Pairings: Classical recordings + Classic cocktails
Posted on October 07 2020
The Feel-Good Pairings Project is designed to help us share the ways we’re all coping and trying to feel good in these strange times. I'll be sharing contributions from friends, clients and people I admire. Each project includes a record and pairing from different contributors, plus an organization that they’re supporting in these troubling times. Helping others feels really good, and one of the best ways we can support our communities when we can’t be together physically! You can see all pairings projects here.
Submission #5 + #6 from Joseph Castellano, Director of Client Relations, CHAMPS Oncology and Mark Williams, Chief Artistic Officer at The Cleveland Orchestra
Pairing: Records and Cocktails
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Mark’s Record: Mozart, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte)
How could The Magic Flute fail to lift my spirits during these unnerving times? The piece is so extraordinarily beautiful and the themes are apt for this moment: enlightenment versus ignorance, and the virtues of justice, wisdom and truth. I can’t imagine music that touches the heart and mind more! It is well summarized in this line from Act I, after a lock is magically placed on the mouth of Papageno:
For if all liars received
a lock like this on their mouths,
instead of hatred, calumny, and black gall,
love and brotherhood would flourish.
Under the veneer of spells and magic, there is great depth in The Magic Flute. Like the opera, the Rob Roy cocktail is a classic with a twist. Essentially a Manhattan with peaty scotch whiskey as a base, it is far more than meets the eye.
Joseph’s Record: Bach, Cantata 1
There is something about Bach, the great Richter recordings in particular, that grounds me. The warmth and depth of his choral works is a constant in my life. Like daily bread, I like my daily Bach. And to compliment the sensation? A simple glass of Japanese Harmony, Suntory Hibiki Master’s Select.
