CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Architecture of Cities: Mapping Beauty XXII

Architect: Herzog and DeMeuron: “56 Leonard” New York City.

Alchemists sweep into the chambers: Mozart descends: The Magic Flute is heard.

The genius is followed as in tow: A dozen draped in drab transparency: There is a pause: The cabal of mystics circle the composer: The serious crucibles and unknown apparatus fill the known perimeter: The maestro plays.

A pause in progress: A whispering chant ensues: “Ring Around the Rosies” echos: The science and creative music that is Mozart is thrust into centuries ahead: The alchemists’ manifest potions for greatness:

Whispers are heard: Whispers are seen: Invention is about- -the music plays: We picture whispers: We begin to see what we hear. In Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers we heard Chopin’s Mazurka in A Minor: A mere assembly of chords stirred the elixirs- -mystic senses imagined:

Leonard Bernstein’s Westside Story was a cinematic first: The ears leaned to hear the code of the streets: A call from the New York wilds beckoned:

The Beatles never hesitated to grab our ears as the initial  jarring chords awakened our eyes to

Who was not romanced as........

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