Wynton Marsalis on The Open Ear Project: On Time And Consciousness

On Tuesday, September 10th, WQXR and WNYC Studios launched The Open Ears Project, a podcast that invites listeners to experience a daily dose of classical music through the ears of another. Part mixtape, part sonic love-letter, each short episode spotlights a special guest sharing a personal story about a piece of classical music and how it changed their life.

What would happen if we open our ears and our hearts to a new musical experience? What if we made a daily habit of listening deeply to classical music and each other? Every day, for 30 days, The Open Ears Project will give listeners the opportunity to explore these questions through storytelling and a companion email newsletter which provides context about the music and the guest, as well as a way for listeners to share their own Open Ears stories.

On Episode 19: On Time And Consciousness, Trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis talks about how Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16 helped him understand the role of music — and the musician — in connecting the past and the future.

Beyond his technical achievements, Marsalis relates with Beethoven’s ability to unflinchingly investigate and combine conflicting emotions and states of consciousness to create art that unfolds in time.

“There [are] so many emotions in the piece, and so many states of consciousness — there’s not one thing. There’s an intensity of relationships that unfold over time.”