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[SOUND EFFECT]

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Terrance McKnight: This is the Open Ears Project

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[MUSIC: Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel”]

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Tom Hiddleston:  It takes me back, it takes me back to that, to the top of that mountain every time, and I find it very calming. So the association is, um, peace. 

00:43

And peace is so rare in my life, in all our lives, I think. And even if I listen to it before going into, you know, a very busy day or a evening performance, I find it creates, um, it reminds me who I am in some way. 

01:04

That doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean.

01:15

I'm Tom Hiddleston and I'm an actor. We are listening to Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt.

01:35

There's a background to this piece of music. Uh, in the summer of 2003, I was training as an actor in London at RADA - the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for those who don’t know - and a very good friend of mine from university was also doing a postgraduate degree. And it was the sort of last available week or two that both of us might be able to get away before the academic year had us in its, uh, clutches. And he suggested flying to Scotland to do some hill walking. 

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My dad is Scottish, and, and through him I've always felt very, uh, connected to the place, sort of understood it. 

2:24

So we flew up to Inverness, rented a car, and drove up to the northwest coast of Scotland and it was very, very beautiful and very quiet, and every day we'd wake up and have a big plate of breakfast and set off climbing another mountain.

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On our fourth day, we were climbing a mountain called Suilven, and uh, we set off quite early - it takes about four hours to climb and, and three hours to descend. 

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And we were in our rental car and there was, you know, not much, uh, going on to our taste on the other channels on the radio and, and we were listening to BBC Radio Three on our way there and, uh, this extraordinary piece of music was playing.

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And, um, it seemed to reflect the majesty and magnificence of the nature around us: the wildness of it and the peacefulness of it. Up there, everything seemed in harmony somehow.

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I mean, it was amazing how this came on the radio as a preparation for the climb, and I carried it with me as we were ascending the mountain, it was ringing in my ears and, and it was quite a - a - an intense climb. 

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And when you've been climbing like that, you sort of stop talking. It becomes a very meditative thing because you, uh, you get out of breath and then your body starts to become more efficient.

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And we got to the top and um, it had been quite cloudy during the ascent, and at the top of this mountain - about two o'clock in the afternoon - the clouds parted and the sun was streaming through what remained of the cloud onto the loch below: onto the heather and the bracken and the brown and the yellow and the rocks, and… 

4:42

I felt so lucky that I got to see this view and it was a time in my life when I had drive and purpose and I was training to be an actor and I knew what I wanted to do and um, but it was, I knew it was gonna take energy and discipline and there were gonna be all sorts of setbacks. 

5:00

But it was the last week before going in, going back to London, going back to the city and to suddenly just be in this open space surrounded by these mountains that have been there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years and the infinite of - of things that had endured and will endure long after I'm gone.

5:44

I'm very, uh, I very rarely feel I get close to the spiritual in my life and it was a moment where I just thought to myself, whatever natural intelligence has created this, I was in awe. I was completely in awe. 

6:04

The moment just made me feel very small and at peace.

6:25

When I connect with other works of art, I'm reminded of something very simple about the experience of being alive, the experience of being a human. And that's the - that's what art is: it's, it's there to make us feel human. And that's what this piece of music does to me. 

6:47

I mean, maybe perhaps this piece of music will evoke different memories and images in other listeners, but it's very calming and it seems to… it seems to put you back in touch with something very simple.

7:07

You know, it's easy to start to feel a bit fragmented, but this collects and settles and I find it creates this internal space, um, where things are very simple.

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And it always takes me back there to the top of that mountain as the sun broke through the clouds late September in, uh, in Northwest Scotland. I'll never forget it.

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Terrance McKnight: That was Tom Hiddleston talking about Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel - “Mirror in the mirror” - which is coming up after the break. 

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This is the Open Ears Project, created by Clemency Burton-Hill. I’m Terrance McKnight. Stay with us.

[MUSIC: Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel]

19:47

Terrance McKnight: This is the Open Ears Project. Join us next week as we hear from Deborah Frances-White talking about Chance encounters and Mozart. 

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Deborah Frances White: This piece of music I share with new friends, it's a real litmus test for me. If you don’t feel this one, our friendship is not long for this world. 

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Terrance McKnight: The Open ears project was conceived and created by Clemency Burton-Hill. I’m Terrance McKnight. I'm so pleased to present season 2 of this podcast to you.

20:19

And if you like what you hear, please leave us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. And, if you’ve got a story about a piece of classical music, we want to know. Email us at openears@wqxr.org. You can also head to our website, wqxr.org, to check out our other podcasts about classical music.

20:40

Season 2 of the Open Ears Project was produced by Clemency Burton-Hill and Rosa Gollan. Our Technical Director is Sapir Rosenblatt, and our Project Manager is Natalia Ramirez. Elizabeth Nonemaker is the Executive Producer of Podcasts at WQXR and Ed Yim is our Chief Content Officer. I’m Terrance McKnight. Thanks for listening.

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