'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'

Claustrophobic and scary, this is music that is wasted on the young

Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is wasted on the young. I wrote that at least once in The Buffalo News.

Everyone knows this piece from the beautiful Disney creation "Fantasia." To its ominous rhythms, Mickey Mouse finds himself in over his head when he can't turn off a spell he stupidly cast. You don't feel its true terror until you have lived enough so that know personally what it is like for a situation to spiral out of control. Then there might be that short time when you think the danger is gone, the problem is solved -- but no, after that false feeling of relief, it starts up again, worse than ever.

In a review of the Buffalo Philharmonic for The Buffalo News — I will link to it as soon as I can find it — I wrote:

I have rarely heard ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ live, and it's riveting to hear and see Dukas' threatening little theme zipping around the orchestra, growing, terrifyingly, by degrees. I kept picturing Mickey Mouse and his brooms and buckets. In the pristine atmosphere of Kleinhans, the music bit at you with a new brightness. The brass buzzed. It all got appropriately claustrophobic and scary.

For “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” I would like to feature a video with an orchestra. After reading what I wrote, I agree with myself — it’s music to see as well as hear.

The stuff of nightmares!

Truly a mini-masterpiece.