9002
A year of realisation that Earth is essentially a silent place and silence as such constitutes the deepest meaning of life. The questions asking what noise is, where it comes from, and how much meaning it carries seem easier to get answered.
February Having heard the pitiful demise of Radio 3 for quite some time I finally terminated this, spanning 30 years or so, love-hate relationship by simply turning the right knob off. Less noise, no regrets.
April A hit-and-miss affair with The Silent Way took into shape. Suddenly there was a whole new outlook on my own teaching. Tim Hahn, Glenys Hanson and Roslyn Young are all to be credited as the catalysts of the process. Susan Hill’s essay Silence, please! in Standpoint. magazine was equally important.
May Borah Bergman Trio made silences between sparse piano notes speak volumes in Luminescence, as did, later in the year, Mary Lou Williams (Black Christ of the Andes). True, obsessive sounds.
July The formidable silence of Drača Dolina with three tiny figures above it, climbing Vysoka.
August Discovering a silent Rome. Like that moment inside San Luigi dei Francesi when a strong, exasperated, demanding voice addressed the disrespectful, babbling crowd of tourists with one word – Silenzio! and the minute that followed.
October My father slipping into silence; Sleep inevitably repossessing his House.
November Flaubert revisited quite by chance – Three Short Works, most quiet, almost silent, translucent prose that cuts through you and grows.
December The joy of looking for best possible package for a one-off, limited Christmas edition of Thomas Merton’s Silence.