Orfeo

Orfeo by Richard Powers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was not the book I thought it was.  Being a biology/scifi   afficianado I thought this would focus more on a guy in a chem lab and then a fast paced man hunt.  It was not that.  It is a story of music.  And artistry.  What do you sacrifice for arts sake?  Is it worth it?  What is art? Is it what is enjoyed by most or is it the purely original? Can anything be original anymore?  These questions have been  explored before, but I found this books reiteration wholly original.  Powers has created a book full of big ideas, large words, and layers of poetry and crammed them into the small life of a composer seeking that elusive song.  I actually thought I was plowing through it, when suddenly I realized this one of the most amazing books I have ever read.
1) it changed the way I listen to music.  Being a word person who likes to dance, music has always appealed to me in one of two ways: either as another dimension to the poetry of the words, or it had a good enough beat to dance to.  I listened to classical music like someone taking their vitamins, not necessarily out of enjoyment but because it was good for you.  And I hardly tolerated the shoe-gazer music my husband likes.  But Powers descriptions of several pieces of 20th century composers were transcendent.  After reading his descriptions, I looked them up on you tube and sat with my eyes closed on the couch and felt like I was seeing for the first time.  He made me love all of these beautiful songs by unlocking their mysteries through his words (except Barstow...even I have my limits).
2) music is life and death. The songs he picks to highlight are songs that transcend death, save people from death, or are powerful enough that they could have caused death.  Now here is Peter Els trying to create an eternal legacy that others simply fear is a song of death.
3) I loved the way Powers used musical descriptors to describe everyday scenes.  "He returned, de capo..." Sure I had to look up what de capo meant, but I loved the blending of the two worlds.  Using everyday imagery to describe the songs, and musical ones to describe life.
4) go back and read Els tweets scattered throughout the book after you have finished.  Reading them at one go is illuminating.
All right, I am done.  And I haven't even touched on the relationships Els accumulates, the questions he asks about freedom, art, and legacy or the observance of our diminishing patience as a people, the over-saturation of information and music available to us, the busyness of our existence that cause us to not notice or appreciate the natural music all around us.  But this is an amazing book.  I would be interested to see what my musical friends think.


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