Montreal has been in its prime over the past several weeks, and yesterday I took advantage of its amazingness with a magical stroll through Westmount, one of Montreal’s richest and oldest areas where the 150-year-old residential architecture blends in with Mount Royal Park, and is a must-do stroll/hike for anyone who ever visits this city. Adding to the serenity was an old piece of music that I had forgotten about which was buried on my iPod only to be resurrected on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon. It’s a performance of Johannes Brahms‘ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Opus 15, il Adagio. Conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the 14-minute piece is so damn good I kid you not I listened to it at least 15 times from when I arrived in Westmount to when I got home. Sure, it’s full of sneezes and chair squeaks, but it doesn’t bother me one bit — it actually made me feel like there were 1,500 people walking with me. At one point I found myself looking out from a Mount Royal Park lookout when the music hit one of its climaxes and I swore I was vibrating or merging with the infinite or some shit like that. Normally I would blame that feeling on drinking too much coffee, but this time it was all because of the magical combination of Brahms and Bernstein. Take a listen for yourself below, and if you find yourself in an office or some other horrible place, promise me you will do yourself a favor and take this music for a walk on your favorite trail someday soon — amazing things are guaranteed to happen in that beautiful brain of yours. For the life story of Johannes Brahms CLICK HERE.
NOTE: I COULDN’T FIND THE BERNSTEIN PERFORMANCE ONLINE, BUT THIS ONE CONDUCTED BY GIANCARLO GUERRERO IS TERRIFIC AS WELL.
