I’d like to recommend to all of you some amazing music that I have recently come across. As some of you may know, my primary interest in music lies with classical music, and the work of John Williams, the composer. I have recently acquired 6 CDs which I believe to be quite good: Classical Thunder Vol. I, II, and III, John Williams Greatest Hits 1969-1999, Summon the Heroes: John Williams, and 25 Thunderous Classics. Tracks include Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries, Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Great Gate at Kiev, Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man, Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1: Les toreadors, the conclusion to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila: Air et Danse bacchanale, Tchaikovsky: Marche Slave, Star Wars Main Title, E.T. Flying Theme, Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Empire of the Sun: Cadillac of the Skies, Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen, Superman Theme, Summon the Heroes, and so many more.
I started listening to these CDs last night, which is when I got them, and I have been hooked ever since. John Williams is an absolutely amazing composer. I can not describe with words the experience which is listening to his music. The vast majority of his music paints a world of amazing heroism, happiness, and exalted joy. Even in movies that are absolutely terrible (such as Jurassic Park), his music leaves me with the feeling of the world being an amazing place, with human possibility for greatness as limitless.
Art is a re-creation of reality, it is the result of what an artist believes to be metaphysically important. A piece of art is the concretization of a view of existence. Since existence is so very vast, and the medium through which it is being expressed is so small (a piece of art), choosing what one contains in that art is a pain-staking process of determining what is the most important to man’s existence. Important does not necessarily mean good or bad, but rather, what is metaphysically important to man’s life. Art that displays only the evil demonstrates that the evil is what is important in man’s existence, that it is the normal, and rarely overcome. Art that displays the good and the evil recognizes that both exist in man’s life, but not that they both have to exist in equal amounts and that the good can triumph over the evil. Art that displays only the good in man’s life says that life is a wonderful and joyous experience and it is the good which is metaphysically important, rather than man being doomed to evil or man having to constantly struggle to beat a powerful evil.
Art provides an amazing function for man’s consciousness, in that it allows him to guide his subconscious and everyday decisions by the perceptual concrete of a work of art. If one tried to philosophically examine every single action of one’s life, one would not be able to function properly. One would not be able to sit down and examine every subconscious action to philosophical clarity. Art however, allows a human being’s consciousness to retain a perceptual concrete of what the proper course of action is, what is important in man’s existence, what is the good, what is the evil, etc. Art, therefore, serves as an amazing tool of man’s consciousness, and consequently, an excellent tool of survival. The purpose of art therefore, when one holds human life to be the standard of value, is to integrate an entire philosophy into a whole, an image, such as that of Howard Roark. Art does this not in order to “explain” but rather to concretize an entire view of life into a perceptual concrete for the purpose of man’s life.
A piece of art work which displays only the evil, or the tragic, is saying that that is what is important to man’s existence; which is what the majority of a man’s existence is comprised. A piece of art work which displays only the evil, or the tragic, does not give one a perceptual concrete from which to guide one’s actions, but rather an image of horror to flee from, which translates into the good not being an actual good, but rather the escape from evil, which is the norm in human existence.
A piece of art work which displays the good overcoming the evil, or the good alone, is saying that the good is what is important to man’s existence; that the normal condition of human life is the good. Such art provides that crtical tool for man’s consciousness in guiding his action and living his life successfully: the perceptual concrete of what the good is comprised. In terms of music, the world of John Williams provides this beautifully.
