EXTRAORDINARY HOW POTENT LUSH GREAT MUSIC IS

A friend writes in: “A dear friend, I was told, listened obsessively to a recording of Listzomania before his suicide. During the interwar years in Europe, playing Das Lied vom traurigen
Sonntag, the Hungarian ‘Szomorú Vasárnap’ recorded by the Rezs? Seress, was
banned from the airwaves. In the English-speaking world it became known as the
Hungarian Suicide Song and for obvious reasons. Growing up, I was mesmerized
by my mother’s LP recording of Richard Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder sung by
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Buffeted by the years and as my German improved to a
point where I could internalize the words without following the libretto, I had to
put it on total ban. Along with most music. And for decades. I listen, cautiously, to
some music again. But the entire Vier Letzte Lieder? Never.”