Sunday, March 6, 2011

Northern Reflections


The Northern Lights, interpreted by the Tlingit of Alaska as the dancing of human spirits, came alive for me in a glorious concert Gem and I attended last evening. We accompanied lovely new friends to a concert given by the Thompson Valley Community Orchestra. Themed 'Northern Reflections', it featured gorgeous music from Norway, Finland and Russia; Jean Sibelius, Edvard Grieg, Gustav Holst, Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Tchaikovsky, Alexander Scriabin. The guest pianist was a brilliant, passionate twenty-one year old young man named Clinton Denoni, who last year won the Canadian composer's class at the B.C. Festival of the Performing Arts.

The music, under the direction of the wonderfully talented Norris Berg, came alive in banners of unfurling green light, each note possessing its own geometry of grace. I felt nourished as I listened, my soul fed. I could feel the distinctly Northern reflections of each piece; music seeking the kaleidoscopic transformation of the ever-shifting beauty of mountains, of snow, of liquidity and ice, of dark and light.


It occurred to me as we drove home, that the whole evening was a form of prayer; an intimate dialogue, gathered and given. For just as a dancers pray by dancing, and musicians pray by playing music, we human beings have a continuous, ongoing need for prayer through the rituals of communing.

(Clinton Denoni, wonderful young pianist.)

10 comments:

  1. You described it so beautifully. I could picture it along with the music. :)

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  2. Sounds wonderful, Jo. I have a fairly small, but select 'classical' music collection. Grieg's 'Holberg Suite' is one of my all-time favourites.

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  3. What I'd give to see the northern lights in person...

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  4. That must have been a magnificent evening, Nana Jo. I saw the northern lights once and I can never forget the sight of those dancing lights - an unexpected sight on a drive home on a dark country road. No camera, nothing to capture it - just eyes and heart. To hear it celebrated with beautiful music must have been incredible.

    I'm so glad you're back on-line!

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  5. I've never seen the northern lights, but some day I will. Seeing them is definitely on my bucket list.

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  6. Sounds like a wonderful and uplifting evening.

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  7. What A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening!

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  8. Never seen the northern lites would love to see them - they are about as ellusive as Fowler Beenland .

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  9. just found your blog. love to be here :)

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  10. This is the first time I've visited your blog - what a wonderful experience beautifully described.

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