August 2020

Enjoying The Analogue World
Music taps a part of the brain like dreams do.
Article By Bob Grossman

  Sitting on my sofa with my stereo cranked up so high the floor and walls are shaking, I hear the crash of the cymbals, blare of the brass, and thumping of the tympani in the Rondo-Finale of Mahler's Symphony Number 7. That's one of my favorite pieces and a demo I've been listening to since hearing it in high school in 1972. Over the years, I've heard Mahler performed at Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, and many other internationally renowned halls. However, even at home, my mind is swept away by the music and I feel like a time traveler.

My brother was visiting and asked if I can play some Doors on that big system? So I give him the choice of four versions of L.A. Woman. I have pressings from Steve Hoffman on DCC, a thick vinyl German issue on Kinney Music, and a skinny vinyl original domestic release on Elektra along with the two-CD remastered version with recording studio outtakes! Plus he had a choice of two turntables and three cartridges on different arms that each influenced the sound. That's the beauty and versatility of music. Music taps a part of the brain like dreams do. It takes you back to where you were when you first heard Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Ray Charles, Count Basie, or for me, classical music.

I find music to be a way of living and experiencing life with passion, fulfillment, and purpose. In the words of Helen Keller, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." That's what music does!

Ever since I remember hearing music played on my Dad's hi-fi with a Fischer receiver and Garrard turntable, music has moved me in an intangible and imaginative way. It was a calling and motivation to become a musician to perform and be onstage hearing and working with other artists and performers. The creativity and expression of music is never-ending and involving with people regardless of the style, instruments, and voices. There is a place and emotional expression regardless if is the most current new Avant-Garde styles, contemporary popular or classical recreations of past composers and compositions.

I've performed on the trumpet and bassoon for fifty years and attended countless rehearsals and concerts. Music has been my life's avocation. As the Librarian for The Philadelphia Orchestra for the past forty years, I have seen immeasurable joy, passion, and love from audiences at home and on many domestic and international tours. Music is the greatest equalizer. It brings soul, spirit, and understanding to total strangers regardless of their backgrounds, education, nationality, race, and status.

Music has allowed me to make many friends and associates along with travels throughout the world. It's impossible to know how many millions of people have been touched from hearing music performances in concert halls, summer outdoor festival venues along with broadcasts and internet streaming along with the huge historic legacy of recordings that is constantly expanding in our modern era that has the technology to issue material from archival sources.

The COVID-19 crisis is causing such challenging hardships and devastating losses for everyone and we need the universal language of music for providing the spiritual and emotional support with expression in ways beyond words. Listen and enjoy music. Hear it on your radio, in your car, on your computer, on your phone with earbuds and hopefully with a beautiful full range and dynamic stereo with equipment from the great designers and companies that have produced wonderful product choices at all price ranges.

I find some days enjoyable to be spent in the analogue world spinning vinyl and other days streaming music from the internet. My areas of expertise and collecting focus on classical and jazz with 15,000 LPs and 2000 CDs at home however classic rock LPs are occasionally played too. It's all good to feel, hear, and escape from a troubled world!