The Piano vs The Orchestra

On Friday and Saturday, I had the privilege of hearing John Hodges speak (https://www.centerws.com/new-page). His topic was Beauty in the Arts: Toward a Christian Aesthetic.

At one point, he played the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major.

I’m not a musician, but I enjoyed the way he broke it down for us. It is a dialogue between a forceful orchestra and a pleasant sounding piano.

It reminded me of some tense sales conversations that I’ve had in the past. I can probably only count on one hand the number of times this happened, but sometimes I get a forceful, even belligerent, potential client.

By God’s grace, rather than respond with equal force and escalate the situation, I was able to be persistently pleasant until he wore himself out.

It’s like Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath.”

And in this case the persistent soft answer of the piano seems to win the orchestra over.

Have a listen: https://open.spotify.com/track/3Mv3axGhKZUvBfGbnx0q7e?si=e58337d5e1ee4f3c.

What do you think?
Joseph