also the horror and carnage that exists in the world? The apologists may twist and turn in their efforts to answer and offer whole books in defense of this co-existence--which, I suppose, are really arguments to deny agnosticism--but I have yet to be convinced.