麻豆约拍

A reflection and prayer to start the day with Jonathan Rea

SCRIPT

Good Morning

I first heard the name when I was 7 years old. My primary school teacher caught my eye 鈥� 鈥淩ight Yehudi Menuhin鈥� she said 鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 time you were away for your violin lesson.鈥� 鈥� In the heart of North Belfast in the middle of the Troubles, a wise visionary had invested in music tuition - and I was one of the lucky ones. I was an abysmal violinist, but I quite liked my exotic nickname.

Yehudi Menuhin died 23 years ago today. His uniquely sweet sound on the violin earned him global fame and the respect of renowned colleagues. He performed Elgar鈥檚 concerto with Elgar conducting. Bartok wrote a commission for him. Benjamin Britten accompanied him on the piano. He collaborated with Ravi Shankar and Stephane Grappelli. And he recorded with EMI for 7 decades.

A keen philosopher and passionate educator, he founded a school, a youth orchestra and a prestigious competition in his name. And he had high aspirations for his art. In his own words:

Each human being has the eternal duty of turning what is hard and brutal into a tender and subtle offering, what is crude into an object of refinement, what is ugly into a thing of beauty, confrontation into collaboration, ignorance into knowledge.

He went on - Music lives and breathes to tell us who we are and what we face. It is a path between ourselves and the infinite.

We thank you Lord for the things which bring beauty and colour to our broken and war-torn world. May they be small reflections which point us to our infinite Creator and to your promise that one day, beauty will prevail over destruction and all things will be made new. Amen.

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