Day 35: April 21 - Some Much Needed Fresh Air
Since we’re all stuck inside, today’s music brings the fresh air to YOU! From Renaissance lute songs to classic drum solos, breathe deep, it’s QuaranTunes
Thomas Campion - Never Weather-Beaten Sail
Composer, poet, and (apparently) physician Thomas Campion was extremely active during the Elizabethan era, but fell out of favor afterwards, when his preferred genres, ayres and masque dances, became gauche and unfashionable. He wrote treatises on composition and on poetry, including a guide for how to set English text, which sparked some controversy, with volume, titled A Defense of Rhyme (some literary shade) written in response. This ayre, a genre which focuses on lyrical vocal writing (or vocal-like instrumental writing) comes from his second of four immense collections of ayres, the cornerstone of his compositional output. It features some very tasteful text setting. Note how easily the words fit in the melody and the urgency in the rising iterations ‘Oh, come quickly” imploring the Lord to “raise his sprite to thee.” The phrase structures are incredibly clear the tunes utterly delightful making this a pleasant af listening experience. Performed here by tenor Drew Minter and lutenist Paul O’Dette.
Portugal. The Man - Sea of Air
This tune from indie rockers Portugal. The Man addresses heady topics. Beginning with a story about discovering that there is no heaven, only a ‘sea of air,’ and the existential questions that come after finding out there is no higher purpose, the next verse is about talking to God about suicide and not hearing back. It seems to be inspired by the suicide of a high school friend of the singer, John Gourley. This tune has a chipper, melancholic mood which explodes in a ironically ecstatic outburst. A very solid, moving indie-folk tune.
Erik Satie - Pieces Froides, Set 1 “Airs à faire fuir”: No. 2. Modestemente
This piece from eccentric French composer Erik Satie is playful, charming, and slightly quirky, everything you expect from a Satie piece. The set, translated as ‘Cold Cuts’ has two sections: three ‘Airs to Run Away From’ and three ‘Crooked Dances.’ They were written somewhat quickly after a two year writer’s block during which Satie lived in intense poverty, rescued only by the advocacy of Claude Debussy, whose arrangements of Satie’s Gymnopedies revived (temporarily) Satie’s spirits. Performed here by Alessandro Deljavan.
Du Yun - Air Glow
Du Yun is a phenom. Winner of a Pulitzer, a Guggenheim, and a Grammy, among others, the Chinese-born, New york-based composer is one of the freshest voices in new music. This work, Air Glow, bops, but ethereally. The music, scored for for five trumpets, electronics, and electric guitar, moves between textural episodes, from a warm, muted opening slowly accumulating into this complex, tangled brass sound. The elements are well-blended, the introduction of the guitar is tasteful and the percussion at the end is intense, yet controlled (I have a bone to pick for composers who just throw an electric guitar in without considering how familiar and referential a sound it is). Performed here by the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight
Dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun dun dun. a MOOD.
(Compare it to the Du Yun piece. Sort of a similar structure and restrained moodiness with ethereal guitar.)