A few years ago, my wife read the memoir “Born on a Blue” by essayist, novelist, poet, translator and autistic savant Daniel Tammet. Tammet, by the way, has set the world record for memorizing the most digits of Pi; learned to speak Icelandic in a week; and has a neurological condition that allows him to see numbers (and other concepts) in color (hence, he was “born on a blue day”).
I remembered talking about that book with my wife when I recently stumbled across some information on synesthesia, the “perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway” (info HERE). For example, when Tammet works with numbers, he perceives colors associated with them. While I was investigating the phenomenon of synesthesia, I stumbled upon musician Michael Torke, a composer described on Wikipedia as one “who writes music influenced by jazz and minimalism” (info HERE). He’s also a synesthete for he sees music in color. As a matter of fact, Torke has composed a number of pieces associated with color, and many are included in his suite, “Color Music,” a suite “well known for its association with the composer’s synesthesia” (info HERE). In exploring the peculiarity of synesthesia and discovering the works of Michael Torke, I decided this week to listen to his piece “Bright Blue Music.” Of course, the color “blue” is often tied to sadness (“What’s wrong? You look so blue”), and that’s true in music too when you listen to “the blues.” However, Torke’s piece is not about the color “blue” and/or the desperation included in so many blues hits (a list of top blues standards is HERE); instead, it’s about the color “bright blue,” and it is a joyous and heartwarming piece. One listener to the video linked above described the piece as “the most exquisite and ravishing affirmation of joy of life. Boundless and unrestrained.” Listen to Torke’s “Bright Blue Music.” It’s not as energetic or exuberant as Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” but it’s a spirited and buoyant piece.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
September 2023
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