Welcome to a new blog series called “Obsessions” where I present the learnings, perspectives, joys and frustrations emerging from my mini-obsessions with certain topics.
Till the point I was 14 I could never answer the question to what music I am listening to and to be brutally honest, I thought that I hated music. I first gained access to the Internet at this age and before that, my only music listening experience came from local radio stations, that never appealed to me, so in retrospect that feeling was natural. After gaining access to World-Wide-Wonderland in 2013 and discovering music that suited me, I basically became a nerd for a lot of genres. At first I have discovered electronic music, which led me to mixtapes, which then led me to niche mixtapes composed of ambient, classical-components and other parts, where I was always intrigued by how immensely I am able to let myself fall into the depths of them. It was the variety mixed with the near absence of vocals, that shortly became a space to breathe, think and let time flowing by, while being immersed into something else. 10 years later, at the age of 24 my music collection is endless, despite being an extremely late adopter to music-listening in general.
In the end of 2022 after my first visit of the Filharmonia Poznańska I was hooked after listening to Bruckners 9. Symphony (probably D-minor) that nearly became an unofficial hymn for my life. Seeing large pieces performed with a sound experience that can’t be replicated by technology another rabbit hole waved it’s tempting hands at me. Privileged by the available option for under-thirty-somethings like me to get the best places at the Hamburger Elbphilharmonie for 12€ I visited it weekly for some months, while loosing track of how often I went there.
It was the whole experience that put my engines into motion: How did composers constructed pieces for multiple instruments and keep track of the time? What is the conductors job and how does he do it? What is the system and structure that brings up to 80 performing people together, playing in timed perfection complex pieces, evoking movies and vivid images inside my brain and all those other things in other people? What is the composers intention and was he/she seeing the same images as me or probably totally different images and sensations? It’s a field with an endless list of questions and answers, leading to more and more questions – or in easier words: a lot of fun!
Also I dreamed about how much joy it would be, to have a physical device, allowing me to control certain aspects of the performance, to bring out new interpretations, moods and variations of a certain performance or even sending instructions to one performer at a time.
The experience in itself gave another puzzle piece in my worldview, how every structure and component merge into each other, how multilayered systems can be funneled into a convergent image and how divergence is able to bend this image. Also the structures in itself and ways how they can be replicated in great written books, theatre performances or even DJ-sets, where a crowd can be moved towards a certain point and carried by an emotional, transcendental otherworldly experience.
Who knows which obsession is next? Please don’t send me good suggestions, as I won’t be able to resist the seductions of my curiosity 🐈
Another favorite of mine:
