Original image by There Stands the Glass.
My race against the clock becomes more urgent with each passing day. I’m committed to becoming as fully aware and completely realized as possible before I die.
Most of my free time is devoted to reading and deep listening. Jeremy Eichler’s new study Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance allowed me to indulge in both pursuits.
A combination of history and musicology, Eichler’s work focuses on four classical compositions inspired by the Shoah in the years before, during and after World War II.
Get this: I hadn’t previously heard any of them. Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor or from Warsaw, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No 13 (Babi Yar) came as shocking revelations.
I share Eichler’s conviction that music can act as a form of time travel as well as a metaphysical means to commune with the past. Having eagerly absorbed Time’s Echo, I’m able to use the portal with enhanced sophistication.