Music: What Is It GOOD For?

We could talk about "what is music" with some benefit, but it's easier to cut to the chase.

In the February 21-22 weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, American composer Morten Lauridsen explained what he was trying to achieve in his sublime choral work, O Magnum Mysterium. "In composing music to these inspirational words about Christ's birth and the veneration of the Virgin Mary," he said, "I sought to impart . . . a transforming spiritual experience within what I call 'a quiet song of profound inner joy.' I wanted this piece to resonate immediately and deeply into the core of the listener, to illumine through sound."

The MSOChorus performed that work. It does exactly what Lauridsen suggests.

And the further 'music' goes from that illumination, the less 'music' it is, folks.