On the Symphony Orchestra

I love good music, and I particularly love a good symphony orchestra. It is one of the most wonderful things that fallen man has invented, and it invariably turns my thoughts to music in Christ’s kingdom. I love the beauty of the sound, the unity, the complexity, the depth, the flexibility, the variety, and the brilliance and technical expertise required to write and perform a symphony piece. It is said that music is the language of the emotions, and what emotions a symphony orchestra can evoke! André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra with its repertoire of beautiful symphonic music can attract 65,000 listeners at one performance even in this shallow age of pop music. The following observation on the symphony orchestra is by the late Klaus Roy, program annotator for the Cleveland Orchestra, founded in 1918 and one of America’s “Big Five” orchestras: “What more miraculous creation of mankind is there than the symphony orchestra--a hundred musicians collaborating flawlessly in the creation of a single sonority from moment to moment, under the guidance of a single and singular mind who conveys the sound image of another’s tonal imagination, and carrying with it a single listener as it carries a thousand or two thousand? We tend to take for granted the skill and sensitivity of such a performing organism, and we should take time to marvel afresh that such a joint effort is possible for human beings, so rich in communication, beauty and meaning.” The symphony orchestra is evidence for the divine creation of man for those who have eyes to see.

(Friday Church News Notes, November 13, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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