Aesthetic Judgment (Taste) I don’t have to tell you that ARR’s taste is of the highest possible kind compared with composers of all time. I mean how many composers the world-over has ever had the privilege of being compared to the ideal of Mozart, let alone being called one? Not even the kings of melody of the West – Richard Rogers (of The Sound of Music (59) fame) Sir Francis Lai (Love Story (1970)), Maurice Jarr (Dr. Zhivago (1965)), or even Ennio Morricone, who have written some of the most soulful and moving music I have ever heard, have been told they are like Mozart, at least not to my knowledge. Most music lovers, and all great minds, Leo Tolstoy and Albert Einstein among them, have acknowledged unanimously that Mozart’s music is the most perfect and the most universal imagined, no, let me use the word conjured, by any human being; because imagination, to many, could still mean there’s some conscious involvement in that process of creation; perhaps, it is still a conscious process, but it is a far superior sense of consciousness that, by average human standards, it cannot be called one. If anybody here has seen the Oscar-winning movie Amadeus (84) by Milos Forman, you can see why it is so: Mozart’s music, to use a phrase Einstein once used, seems like have simply been ‘plucked out of the universe’; the great scientist who adored Mozart and used to play his Sonatas on his little violin when he wanted a break from his scientific pursuits, says that compared to Mozart, Beethoven’s music feels ‘too personal, almost naked.’ Tolstoy, in his polemical book ‘What is Art?’ destroys the kind of conscious creativity that he believes Beethoven and the followers of the Romantic movement that he charted, Richard Wagner, for example, brought about to Europe, overthrowing the musical dominance of the spontaneous and universal music of Mozart.
In essence, Mozart’s music and its perfection are not a result of conscious processing, they come from a superior sense of natural harmony and an extremely rare capability of letting go of one’s self and connecting with the universal spirit and listening to it in all its infinite beauty. There cannot be a more fitting description of ARR’s music and how he has conjured his magical output over the years; and it is no accident that the West would offer up their ideal for comparison with the best the East has offered to date. That sort of taste, a sincere kinship with the natural harmony and beauty of the universe, with God, if you will, years in an industry cannot fade away or dilute, and, if anything, I can confidently say that ARR’s taste has, over the years, been refined like fine old wine, and I have not witnessed an instance where his aesthetic judgment, given the proper opportunities, has faltered beyond identification. In his choice of movies, directors, and lyrics, there maybe exceptions, but I will address these in a later category. It is difficult to pin down one or two works from the 92-96 period in which, like Rano said, beauty oozed out of every single phrase that he weaved, but I will pick two of my favorite songs ‘Kannalane’ from Bombay (95) and ‘Uyirum Neeye’ from Pavitra (94) in which I think ARR achieves the highest form of perfection. Sometime back, I analyzed the beauty of the song Uyirum Neeye from a conceptual viewpoint, so if anybody is interested, let me know and I will send it to you or post it on the forum. Kannalane (or Kehna Hai Kya), I hear, has entered the music textbooks in certain parts of the world (Canada, if I recall correctly)! Yes, these are songs of superior beauty that they have that universal appeal that Tolstoy hailed as the finest ingredient of the greatest of art. What about now? What are the ARR compositions within the past 5 years which evoke the same feelings in me? Piya Ho from Water (2005) and Do Kadam from Meenaxi (2004) for sure are my favorites from this period with Tere Bina from Guru not too far off. When I refer to the perfection of these songs, I mean that I don’t feel that I need to remove any part, any phrase, any instrument, sound or note, everything is in the right place at the right time! If anybody felt differently about these songs, I would be curious to know which parts destroy the perfection of these songs. I can write an essay on the song Do Kadam and will do soon so that I can back up my feelings just like I did with Uyirum Neeye. Do Kadam is so personal for me that I don’t want to hold it up as universal! This song symbolizes what ARR and I share in silence without speaking a single word with each-other, but by connecting to the same universal spirit that we both trust wholeheartedly and by whose mysterious ways we are awed day in and day out. The highest taste, as Immanuel Kant defines it, is always subjective, but universal, and it will always flow from God and only God; Not only is ARR connected with Him, he can articulate His beauty with such ease and finesse that it brings many a tear to my eye thinking how much of my faith I owe to ARR; Even as I share this very personal story with you, I can feel a warm tear roll down my cheek. Now if that’s not beauty, I don’t know what is. _________________________________________________________________ Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join
