The Forest of Stone, Sound, and Heaven
Does anything ever happen in heaven…?
I asked my music-mate as we ascended the grand staircase of the Palau de la Música Catalana.
She looked at me and didn’t answer my question.
Perhaps she was very focused on the concert that we were about to hear:” Piano Concerto No. 1 ” by Brahms
The Palau de la Música was built between 1905 and 1908 by the architect Domènech i Montaner. It is the only concert hall in the world that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The hall’s superb acoustics rise with each note of the score.
This harmony envelops both the music lover and Sant Jordi himself in pure beauty.
Outside the Palau de la Música, music coexists with myth and legend.
The stage is a forest of stone and mosaics, where the muses of music seem to dance with the sound of the instruments.
But it was thanks to the energetic “allegro non troppo ma con brio,” when the private torrent of turbulent memories broke free.
Like a teeming spring of roses and orchids, the swelling passion of the orchestra filled the concert hall, fusing time and space.
The intense pressure of my music-mate’s hand held fast to mine, carrying me through to the orchestra’s final, overwhelming chord.
The audience turned the concert hall into a long and emotional ovation for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and its conductor,
Antoni Ros-Marbà.
And, despite the fact that she never answered my question, yes, today I know that something happens in heaven… when the music plays.