My mother is the most practical, least sentimental person I know. Yet every time I play a prelude or nocturne by the ultra-romantic Chopin on the piano, Mom is drawn into the room as if by a magnet. But my all-time favorite is the slow, haunting second movement of Beethoven s Seventh Symphony. I ve sometimes thought that if the Crucifixion had been set to music, it would have sounded very much like that. It will surprise you to discover how many things you like that you would never have expected to appeal to you.
Classical music enriches our moral imagination.
This is not to say that listening to classical music automatically makes you kinder and gentler. The Moldau, or Gershwin s Rhapsody in Blue is a desire to throw things at people who try to talk to me while they re playing. But Glaspey believes that studying the arts, including music, helps us see old truths in fresh ways, and develops our own creativity so that we can share those visions more effectively with others. People hearing this piece on the radio for the first time actually pulled over to the side of the road to cry. Persecuted for his faith by the Communist government of Poland, G recki refused to stop writing the sacred music that the authorities hated.