Day 8: March 25 - One Daily Unit of Exercise
Since we are allowed only one unit of exercise a day, I’ve compiled some music about going for a little walk. From Olivier Messiaen (1st artist to appear twice!) to Olivia Newton-John, let’s get musical!….(musical)
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d’oiseaux/Book 5: 8. L’alouette calandrelle
French composer Olivier Messiaen (Proud first repeat offender on QuaranTunes) loved birdsong. He used to walk around and transcribe birds’ songs and then use them in his compositions. His 1958 Catalogue d’Oiseaux brings that love into a singular focus. A gift for his second wife, a virtuoso pianist, the pieces here actual represent French provinces and the titles and some main materials are from birds which are prominent in the region. Into the music, Messiaen also integrates
…its landscape, the hours of day and night that change this landscape, are also present, with their colors, their temperatures, the magic of their perfumes…
This piece, L’Alouette Calandrelle, uses the song of the Greater Short-Toed Lark (heard here). Opening chords in lower registers of the piano are punctuated by birdcalls in the upper registers which then expands into a dialogic fantasy. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, in the recording on the playlist, works both the brilliant attack of the piano and the sustain to bring out the playful, semi-antiphonal interplay while keeping the transcendence and pianism of the piece alive.
Hank Williams - Where the Old Red River Flows
Zeus of the country pantheon, Hank Williams was a contemporary of Messiaen, however American and not at all aware of Messiaen. But he was as lovely and talented as Messiaen, if differently so. On this cut of Jimmie Davis’ Where the Old Red River Flows, Williams yodels happily as he dreams from the bright lights of New York of his ‘farm in Louisiana where the ‘ol Red River flows.” It’s an endearing track which has some of the best parts of Williams: his expressive yodels, tasteful early electric guitar work, his characteristic drawl.
William Brittelle - The Shimmering Desert
William Brittelle is one of my favorite living composers. He has an entirely unique ability to bend and blend styles into stunning, surprising, and often moving collages. The Shimmering Desert comes from a soundtrack Roomful of Teeth, Glenn Kotche, and Jeffrey Zeigler did for a film about the Colorado River, released as an album, The Colorado. This track samples old advertisements for the Salton Sea, the oldest lake in California situated at the lowest part of the Colorado and shrinking due to climate change. Brittelle finnesses the choir and triggered electronics into a gorgeous and typically brilliant series of choral/digital chordal gestures. Performed here by Roomful of Teeth, Glenn Kotche, and Jeffrey Zeigler
Natasha Barrett - Sound Exposure in Peru: Cusco
British-Norwegian composer and sound artist Natasha Barrett is keenly interested in communicating spaces. Her works attempt to capture the experienced and lived space. Sound Exposure in Peru is no different. Rather than being just straight soundwalks or field recordings, Barrett sought to show the experience of hearing new environments for the first time, where you attention is pulled in new directions constantly. She likens these to audio postcards rather than field recordings. Perhaps a curated, idealized, or manipulated version of a place.
Olivia Newton-John - Physical
Look, we need to get our daily unit of exercise. If you can’t make it outside, you can always ‘meet the government recommendations’ (as the kids say) inside…