Listening to Mozart live is one of the few musical experiences where I am made calm, yet not sleepy. I was lucky enough to hear Jeffery Kahane conduct and play piano for a packed house in Houston. We have had a wonderful, but busy holiday with much to do later to get ready for the work week. In such situations, almost all television would have failed to distract me from the five hundred and fifty three details that need attention, but if it did, I would have fallen asleep.
Modernity has two modes: sleeping and busy. Mozart will have neither, at least in Piano Concertos 21 and 24. There is a blend of pastoral calm, Salzburg and the mountains, with an imperial call to action. The oboes and bassoons in Concerto 24 sooth without drowsiness.
If Wagner makes a man wish to fight, these concertos made me want to reflect.
Mozart made me calm and did not bid me carry on. Instead, the concertos took time, for an untrained ear like mine, this was a lot of music. Mozart wrote to show his skills as a composer and a performer, a pianist, and he had a great many skills to show off. It works, even for poor me.
I could close my eyes to focus on the music without the slightest chance of falling asleep, because sometimes the trumpets would sound, but always the piano was insisting that I attend. More than anything, I was reminded of the moment in the Orthodox service, when the priest says: “Wisdom! Let us attend!” so that we know to focus on the reading of the Gospel.
Mozart’s piano forced me to attend, while the orchestra soothed me. I was brought to attention, but at ease. He seemed to be saying: “Think, be calm, but be enlightened.” Meditate, don’t become drowsy. Come out of this concert sharpened, rested, and ready.
Too many times we are called to action. Click now. Buy now. Act now. Commit now. The alternative is the soporific sounds of that we can buy to put us to sleep: rain on the roof, waves on the shore, wind sounds. We are either driving forward or dozing and this is dangerous. New ideas come from silence, reflection, but alertness.
This is how sleep is different from death. Sleep does not allow thought. Death is perfect clarity. In death, a human moves from the half-awake state of this life to full alertness in the life to come. We are aware, standing fully before the Uncreated Light of God. At that moment there is nothing to do, but see. Whatever the defects of his philosophy, the music of Mozart calls us to a similar moment while yet alive: waking rest.
We need more Mozart just now.
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