Sunday evening..finding out about Bach

 This morning attended the service created by the Seven Daughters of Eve, a group headed by
 my friend  Sibyl.  A beautiful service, its leader asked the congregants to grieve over something important. Singers sang "A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall" and a sadness came over me immediately.Written in the sixties, its idealistic demands seem to have been never met---another cause for grieving. The whole service took about 40 minutes, captured my attention and left me very moved.
Spent some of the afternoon outside, a short walk north on Broadway till about 87th street then a bench on Riverside Drive---had Lydia Davis' book of short stories with me, but also really enjoyed looking at the flow of people who passed. All ages, children, couples, seniors, etc. Ms. Davis' short stories are concise, heated and intense. They come at you with a kind of immediate fury. After one or two, had to stop just to chill my mind out. Their focus is incredible, but stylistically they are so similar that one's mind and feelings can be exhausted quickly. . At any rate, felt a little fatigued by around 4, so headed back to the apartment.
   I had received an e mail telling me that the great cellist, Yo Yo Ma was performing the six Bach unaccompanied Cello suites, beginning at 2. I felt very strongly that this was time i wanted to be out of the apartment, and when I returned, I expected the concert to be over. But it wasn't; the sixth suite was being played--I listened for a short while and was mesmerized. Here was Bach that was penetrating and really fierce. I stopped what I was doing and listened carefully--there is something almost inpenetrable about the piece. I made up my mind that in the next few days, I would listen carefully to all six of the suites---really try to get to know them. I have always seen Bach's music as "circular" that is, always returning to the same place---somehow a lot of his music leaves me very unmoved. I think listening to the suites will be a different experience. I want to challenge myself to really understand them. Will I do it in the next few days? Well, nothing much else is planned--so I have the time, but this is a tough challenge. After the Bach, I searched utube and listened to Mozart's Violin Concerto Number 3---a truly beautiful piece that the young Mozart wrote, one of five Violin Concertos written at the same time. Much easier for me to absorb---Mozart and his amazing dialogues between soloist and orchestra are always fascinating to me.
That is all for now. How many more weeks until I can visit a bookstore, or stop and sit down and have coffee, not a take out on a park bench? Hopefully soon.