Year of Wonder

My friend got a present for Christmas, and I stole it. Luckily, my friend is still sleeping and she doesn’t know I have it here while I write. If she’s reading this, Hi, Carol. Dinner was delicious last night, and as soon as I’m done writing this, I’ll put your book back.

The book is called Year of Wonder, Classical Music to Enjoy Day by Day by Clemency Burton-Hill. Today, January 1, is Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232 3: Sanctus.

Holy cow.

I have my ear buds in and my head feels like it’s in church or heaven.

This is going to be an amazing year.

Why?

Because 2019 was so hard. And, if you watch movies, you know people get rewarded after a difficult time by the best time of their lives. I mean, come on, didn’t you watch Love Actually this holiday season? We love, we lose love, we suffer, and then we love again. 2020 is about loving again.

Clemency writes, “The essence of what make Bach the greatest eludes words, but it lies, I think, in the way he combines technical precision with socking great emotion.” She writes, “And so on this first day of a new adventure, let us begin with a great big drumbeat and a choir singing their hearts out. Irrespective of your religious leanings, wherever you come from, this is five or so minutes of music to gladden the heart and lift the soul and say: ‘Come on, then, new year, let’s be having you.’”

Come on, then, new year. We’re listening, our hearts in our mouths.