Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Listening to your favorite cello concerto or symphony, one is initially lured into a lulled sense of a simple persisting tone --the droning of the base or of a repeating rhythm. As the piece develops, melodic layers of different instruments are added onto this one by one, lighter and more variable, inducing a pleasant experience of the contrast between the steady and the ephemeral..of the continuous and the mercurial. Piano tinkling out its rolling theme. Violins rising shrilly into an almost ecstatic flight of fancy. The lunging curiosity mounts. The tempo hastens forward. The layers of pitch and tone all meticulously and precisely interweaving together into one harmonious structure, an almost living vibrancy iterating and counterpointing its intermittant tunes and novel accompaniments towards an anticipated finale. The dance is perfectly choreographed and timed, a sheer seemingly spontaneous interplay between tones and timbres and themes creating the experience of sublime feelings beyond object or image. Typically the intensity builds until it reaches an almost orgasmic climax, the full culmination of the piece in all of its structural complexity and depth and fulfillment. The piece then closes, dwindling down into a simple coda or tail, fading into silence as if it never was. You are left dazed but pleasantly relieved in the newly appreciated roominess of an engulfing calm.


Here's the particular piece I am describing. It's the Opening Theme to the film "Far From The Madding Crowd" by Craig Armstrong..

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KwgQDs...G-d0US7RKo