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Mr. Eric Friesen (BA 1967)

Life Lesson #3

Which brings me to Life Lesson #3 – the life in the thing. Always to be searching for the life in the thing. This is a phrase of Thomas Merton’s that I read many years after leaving W’loo, but I know that my instinct for this, my recognition of the idea when I read the Seven Story Mountain, came from my studies here. Lawrence’s ideas were important, championed by Dr. Martin. And it’s deeply influenced my appreciation for everything, but particularly music.

When I evaluate say a new recording of a familiar work, or go to a concert, the first thing I listen for is that “life” in the performance. The least important aspect for me is perfection. Note perfection. We’re bedeviled with a quest for perfection in performance these days, which often results in sterile, copycat, lifeless music. Great artists are spontaneous, in-the-moment, connecting to their own life force of that particular moment, taking risks. The pianist Martha Argerich is one of the greatest living examples of this – she ALWAYS finds the life in Beethoven, Prokofief, Saint-Saens, Mozart… Nothing is ever the same twice, and nothing is ever mailed-in, ho-hum… You may not agree with it, but by God it’s ALIVE!

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