After a rather brutal week health-wise, I figured it was time to listen to something which would be both lengthy and calm enough to let me wind down a bit. Hearing England’s The Hilliard Ensemble perform this sumptuous work by Arvo Pärt suffices nicely.
Classical Music
[Video] Sofia Gubaidulina – The Seven Last Words, I-III
Sofia Gubaidulina is my favorite female Russian composer (along with Iraida Yusupova and the late Galina Ustvolskaya). She is a practicing Orthodox Christian, and this piece melds Ancient Christianity with the avant-garde.
[Video] Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry – Prayer
An updated version of this post, as an error by GoDaddy, who hosts this site, ate it. Hopefully, I have no more missing posts.
[Video] Lubomyr Melnik – Requiem (Fragment)
Lubomyr Melnik has been featured on these pages previously. Expect to see a lot more of his work as the years roll by.
[Video] Valgeir Sigurðsson – Between Monuments/Guardian at the Door
Good heavens, this is an absolutely schizophrenic piece of music. It ranges from a sumptuous minimalist to an edgy post-rock before sliding into something more appropriate in an electroacoustic work.
Valgeir Sigurðsson hails from Iceland. Why is this not surprising? Yet another composer/musician from there to watch out for. To hear the whole of Architecture of Loss, the album this track is on, go to Valgeir’s Bandcamp site.
[Video] André Boucourechliev: Archipel II (1969)
André Boucourechliev was a French composer of Bulgarian origin. He studied under Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna, and would later be influenced by avant-garde composers like John Cage.
He’s a new name for me. Many thanks to the Wellesz Theatre for continually showcasing the finest in contemporary classical music.
[Video/Sample] Árstíðir – Heyr Himna Smiður
The best way to describe Árstíðir, at least in this gorgeous tune, is something like what a Varangian choir might have sounded like in 13th-Century Byzantium, singing in the Hagia Sophia.
As it turns out, the tune is from the 13th Century, written by Kolbeinn Tumason. No, Wuppertal isn’t quite Byzantium, especially inside of the train station, but the lads made a mundane place seem almost holy that day.
For another, perhaps clearer version, check out this performance from Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2012. To hear this as an MP3 or FLAC file, just download the ‘name your price’ album via Bandcamp.
[Article] Phantom of the Orchestra
The New Republic’s Christopher Beam writes on the tragic fraud, Mamoru Samuragochi, and the lie he peddled on being a deaf composer, who was, in fact, neither deaf nor much of a composer, since Takashi Niigaki was really the one doing the composing.
[Video] Akira Ifukube – Chant de la Sérinde (1997)
Akira Ifukube should be a name familiar to grungy cinema, though one wouldn’t know it by such a delicate piece like this. If his name is, indeed, familiar, it is because you heard his soundtrack music to Godzilla. Yeah, he did that!
[Video] John Philip Sousa – The Glory Of The Yankee Navy
This piece was penned in 1911. John Philip Sousa’s marches are still rousing.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 