tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post5265327255132854619..comments2024-03-25T13:40:30.747-04:00Comments on Faith and Theology: Shusaku Endo: Christ and JapanBen Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-42144374061436456552011-03-13T20:49:45.526-04:002011-03-13T20:49:45.526-04:00The Scottish composer James Macmillan's Sympho...The Scottish composer James Macmillan's Symphony No. 3, "Silence" is based off of Endo's novel. It's an incredibly powerful piece of music--a jarring yet hopeful musical exploration of the "silence of God in the face of terrible events." Here is an excerpt from Macmillan's program notes: <br /><br />"Endo's 'silence' is the silence of God in the face of terrible events springing from the merciless nature of man: torture, genocide, holocaust. After experiencing one of these events, one of Endo's characters writes: 'I cannot bear the monotonous sound of the dark sea gnawing at the shore. Behind the depressing silence of this sea, the silence of God… the feeling that while men raise their voices in anguish, God remains with folded arms, silent.'<br /><br />For Endo, though, this silence is not absence but presence. It is the silence of accompaniment rather than "nihil". This is a notion that has many musical analogies. Music itself grows out of silence. The emptiness and solitude of a composer's silence is nevertheless pregnant with the promise of possibility and potency. The immateriality of music points to the reality of different types of existence. Music is not a physical reality in the sense that we are, or any other thing is. You cannot see, touch or taste music, but its powerful presence always makes itself felt."Davidnoreply@blogger.com