Anyone else start an argument with a piece of music, no? Must be just me then . . .

I would certainly never confess to being the greatest fan of classical music. My own musical tastes have always centred around the Indie / Alternative world, give me pounding drums, wailing guitars and a singer pouring out the darkest recesses of his or her soul and I’m generally happy.

Most days, just walking around, I carry a small iPod, usually filled with a selection of tracks from different artists and I shuffle through them, usually trying to find one that fits my particular mood or degree of misery. What can I say, it makes me happy(ish)

And yet, and yet, I have this track from the Cello Suites, no idea where I first came across it, probably used in a move or TV show, but every time it comes up I have to stop and listen to it.

It’s like this piece of music and I are engaged in a long-standing argument. No matter how miserable I am, no matter how low an opinion I have of myself and the world around me this track comes along and says ‘oh yes, but listen to me, just listen to me’.

It’s as if this piece of music is saying that no matter what else happens a small speck of pure beauty is possible in this world, that just for a few minutes it can be a magical, glorious place and you can lift up your eyes and see the majesty of the universe around you, that it can all can fade away, all your troubles, all your woes, and you’re left with that moment, that brief, perfect moment, where things exist not as they are, but as they should be.

And then the track ends and it all returns to the way it is.

And yet . . .

And yet . . .

(by the way, anyone interested could do worse than read ‘The Cello Suites’ by Eric Siblin, Harvill Secker, 2009, a fantastic book that explores the creation, and rediscovery, of the Cello Suites. for any lover of music or history it’s well worth a read. Those that do will see why I chose to include a video of Pablo Casals playing. He was the man who rediscovered the Suites, without him they may have been lost to history)