Monkeys !
Once more, I listened to Dvořák [pronounce : ‘dvor-jack’)’s New World Symphony yesterday. Although it would certainly have been incomplete without its bombastic segments, its second movement undoubtedly has my preference. It is considered to be more melancholic. And, insofar as my intimate knowledge of such things has any acuity, I can say it was flawlessly rendered. So flawlessly, in fact, that the obvious brutality of the consequent applause horrified me. I had to pause the video at once. Then I asked myself : how can it be that what is supposed to be the cultural elite of our modern societies doesn’t perceive their savagery when they instantly, conventionally, mechanically, sweep away such an array of deep, powerful yet subtle emotions with unbearable noise ? “Monkeys !”, I thought. Is that how they think they’re paying tribute to the masters ? I started wondering how such silly conventions came about. Don’t get me wrong : I find Occupy’s hand signals — should anyone remembers those — nearly as silly. What I mean is : am I the only one whose spontaneous reaction to what I had just heard (again) was a gentle, hopeful sigh ?…
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This post was originally published (by myself) on August 24, 2022 on https://yannickbaele.wordpress.com, my main blog from May 31, 2012 until February 26, 2026 (ca. 3,000 posts), which was censored by Wordpress from one day to the next, without any explanation !
