I wrote this a year ago. Today it was sent back to me by a friend to review. I thought I'd share it.
The soloist arrives to expectant applause. Her scarlet gown is blazing against the backdrop of the orchestra in black. She holds the violin but she does not play it. She instead, feeds the rampant notes with her entire being. I watch as the crimson clad figure is transformed. The violin possesses her, demanding her sacrifice. Her nimble fingers are flying over the strings until the air is heavy with the sparkling clarity of pure sound.
Rich strains of vibrant music fill the air with notes so tangible I want to touch them. I want to reach out and caress the strong lithe beast that has captivated my senses. The music begins to prowl. “Listen.” It is released from the instrument now and bounds down the aisles. “Pay attention,” it commands with a series of complex scales rising in an ever increasing crescendo until it pounces, screaming “LIVE!” in a supremely harmonic voice.
I can not breathe. I can not cry. I am trapped in overpowering wonder, a witness to this exquisite exercise. The notes have wrapped me up, trapped me in the moment. My heart beats intimately with the strings on a violin until the orchestra slips back in to cushion my fall from the dizzy heights of a soloists soaring peak. The beast in the violin settles quietly into itself, folding its powerful limbs and closing its predatory eyes until with one last lick of its perfectly musical whiskers it sleeps.
I am aware of being part of something approaching madness. With a blink, I watch as others come down with me and together we applaud this feat of acrobatic sound. We have been claimed, used for sport, and we beg for more. The heat from my palms belies my lady-like clapping. The applause comes in wave after wave and before the bow-mistress is allowed to depart we have achieved an encore that does not awaken the creature in the violin beyond a sleepy self-satisfied smirk. It is content to rest with a belly full of raw emotion until it rises again.
