When Time Stands Still

[Mandryka]

I'd quite like to understand what goes on in moments which people describe as making time stand still. Could you just contribute some examples so we can see if there's something in common happening? Of course, there may be no consensus, which in itself would be interesting.

I think there are some in Prokofiev for example. I'll dig out specifics later.

[Maestro267]

To me time stands still during the conclusion of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony. The music is so haunting and still so intense that most of the time I almost stop breathing to take it all in.

[Todd]

Mompou

[prémont]

I'd quite like to understand what goes on in moments which people describe as making time stand still. Could you just contribute some examples so we can see if there's something in common happening?

I think I know this feeling which I only experience rarely, though. I would also express it a bit differently, namely that I - often suddenly - get aware of something around me which I perhaps best may characterize as the eternity. The last time I had this feeling was when listening to Gustav Leonhardt playing some organ music by Sweelinck.

[ritter]

The one composition where I've distinctly had that feeling  of "time standing still" or, as I phrased it to myself at the time, of the music being "frozen in time" is the final section, Tombeau, from Boulez's Pli selon pli. Time only "resume" at the coda (at 12'17" in the below video), when after a sudden pause, a phrase is played by the pitched percussion, taken over by the piano, and then repeated (with interjections of the brass and strings), until the soprano sings her final lines.

The effect is rather striking and fascinating, because throughout most of the movement the music is tremendously busy, with all sorts of things happening, but without a linear direction (which only appears in the coda). Superb music, and Boulez (and post-WW2 music) at his best!

[Mandryka]

Thanks for these examples, which I will explore soon and comment if I have anything to say.

The most clear example for me is at about 10 minutes into this performance of Prokofiev Sonata 8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzODV6moOE4&ab_channel=incontrariomotu

@ritter -- I think Boulez had things to say about the phenomenon in the Collège de France lectues. Will look sometime soon.

[Mandryka]

@ritter -- what about Berio's piano sonata as an exploration of this phenomenon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uRjIA2lf4s&t=316s&ab_channel=AndreaLucchesini-Topic

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The books by Robert Stecker and Stephen Davies are good philosophy books dealing with the relevant issues.

[vandermolen]

To me time stands still during the conclusion of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony. The music is so haunting and still so intense that most of the time I almost stop breathing to take it all in.

Same here.

[Verena]

Schubert Quintet D 956 Second Movement - beginning and the ending. Complete tranquility, as close as possible to time standing still.

[Jo498]

I think one of the brilliant things about that Schubert movement is how the tranquility remains somewhat disturbed in the third part (after the violent middle section).

[relm1]

Usually, a static rhythmic pulse gives the illusion of suspension of forward motion.  Ross Edwards Symphony No. 1 is a good example for me.

[Mandryka]

Usually, a static rhythmic pulse gives the illusion of suspension of forward motion.

This seems to be the technique for time suspension generally.

[vandermolen]

Usually, a static rhythmic pulse gives the illusion of suspension of forward motion.  Ross Edwards Symphony No. 1 is a good example for me.

+1 for Ross Edwards - a moving, powerful and soulful work and a wonderful tribute to his conductor friend.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

+1 for Ross Edwards - a moving, powerful and soulful work and a wonderful tribute to his conductor friend.

I hadn't heard of this composer (nor of the conductor) before now.  Thank you for the youtube link.  Very powerful and moving work...and very sad too.

I found an excellent and detailed musical description of it along with an interview of the composer here:  https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/classic-australia/ross-edwards-symphony-no-1-1991/10619828

PD

[vandermolen]

I hadn't heard of this composer (nor of the conductor) before now.  Thank you for the youtube link.  Very powerful and moving work...and very sad too.

I found an excellent and detailed musical description of it along with an interview of the composer here:  https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/classic-australia/ross-edwards-symphony-no-1-1991/10619828

PD

Yes, very sad indeed PD.

[Mandryka]

Louis Andriessen's De Tijd certainly has slow moving  passages, I'm not sure if it quite counts as an example of time standing still, I'd be curious to hear what others make of it. Here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qm2PNQEvasc

[Bachtoven]

Michael Korstick's nearly 30 minute Adagio in Beethoven's "Hammerklavier."

[geralmar]

For me...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6kp0F0Lo9G0

[Peter Power Pop]

Schubert Quintet D 956 Second Movement - beginning and the ending. Complete tranquility, as close as possible to time standing still.

Absolutely.