I have recently become fascinated by Mitsuko Uchida, the pianist you see here. She is conducting and performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto #20- shifting between conducting the orchestra (often with nods and fingers held to lips) and playing piano by herself or with little accompaniment. She seems to be possessed by the music, yet equally the possessor. The music she plays is a part of our human history, of the history of ART, yet she has made it her own expression. No one else could recreate this.

I’ve never seen a musical performance like this. Her facial expression and her body language all seem to convey such a close symmetry between her body, her mind and the music that they all appear to meld together in one great, eternal identity. Mitsuko Uchida here makes me think of some goddess or siren, forsaken to some ethereal land, slave to music for the rest of time. I thought about time a whole bunch while watching her… I couldn’t believe that her body would one day betray her, her hands and mind become disjointed from the music.

I realized then that Time and Music and Art and Humanity are all so much greater than the individual— if one can acknowledge these essences, experience them and even (!!!) further them, then the individual can somehow become a part of this greatness.

Does this mean a sort of selfishness? I would raise the argument that as people become more focused, more closely aligned with art, they are abandoning somewhat their obligations to reality, to humanity, to their relationships and their obligations to the human race. Uchida is an example of greatness, and I would say, and example of non-human reality. Everyone cannot be an artist. Not with the problems facing humanity, facing society, facing myself and my own life. I want to raise a family? I want to provide. I want to do good things. These desires of mine, very human and very grounded in reality, feel as though they are the counter argument to a life of Art. I want to be an artist… but I have to live a human life too, right?

And here is Mitsuko Uchida herself, caught up in the swell of Music, of Art, and of all that which lies beyond the limits of Human Life:

Is she selfish? Or is she rather the noble sacrificer? Has she become great so that we do not have to? Does transcending our human suffering somehow validate our existence? I believe that this is true, in my heart of hearts, I believe that art can save us. I have to believe that…