n, as inevitable as death and taxes. Yet, when he arrives, we find him not nearly so dreadful as his heavy steps led us to believe. The deliberation is still there, the uncompromising observance of structures and the law, yet what he creates for us is not without its beauty, crystalline like the snowflakes, serene in the stoic acceptance of his own mortality and finitude, content with the meaning he finds there.Bodine 6The sixth movement, Uranus, the Magician portrays musically a misty, distant heavenly body. Uranus is said to be a sonic spectacle and a sense of mischief abounds. This is not the god Uranus of mythology we meet here, but Uranus as the ruler of Aquarius. This magician is bumbling and accident prone, but also a born performer who cannot resist just one more try, one more kick at the cat, before the men in white suits come to take him away - but this veil of eccentricity cloaks deep wisdom and a knowledge of the infinite. On the last try, he gets it right and we hear the opening of the doorway into eternity.Finally, we come to Neptune, the Mystic; a truly extraordinary movement. We are transported unimaginable distances from the earth, into awe-inspiring nether regions of the universe, detached from all things familiar in worlds of unending mystery. This is profoundly spiritual music, yet I'm not sure what it succeeds in saying. It is perhaps a vision of infinite nothingness, of vast distances, of space. Above all, the warm, assured presence of God (if perhaps also powerful and fear-provoking), which we left in Saturn, has disappeared. Neptune is cold, and as the female choir fades away, it is a lonely place. Much like Uranus, Neptune, the Mystic portrays musically a misty, distant heavenly body that includes a choral section, singing wordless melodies. This is the eternity that Uranus has revealed to us. The chasm opens and we step out into the void. We have a sense of a floating cascade through empty space, ...
