Benjamin Zander - how to fall in love with classical music. Benjamin Zander: “Shostakovich needs to be preceded by explanations A passage characterizing Zander, Benjamin

Benjamin Zander, Rosamund Zander

The Art of Opportunity: How to Play Your Best Game of Career and Life

Interpreter Y. Efanova

Project Manager A. Vasilenko

Proofreaders O. Ilyinskaya, E. Aksenova

Computer layout M. Potashkin

Art Director S. Timonov

Cover artist D. Gromov

© Rosamund Zander and Benjamin Zander, 2000

© Edition in Russian, design. LLC "Alpina Publisher", 2016

All rights reserved. The work is intended solely for private use. No part of an electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including placement on the Internet and corporate networks, for public or collective use without the written permission of the copyright holder. For copyright infringement, legislation provides for the payment of compensation to the copyright holder in the amount of up to 5 million rubles (Article 49 of the ZOAP), as well as criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

* * *

My house is called - Opportunity -
Because Prose is poor.
He has a grand door -
Airier - the takeoff of the Window.
The rooms in it are cedars -
Inaccessible to the eyes -
Its eternal Roof - all around -
She leaned on the gables of the hills.
The female visitors are beautiful.
Class? Guess.
I will open my narrow arms -
I am taking away paradise.

Emily Dickinson

An invitation to the world of opportunity

- Waiter! I shouted cheerfully. - I have ideal life; everything is in it, just tell me, where are the knives?

I had breakfast with a friend in one of the London restaurants during a regular tour of our Philharmonic Orchestra. There was a chuckle from behind me. Looking around, I met the gaze of a girl of about twelve, whose hair looked very English and resembled a pudding dish. We exchanged smiles, after which I returned to the conversation and continued my meal.

The next day I met the young lady again at breakfast and was the first to talk to her.

– Good morning! How are you doing today?

The girl straightened her back slightly, lifted her chin, playful sparks flashed in her eyes.

- Ideally! - she answered me.

Some time later, when the girl and her parents were leaving the restaurant, mischief woke up in me, and I shouted goodbye to her:

- Wish you a perfect day!

- It will be perfect! - answered the girl as if it was perfection that was the most natural and obvious state in the world.

With these words, she disappeared into the universe of possibility.

The beginning of the journey

This book is one of those that try to answer the question "How to be and what to do?", And it is very unusual. The fact is that, unlike the authors of other books of this kind, which offer strategies for overcoming obstacles and moving forward in a competitive environment, we sought to acquaint the reader with the ways to get out of the world of struggle into the vastness of the Universe of opportunity. Here is our basic premise: many of the vicissitudes of our everyday life directly follow from our beliefs, on which we rely in our assessments and actions. But as soon as we move certain circumstances to a different coordinate system and look at them differently, new paths and new opportunities appear in our field of vision. Once a suitable frame of reference is found, amazing accomplishments begin to accompany our daily experiences. Each chapter of this book highlights a specific facet of this approach and provides a related exercise for discovering new opportunities in our daily lives.

Partnership

We, the authors of this book, Ben and Rose, have developed our suggested approach from two different, albeit complementary, points of view. Ben is a conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, a teacher, a person with a rare gift of communication, actively interacting with the musicians of the orchestra and with the audience, in a word, with a wide audience. He has that inexhaustible supply of energy that inspires other people to actions that were previously impossible, helps to foresee the future of any undertaking. He knows how to set not only the pace piece of music, but also the rate of speech, and the rate of those of our actions that prompt us to move. We can say that Ben sets the rhythm for any change. Seeking to support us, he conducts our thoughts and plays on the strings of our soul, telling a variety of stories, invoking humor and music for help. Ben owns the lead role in our partnership.

Roses' activity is more intimate. She is engaged in the private practice of family therapy, leads psychological support groups, helps people to rebuild their lives, teaches them to leave disagreements and conflicts behind. Those who come to her talk about themselves and their inner world, and Roz provides them with the necessary tools that allow them to look at themselves differently and change their attitude to circumstances. own life... The transformation results exceed all expectations, and often seem simply incredible. Roz welcomes in people the desire for novelty and better life. It helps them find the coordinate system in which positive transformations become real. In addition, Rose teaches the art of opportunity, not only from the perspective of a psychologist, but also from the perspective of a landscape painter and writer.

We are one team. Ben is constantly in sight and therefore often faces difficult and unusual situations that inspire him to search for new leadership styles and new speculative structures within which he evaluates certain circumstances of his life. One day, when it became clear that the answers to the questions that Ben asked Roz would be useful to many other people, Roz set about developing a new psychological approach. Ben tried it out with his audience and came up with new ideas and refinements. Thus, the proposed approach is the quintessence of our multilateral and continuously evolving partnership. Our mutual confidence in the truth of the path we follow is very important to us and is something more real than it might seem.

The original offer came from Harvard Business School. We have been asked to address this book to both business people and a wider audience of readers. We've had a truly rare opportunity, but what about creative people who fall under a special clause? Historically, the state tries to attract people of art to the service so that they emotionally revive and support the officially approved system of values ​​and life principles. However, in today's global society, it is not possible to create a single system of values ​​or new directions that would be accepted by absolutely everyone. The market, armed with purely pragmatic demands, is gradually ousting state and religious institutions, depriving them of their high status as a herald of public morality, but this does not in any way contribute to the development of any values. This is because the language the market “speaks” is very far from the human language. We think that it is art that is called upon to lay a new foundation and introduce elements human consciousness into the world of goods and capital, activating interpersonal ties and opening the doors to new inventions and new traditions.

Revolutionary transformations in the structure of our world encourage us to revise the old and the emergence of new definitions of who we are and why we live. Voting results in Europe, decisions of financiers in Tokyo, or the sudden appearance of an unusually warm current in the South Pacific can have a significant impact on the fate of the planet and call into question our confidence in the power of self-organization and self-control. In addition, our usual idea of ​​ourselves does not allow us to seriously think about how certain objects or phenomena leave the world. In our book, we offer the reader new ways to define themselves, others and the world in which they live in a different way - ways that largely correspond to the complex tasks and characteristics of our time. We use such a metaphorical substance as music and seek help from different types arts. Art can change us. It allows us to touch amazing worlds and unique emotional experiences. Art gives us extraordinary discoveries, amazing encounters and sets the direction of our flights to infinity.

Everyone loves classical music.

Some people just don't know about it.

Classical music is not at all what you thought! If you listen to the conductor Benjamin Zander, you will understand that classical music not only does not die. On the contrary, classical music still has the magical power to touch hearts and transform sounds into feelings. does not just live on the musical nerve, all his emotions are shaped by the musical breath and rhythm. Zander not only a conductor, teacher and lecturer, he is music itself, permeating you with light and energy.

Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since its inception over 30 years ago. He also conducts the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. In his over 30 years in Boston, he has completed 13 international tours. Over the past decade, he has been invited to conduct in many countries.

He is especially famous for his lectures before concerts. He talks about classical music. Her greatness and closeness to our emotions. Our feelings are just a few notes collected in a musical composition. Our life, love, sorrow and passion - this is what classical music is. Benjamin Zander just nice to listen to. He speaks with humor about the important, easily about the exciting.

In early 1999 I was in Cleveland to sign an agreement with the Executives of Telarc to record Beethoven Symphonies. When all the work was completed, I headed to the airport, where I found out that all flights were delayed due to the approaching storm. I chose a seat in the waiting room and started listening to music on my player. I didn’t even notice how the conversation started with the passenger sitting next to me. It was a lawyer from Washington. "Why did you come to Cleveland?" - he asked. “I signed a contract with a record company to record a cycle of Beethoven symphonies,” I replied. "Ahh," he drawled, "I thought classical music was dying." "No, no, on the contrary!" I exclaimed. Perhaps I was a little encouraged by the newly signed contract, while many record companies were breaking off existing contracts with famous conductors. “Just look around at the people in this room,” I said, referring to the six hundred or so passengers waiting for their flight. - Absolutely every one of them loves classical music, it's just that many of them haven't figured it out yet! ”. "Come on! - he did not believe. - Tell this to my five sons. The only thing they listen to is heavy metal or rock. " “Listen to this,” I handed him my huge headphones, which I always carry with me, to be able to get the best possible sound out of my portable player. At that moment, the player was playing the Fifth Symphony performed by my hometown Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He was definitely moved by what he heard, and after listening for a few minutes, he returned the headphones to me and said, “Yes, I like that. But that doesn't count because I learned to play the piano when I was a kid. ” “Look what will happen now!” I said. At this point, I was completely captured by the idea of ​​convincing him.

For an hour and a half, I wandered around the airport, inviting random passengers to listen to music from my player. Their reaction was the same. A moment's shock, then the constant shocked look, and the obligatory glint in the eyes. "What is this?" - many asked. And this is the most surprising, because I offered to listen to one of the most famous and brilliant classical pieces ever written. If someone recognized the work, then most often they asked the question: "Where can I get this cassette?" None remained indifferent, and the emotional reaction was unchanged: complete amazement, disbelief and this sparkle in the eyes, which cannot be confused with anything. Watching all this, my new acquaintance, a lawyer, had to admit that I was right. "Awesome!" He exclaimed. “Let your sons listen to this,” I told him, handing out the cassette. “I will do even more,” he replied. I'll let everyone I know listen to this. " This is how a new idea was born.

How to make sure that everyone on this planet can feel the musical rhythm of the fifth symphony Beethoven? A seemingly absurd task, but it began to come to me more and more often, and now it no longer seems so stupid. But how can this be achieved ?? “What will happen,” I wondered, “if we make the Fifth Symphony Beethoven, which demonstrates the path from darkness to light, from struggle to triumph, a symbol of our entry into the twenty-first century using Coca-Cola as a guide ... If we put a CD in every Coca-Cola box, how much will it be? About eight and a half million ... "

Be that as it may, I'm not going to give up. I would even put the footage of the Fifth Symphony on MTV if I could figure out how to make the video appealing to MTV viewers. Any ideas?

A video on how to fall in love with classical music:

And of course Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. We have to help Benjamin Zander bring this genius music to as much as possible more of people. And if you still do not realize that you love classical music, then you will surely change your mind after listening to the great Beethoven.

Benjamin Zander on classics and burning eyes updated: April 13, 2019 by the author: Helena

, New England Conservatory

At the age of fifteen, Zander dropped out of school and moved to Florence at the invitation of cello virtuoso Gaspar Casado, who became his teacher and mentor for the next five years. Zander developed the ability to play the cello during his studies at the State Academy of Cologne, actively traveling with Casado, participating in concerts chamber music and giving recitals.

To date, Zander owns a series of recordings of works by Beethoven and Mahler, created in collaboration with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the independent recording studio "Telarc". Each such recording is accompanied by a disc with Zander's lecture, during which he explains to the audience the meaning of the musical compositions. High Fidelity magazine named his recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 Best Classical Record of 2002; the third symphony in 2004 won the critics' choice of the German Critics Association, the ninth was nominated for a Grammy. The latest release of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony (with the London Philharmonic Orchestra) was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010.

On July 19, 2006, Zander received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leeds, and on May 17, 2009, a similar degree from the New England Conservatory for conducting the orchestras of the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory and the Tufts University Choir at Boston Symphony Hall.

Zander's brothers Luke (physician) and Michael (Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science) are also gifted musicians.

Activities not related to music

Zander is actively involved in lecturing on leadership for various organizations. Four times he was a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was awarded the Crystal Prize for "Outstanding Contribution to the Arts and International Relations."

His book The Art of Perspective, co-authored with his wife, psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, has been translated into 17 languages.

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Excerpt from Zander, Benjamin

It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten food tastier than this.
- No, it's all right for me, - said Pierre, - but why did they shoot these unfortunates! .. Last years twenty.
- Tts, tts ... - said small man... “Sin then, then sin ...” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and accidentally flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, sir, did you stay in Moscow like that?
“I didn't think they would come so soon. I stayed by accident, ”said Pierre.
- But how did they take you, falcon, from your house?
- No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me, tried for an arsonist.
“Where there is judgment, there’s a lie,” put in the little man.
- How long have you been here? - asked Pierre, chewing on the last potato.
- I that? That Sunday they took me out of the hospital in Moscow.
- Who are you, soldier?
- Soldiers of the Absheron regiment. He was dying of fever. We were not told anything. There were twenty of ours. And they did not think, did not guess.
- Well, are you bored here? - asked Pierre.
- It's not boring, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev's nickname, - he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to refer to him. - They nicknamed the falcon in the service. How not to get bored, falcon! Moscow is the mother of cities. How not to get bored watching this. Yes, the worm gnaws at the cabbage, but before that you disappear: that's how the old people used to say, ”he added quickly.
- How, how did you say? - asked Pierre.
- I that? - asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God's judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what had been said. And at once he continued: - How do you, sir, have estates? And is there a house? So a full cup! And is there a mistress? Are the old parents alive? He asked, and although Pierre could not see in the dark, he felt that the soldier's lips were curling up with a restrained smile of affection while he asked this. He, apparently, was upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother.
- Wife for advice, mother-in-law for greetings, but no dearer dear mother! - he said. - Well, are there any kids? - he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again, apparently, upset him, and he hastened to add: - Well, people are young, God willing, they will. If only in the council to live ...
“It’s all the same now,” Pierre said involuntarily.
- Eh, you dear man, - objected Plato. - Never give up money and prison. - He sat down better, cleared his throat, apparently preparing for a long story. “So, my dear friend, I was still living at home,” he began. - Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the peasants live well, and our house, thank you God. Father himself went out to mow this. We lived well. Christians were real. It happened ... - And Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to a strange grove behind the forest and got caught by the watchman, how he was flogged, tried and given away by the soldiers. “Well, the falcon,” he said in a voice changing from a smile, “they thought grief, but joy! My brother would have to go, if it was not my sin. And the younger brother himself has the heels of the guys - and, look, I have one soldier left. There was a girl, and even before the soldiery, God cleaned up. I came on leave, I tell you. I look - they live better than before. The yard is full of bellies, women are at home, two brothers are working. One Mikhailo, the youngest, is at home. Father says: “All children are equal to me, he says: no matter you bite your finger, everything hurts. And if Plato hadn’t been shaved then, Mikhaila would have gone. ” He called us all - believe me - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and your grandchildren bow. Got it? is talking. So that, my dear friend. Rock is looking for a head. And we are all judging: sometimes it is not good, sometimes it is not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it out, it puffs up, and when you pull it out, there’s nothing. So that. - And Plato sat on his straw.
After a pause for a while, Plato got up.
- Well, I have tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to be baptized, saying:
- Lord, Jesus Christ, Nikola the pleaser, Frol and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, Nikola the pleaser! Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, got up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. Lay it down, God, with a stone, lift it up in a ball, ”he said and lay down, pulling on his overcoat.
- What prayer did you read? - asked Pierre.
- As? - said Plato (he was already asleep). - Read what? I prayed to God. Don't you pray?
“No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frola and Lavra?
- And what about, - Plato answered quickly, - a horse festival. And you need to feel sorry for the cattle, - said Karataev. - You see, rogue, curled up. Got sick, daughter of a bitch, ”he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning again, immediately fell asleep.
Outside could be heard crying and screaming somewhere in the distance, and fire could be seen through the cracks of the booth; but the booth was quiet and dark. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and with open eyes lay in the darkness in his place, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who was lying next to him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now with a new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations, erected in his soul.

In the booth, into which Pierre entered and in which he spent four weeks, there were twenty-three prisoners of war, three officers and two officials.
All of them then seemed to be in a fog to Pierre, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dear memory and the personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was fully confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, his back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to hug something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown tender eyes were round.
Platon Karataev should have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which all rolled out in their two semicircles when he laughed (which he often did), were all good and whole; no one gray hair was not in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.

NEW YORK - Conductor Benjamin Zander has set what he says is an impossible task and appears to be on the verge of achieving it. On Monday, December 9, he will bring 117 musicians from the Boston Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, which he organized just a year ago, onto the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York.

For the debut of his new brainchild on such a prestigious stage, the outstanding 74-year-old Anglo-American conductor, known for his original interpretations of Mahler and Beethoven, chose works by Verdi, Gandolfi and Ravel. And the main event of the evening, as Benjamin Zander emphasized in a telephone conversation with the Voice of America correspondent, will be the performance of Dmitry Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.

“This is a very unusual concert,” Zander, known in addition to conducting popular lectures on music and social policy, told Voice of America. - We strictly follow the original version of Shostakovich, which differs from the generally accepted one. After a recent concert in Boston, Russian Americans came up to us and excitedly talked about the huge impression that our interpretation of the symphony made on them. "

Benjamin Zander has been known for decades the musical world as a conductor of the renowned Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, which has performed on the best stages in many cities around the world. He is also known as an avid popularizer of classical music. He is a frequent television contributor and has written a bestselling book, The Art of Possibility, which has been translated into fifteen languages. Served four times as a speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“The finale (of the Fifth Symphony), solemn and triumphant, gave the impression of reconciliation of the author with reality and was perceived by official circles as an example socialist realism in music, ”said Zander. - But Shostakovich laid a completely different meaning and then admitted that he wanted to convey the feeling of a forced holiday, fun from under the stick.

Generations of conductors ignored his recommendations for the tempo of the final marching part. It should be performed much more slowly than is usually done, which radically changes the mood and meaning of the entire piece. This is not at all a glorification of the Soviet regime, but a desperate cry of sorrow beating inside an impenetrable space. ""No! No! No! "" Seems to be heard in the finale.

This is Shostakovich's secret message. The Romanian conductor Sergi Celibidache sent Shostakovich a letter from Switzerland asking him if it was right to perform the march finale slowly and received a postcard from Moscow with only one word: “Right.” Shostakovich continued to live in fear ... And only now can we tell the whole truth. "

Zander organized a youth orchestra in September 2012. The age of the participants is from 12 to 21 years old. Almost immediately, the orchestra received accolades from such outstanding musicians as cellist Yo Yo Ma, conductor Simon Rattle and composer Gunther Schuler.

“I often come out with stories about music,” Zander noted. introductory words about Shostakovich will also be appropriate at Carnegie Hall. It is very important to recall that by 1935 Shostakovich had achieved great success in the Soviet Union, and his star soared high into the sky. But a year later, his opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" was sharply criticized in Pravda, and Stalin himself was the author of the editorial "Confusion Instead of Music" particular that the author is literary critic David Zaslavsky - O.S.).

Shostakovich's star flew downward, and he found himself in a situation of anxious expectation. Will they be imprisoned, sent to the Gulag or shot? He packed his suitcase and waited for someone to come for him. This fear left an imprint on his entire future life. The release of the Fourth Symphony, even more cacophonic than Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, was postponed. Instead, he wrote the Fifth Symphony, simpler, more understandable and in major, in order to regain the favor of the authorities. And he succeeded for a while. "

The Youth Orchestra rehearses at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston's South End. Their first concert at the local Symphony Hall took place in November 2012. And this summer the orchestra went to Holland for 12 days.

“We played first in Rotterdam,” Zander said, “and immediately there was a good word of mouth about the orchestra. So all tickets for the concert in Amsterdam were sold out. We played Mahler's Second Symphony. The audience was delighted. Everyone stood up, the standing ovation lasted twenty minutes. "

Orchestra experience for young musicians, in the words of the conductor, serves as a "springboard to life" for them. Zander says he knows them all by name and values ​​them very much feedback with them. To do this, at rehearsals, musicians, among whom there are immigrants from the families of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, are put white sheets of paper on the music stands. They write on them what they think about music, share their feelings and experiences. Some of the most interesting "compositions" will be presented to the audience of the concert at Carnegie Hall.

According to the conductor, his musicians are well aware of the history of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony and historical context her writing. And therefore they perform the piece "with all their heart."

“I told them that Shostakovich gave the symphony a subtitle“ Answer Soviet artist to fair criticism, "" said Zander. - This symphony is not as simple as it seemed to the party censors then. It contains many feelings and experiences, it contains brutality, sarcasm, grotesque, and deep sadness. "

Everyone loves classical music.

Some people just don't know about it.

Classical music is not at all what you thought! If you listen to the conductor Benjamin Zander, you will understand that classical music not only does not die. On the contrary, classical music still has the magical power to touch hearts and transform sounds into feelings. does not just live on the musical nerve, all his emotions are shaped by the musical breath and rhythm. Zander not only a conductor, teacher and lecturer, he is music itself, permeating you with light and energy.

Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since its inception over 30 years ago. He also conducts the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. In his over 30 years in Boston, he has completed 13 international tours. Over the past decade, he has been invited to conduct in many countries.

He is especially famous for his lectures before concerts. He talks about classical music. Her greatness and closeness to our emotions. Our feelings are just a few notes collected in a musical composition. Our life, love, sorrow and passion - this is what classical music is. Benjamin Zander just nice to listen to. He speaks with humor about the important, easily about the exciting.

In early 1999 I was in Cleveland to sign an agreement with the Executives of Telarc to record Beethoven Symphonies. When all the work was completed, I headed to the airport, where I found out that all flights were delayed due to the approaching storm. I chose a seat in the waiting room and started listening to music on my player. I didn’t even notice how the conversation started with the passenger sitting next to me. It was a lawyer from Washington. "Why did you come to Cleveland?" - he asked. “I signed a contract with a record company to record a cycle of Beethoven symphonies,” I replied. "Ahh," he drawled, "I thought classical music was dying." "No, no, on the contrary!" I exclaimed. Perhaps I was a little encouraged by the newly signed contract, while many record companies were breaking off existing contracts with famous conductors. “Just look around at the people in this room,” I said, meaning six hundred or so passengers waiting for their flight. “Absolutely every one of them loves classical music, it's just that many of them haven't figured it out yet!” "Come on! - he did not believe. - Tell this to my five sons. The only thing they listen to is heavy metal or rock." “Listen to this,” I handed him my huge headphones, which I always carry with me, to be able to get the best possible sound out of my portable player. At that moment, the player was playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by my hometown Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He was definitely touched by what he heard, and after listening for a few minutes, he returned the headphones to me and said, "Yes, I like it. But that doesn't count because I learned to play the piano when I was a kid." “Look what will happen now!” I said. At this point, I was completely captured by the idea of ​​convincing him.

For an hour and a half, I wandered around the airport, inviting random passengers to listen to music from my player. Their reaction was the same. A moment's shock, then the constant shocked look, and the obligatory glint in the eyes. "What is this?" - many asked. And this is the most amazing thing, because I offered to listen to one of the most famous and brilliant classics ever written. If someone recognized the work, then most often they asked the question: "Where can I get this cassette?" None remained indifferent, and the emotional reaction was unchanged: complete amazement, disbelief and this sparkle in the eyes, which cannot be confused with anything. Watching all this, my new acquaintance, a lawyer, had to admit that I was right. "Awesome!" he exclaimed. “Let your sons listen to this,” I told him, handing out the cassette. "I'll do even more," he replied. I'll let everyone I know listen to this. " This is how a new idea was born.

How to make sure that everyone on this planet can feel the musical rhythm of the fifth symphony Beethoven? A seemingly absurd task, but it began to come to me more and more often, and now it no longer seems so stupid. But how can this be achieved ?? “What will happen,” I wondered, “if we make the Fifth Symphony Beethoven, which demonstrates the path from darkness to light, from struggle to triumph, a symbol of our entry into the twenty-first century using Coca-Cola as a guide ... If we put a CD in every Coca-Cola box, how much will it be? About eight and a half million ... "

Be that as it may, I'm not going to give up. I would even put the footage of the Fifth Symphony on MTV if I could figure out how to make the video appealing to MTV viewers. Any ideas?