I'm going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. If you want to experience some really great Christmas music in the style of a "rock opera", check out their CDs called Christmas Eve and Other Stories and The Christmas Attic. They are some of my favorite Christmas CDs, and it really is worthwhile to read the story behind the CD's (the links I gave).
Anyway... I was reading an interview with TSO founder Paul O'Neill and when asked what TSO was about he said "It's about creating great art."
When asked to define what great art was, Paul said, "The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art. And there are three categories of art; bad art, good art and great art. Bad art will elicit no emotional response in the person that is exposed to it, i.e.; a song you hear in an elevator and it does nothing to you, a picture on a wall that gives you the same emotional response as if the wall had been blank, a movie that chews up time. Good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before; you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad, you hear a song about love and you remember the last time you were in love. Great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before; seeing the pieta, the world famous sculpture by Michelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they've never had one. And when you're trying for these emotions the easiest one to trigger is anger. Anyone can do it. Go into the street, throw a rock at someone, you will make them angry. The emotions of love, empathy and laughter are much harder to trigger, but since they operate on a deeper level, they bring a much greater reward." |
