If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music. ~Gustav Mahler
Yesterday, we were exposed to two proofs of Mahler's words.
1. An NPR interview with pianist, Van Cliburn, on the 50th anniversary of his winning the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Cliburn quotes Rachmaninoff twice:
The horizon is always receding in art.
Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.
The NPR piece Van Cliburn: Treasuring Moscow After 50 Years is 17 minutes long but is worth listening to.
2. 
If you have a chance, you will be transfixed by a movie about children in Northern Uganda.
In War/Dance, a profoundly
moving cinematic work of art, an indomitable beacon of light shines
within a world of darkness. For the last 20 years, northern Uganda has
been at war with a rebel force, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). In
this war zone, children are not only the victims of the rebels--they
are the rebels. The LRA employs a horrifically effective process to
fill its ranks--abducting children.
War/Dance follows
the historic journey of three of these children--Dominic, Rose, and
Nancy--and their school in the Patongo refugee camp, the first school
from the northern war zone to make it to the finals of Uganda's
national music and dance competition.
Amidst unimaginable
violence and grief, these children sing and dance: they sing with
vitality; they sing without fear; they sing in protest and in
celebration. They dance and stomp to the rhythms of their ancestors.
Devastated by the horrors of war, they carry the hopes and dreams of
their entire village with them. Husband and wife filmmaking team Sean
Fine and Andrea Nix Fine have crafted a consummate work that elevates
nonfiction filmmaking to its highest level. War/Dance will renew your faith in the power of the human spirit to soar despite unspeakable odds.—
David Courier (Sundance Festival Text)
