Chopin's Something in "A" Flat With Two Dudes

NMB, Florida February 10, 2002 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
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CHOPIN'S SOMETHING IN "A" FLAT WITH TWO DUDES

At least that is somewhat like it sounded when the pianist announced his
encore at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach this afternoon. This
shouldn't be surprising since I don't hear very well. The noise in the
auditorium was at a high level of electricity due to a rousing performance
of a Grieg piece that followed an introductory composition by a fellow named
Tuur and itself was followed by a work of another Scandinavian, Sibelius.

But that is not what I wanted to talk about. What I want to talk about is
something this fellow Tuur (the name has two dots over each u) said about
his piece, Exodus. Now, his Exodus was a noisy affair and I suppose that
any exodus would be that way with so many people hustling to get away from
wicked kings like Pharaoh. But I was interested by what he said about a
"leaving" that involves exodus as escaping from the hold of gravity. This
formed a picture in my mind that occupied my thoughts all through the music
of this afternoon.

Try to picture it as I did. You escape that gravity and get way above the
earth and are able to see it as a spheroid with an atmosphere, clouds and
blue oceans spotted with dots of land. And, as you spin above - for you
have left the earth's pull by rocket - you see the earth spin. It does
that, you know. The earth has been known for centuries now to circle the Sun
AND spin on its own axis. The scientific people have been able to chart its
spin and if you believe it you must also believe that you cannot stand
upright because the spin should throw you off the land which is your home.

I don't think of this as an exodus. I think our ability to stand upright
and do all our business without falling is a wonderful gift and a marvel to
think about. Of all the things we are able to do this is perhaps the most
unconscious and the best. As remarkable as it, it is reducible to a law that
we all obey - gravity. Everything falls. Things that go up must come down.

When I was a small child I remember lying in a field of weeds in a backyard
looking up into clouds formed into interesting images. I also have a memory
of spinning as the skies changed. Just like the disorientation that
accompanies losing your balance the spinning answers to gravity in a most
disconcerting way. The best of the most extraordinary things associated with
thinking about gravity is that we have learned to fly, something birds have
done since the beginning of time.
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