[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 213 – Massed Forces

Massed Forces (05-05-08)

The conductor raises his baton, and out of the hushed silence of an audience almost holding its breath, the massive 6,000 pipe organ at Verizon Hall blasts through the stillness with a crushing E-flat major chord. It is joined immediately by the combined forces of the Philadelphia Orchestra, greatly enlarged for this occasion, three choruses, children’s choir, and eight soloists. And so begins the Mahler Symphony No. 8, the so-called Symphony of a Thousand.

I sat there mesmerized for the next ninety minutes as the vast musical canvas unfolded before me. With respect to this amazing work, Mahler asked of his listeners to imagine that the universe had burst into song and the suns, moons and planets were singing in their orbits. While I had heard this piece many times on recordings, for the first time I realized how true a request that was. It was an experience that one did not merely hear, but one to be felt as well.

Anyone who knows me, or at least knows the connection to my screen name, understands my appreciation for the music of Gustav Mahler. I have just about every thing that the man composed on recordings and have heard most of his works in live concerts multiple times. The major exception to this was the eighth symphony. Because it is so huge and requires so many performers, it is rarely given in concert. A friend alerted me to the upcoming performance in Philadelphia many, many months ago. I immediately went on-line and, alas, all performances were already sold out. So, after 40 plus years, since my first introduction to his music, I would be denied this pleasure. After all, one has to realize that in life there are many things that are simply not possible.

Now, for many of you, I realize that this is a difficult thing to understand. But, try to imagine some event that you always wanted to attend, say the World Series, the Kentucky Derby or the Super Bowl. Due to circumstances like time, family, finances, they simply are not in the cards. You are resigned to that and move on. Suddenly, circumstances change and you are soon sitting there in box seats trying to grasp how you got there.

Well, about a week before the event, that same friend messaged me that he just happened to have an extra ticket to the concert and wanted to know if I would be his guest. With the swiftness of the internet, that which was a dream, became a reality. By the end of the week, I was sitting there, with thousands of others, trying to wrap my mind around what was taking place. In what seemed like a short ninety minutes, I was standing, with those thousands and applauding enthusiastically for the performance of a lifetime.

Now what, if anything, does this have to do with . . . well . . .anything. To me this entire experience was not only the fulfillment of a lifelong goal, but a lesson as well. It points out to me that often there are things that are, or at least seem to be, beyond our grasp. Yet, through a serendipitous set of circumstances, they become attainable. It may be by virtue of the generosity of a friend, a turn of events or just a bit of luck, and what seemed impossible is now happening or is already a fond memory.

With that thought in mind, I cannot help but think that it would be so foolish of us then, to rely on chance with those things that are indeed within our grasp, those achievements that we can strive for and reach. When so much in this world that seems impossible comes to us through no effort of our own, why would we not want to reach out and use our abilities to attain the possible.

Thanks, Tom (stingo), for helping me reach the impossible.

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Have a Great Week!

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