Our most familiar and enduring symbols of the passing of the old year to the new have been the contrasting images of the old man, "Father Time," and the "Baby New Year." Friday afternoon, in the spirit of New Year's, Foley will present musicical expressions and celebrations of newness, beginning and transformation—including a keyboard piece of Bach that he described as an attempt to evoke "the unfolding consciousness of a newborn baby." Also featured will be "Echoes of New Year's Eve"'—a piece for piano four hands penned by the 19th Century philosopher (and also prolific composer), Friedrich Nietzsche. The Nietzschean theme will continue with a symphonic poem of Richard Strauss based on Nietzsche's great masterwork, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, whose opening section (originally intended to depict a sunrise) would forever (at least since 1968) be associated with Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and accompany the film's iconic final image of the starchild (pictured above), representing the transformation of humankind's consciousness. That and much more, Friday afternoon.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake public radio.
