Dialogues on events
that shape our world
Talking Music, a new way of listening to …
The World and Music of
Beethoven’s 7th Symphony
Presentation by Mr. Jonathan FIELDS
Musician and composer
with Christopher VATH, pianist
Wednesday, October 12, 2005, at 7:00 pm
Fordham University, 12th Floor Lounge
113 West 60th Street, New York
Exploring our heritage
Testing our tradition
THE WORLD
Discovering the world
of arts: performances
and presentations
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
TALKING MUSIC
"Talking Music" is the proposal of a
new way of listening to music. The
focus of these talks is not to deliver yet
another esthetical or musicological
analysis of a musical piece. Rather, the
emphasis is on discovering the very
foundation of music, viewed as the
most sincere and moving expression
of human experience, of the universal
human desire and expectation for
beauty, for happiness, for a misterious
Other who will fulfill the promises of
the heart. There is a need felt by many
people to rediscover the "extra
dimension" of the artistic experience,
when it is revealed, often
unexpectedly, as a true prophecy of
the ultimate meaning of human
existence and history. It is not by
chance that "Talking music" finds its
inspiration in the Spirto Gentil series of
CD's from Deutsche Grammophon,
which was created and directed by the
late Msgr. Luigi Giussani. Speaking of
the role that music played in his life
and in his pedagogical method, he
once said: "In music, in nature's
landscape, in a nocturnal dream,
...what man pays homage to is
something else, something he is
waiting for: he is waiting for it. His
enthusiasm is for something that
music, or whatever is beautiful in the
world, has awakened inside him.
When man "fore-sees" this, he
immediately bends his soul to wait for
the other thing: even in front of what
he can grasp, he awaits something
else: he grasps what he can grasp, but
he waits for another thing."
JONATHAN FIELDS
Jonathan Fields is a composer, music
teacher and lecturer who in his career
has explored many regions of the
musical world. After graduating first in
his class from Mannes College of
Music, he joined David Horowitz
Music Associates in 1982, where he
has been the award-winning
composer of hundreds of television
and radio spots. At the same time he
has composed a variety of musical
works spanning multiple genres,
including film scores, soundtracks for
TV series, a mass, hymns and many
others. An accomplished guitarist, he
has played in several bands including
The Michael Gordon Philharmonic,
The Glenn Branca Ensemble, The Bay
Ridge Band. In recent years he has
been a frequent lecturer and musical
educator, and the author of several
publications aimed at introducing
new audiences to the world of
classical music, including some of the
listener's guide in the Spirto Gentil
series. His approach to music is the
perfect embodiment of the "Talking
music" philosophy, because it starts
from the awareness that music
expresses the deepest longings of the
human heart, and can only be
understood by allowing it to speak to
our own humanity.
CHRISTOPHER VATH
Christopher Vath began his musical
studies with Nettie Bernard and Jane
Smisor Bastien. He then studied Piano
Performance with Joseph Banowetz
at North Texas State University. After
doing graduate studies at the Julliard
School with Martin Canin, he resided
in Italy, where he worked as a solo
pianist, chamber musician, and
chamber music teacher. Since his
return to the US, he has been teaching
piano and working as the music
director/choir director at Holy Rosary
Church in Staten Island. He has
worked as composer, arranger, and
pianist in the field of commercial
music, and written music for the
award-winning documentary Cutting
Loose and the Blackfriars production
of The Sacrament of Memory. In
addition, he is the director of the Choir
of Communion and Liberation. Since
1996, he has been "Talking Music."
This year, he performed a solo piano
recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital
Hall, followed by a private recital for
Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
