Ненависть не только ослепляет и оглушает, но и невероятно оглупляет
(Конрад Лоренц)

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The Anton Bruckner phenomenon

I call it the Anton Bruckner phenomenon. When an inconspicuous human being, without personal attractions or charisma, small, old, corpulent, in baggy clothes, simple, naive, ridiculous in his eccentricities - when a person like this, someone you would pass in the street without giving a second thought to or indeed noticing at all, in spite of these qualities so avoided and even dreaded in public life - harbours a mind of colossal grandeur, and whose soul, unbeknownst to the others, bathes in emotions of the greatest intensity and experiences visions of the most elevated beauty.

In Atlanta there was a janitor, a fat black man that looked like a thug. He hardly ever said a word to me while cleaning the trash cans in my office, and I also didn't pay attention to him. With a never-changing, lethargic expression on his face, if he produced any impression on me it was that of a deft Japanese robot designed to do nothing more than empty trash cans.

One day, I was listening to Yes at my desk. The band's groundbreaking album, "Close to the Edge", released in 1972, is broadly viewed as a masterpiece of progressive rock and in its complexity and musical quality is numbered among the greatest musical achievements in the history of man. I thought it was the music worthy of subtle intellectuals, and certainly not intended to be comprehensible to mere mortals (as I often had occasion to confirm on students I worked with). It was early in the morning, almost nobody appeared on the floor yet, and the sound flowing from my loudspeakers was probably louder than was permitted by the rules of ethics. I left my door nearly closed, to make it quieter in the corridor. My project was going well, I was in good spirits, and just as I was prepared to enjoy the climax of the first track I saw the door slightly open, and the ugly, bald head of my janitor protrude slowly through it. His face, amazed, unexpectedly relaxed, was melted in a blissful smile to what must have been a memory of many years ago, and he said, slowly, savouring the sacred sounds of 'Close to the Edge', a second before the sky cracked open and the grand organ struck in:

- This is Ye-e-e-s ...

Опубликовано:	21.09.2010 04:38
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The Anton Bruckner phenomenon

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