Bloggerlife.blog

12/10/2025

Today’s blot

Lynn Murphy Mark

Floating in a sea of music

For the last three days I have been blessed to attend a Christmas music performance each day. ‘Tis the Season, as they say. Two of them were by artists that I have not heard of, but I was blessed by my friend Donna’s recommendations, and happily went with her. And the extravaganza is not over yet – this Sunday I will be at the newly remodeled Powell Hall for what may be the highlight of them all. This weekend the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is featuring Handel’s Messiah.

Miracle of miracles, I have found a kindred soul who loves Messiah as much as I do. This discovery came about when Donna and I were driving home from a concert Monday night. We were discussing the show we had just witnessed and enjoyed. I mentioned that my music week will be complete on Sunday when I take myself to hear Nicholas McGegan conduct what I consider the most elegant music I have ever heard.

“I love Messiah!”, came from Donna. She even has a favorite version, an old recording from the 1960’s that some consider to be the most powerful performance of Messiah ever heard. Of course, I told her I would make a recording of my favorite version so she could immerse herself and hear a different take on this classic. I told her I wished I had known this about her because I would have gotten a second ticket for her for Sunday. We spent the rest of the ride home comparing notes on our favorite arias and wondering how in the world Handel had managed to compose the 260 page oratorio in just 24 days. Text by Charles Jennings completed the piece.

I couldn’t believe that there is another Messiah-nut so close to home. I told her about writing an email to the now retired soprano, Margaret Marshall, who has moved me with her performance for decades. I wrote to tell her how significant this recording has been for me, and that my children were both raised listening to John Earl Gardiner’s interpretation. Ms. Marshall’s daughter wrote me back, while her mother dictated a sweet response to my email.

Yesterday morning in the dark before dawn I went to the SLSO website on the off chance that I might snag another ticket. Usually these performances sell out, so I wasn’t particularly optimistic. Well, there are still a few seats left for Sunday afternoon’s performance. Merry Christmas, Donna. We won’t be able to sit together, but we will both soak in the music. I’m still absorbing that I have encountered a Messiah buddy so close to home.

Last night when Donna and I were driving to meet friends for dinner before a different concert she told me that she was originally going to be a music major in college. Her father was not as enthused as she was and the story goes that she became an architect instead. But music has always been a powerful influence in her life, as it has been in mine. It’s hard for me to describe the kind of bond this passion for music can create. 

Anyway, last night’s performance was by a Christian rock group called For King and Country. It was great. Loud, with a light show, and plenty of drumming, I was taken by the way I could feel the beats in my chest. The Fox was completely sold-out by fans of this group. I watched people around me singing along with the band and the two brothers who sang beautifully and energetically for two hours. Their versions of Christmas classics were fun to watch and listen to. 

As much as I have been troubled by recent difficult and brutal changes in immigration policies, I can find solace in music. It is good for my soul to soak in the talents of musicians of all genres. I am so grateful for the opportunity to leave ugliness at the door and absorb the words and notes of the Christmas season. Thank God for the inventions of the human spirit.