Resonances

What is ‘modernism’? Music was late to have an answer compared with other arts. We hear glimpses of music we think we know; no melody or rhythm, just an instant of ‘colour’, frozen and moving – ‘eternity in a moment’. Colours may be vivid and clear, or sometimes dark and opaque. As Adorno said, it all began with late Beethoven. Then friends and enemies meet in love-hate relationships, Wagner and Debussy, Schoenberg and Stravinsky ... there are others. Need the listener know who? Of course not! (If it’s too obvious I think I have failed.) This is a personal choice from my memories of a repertoire I love but which may not last another century. Memory changes perspectives, transforms and shuffles. There are unique resonances in each of us.