Music Writing by Carson Arnold
Music Writing by Carson Arnold
TO ALL THE SONGS OF DYING SWANS
The title, a passage from Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, inspired me to organize some classical pieces that might fit this imagistic theme. Here's an incredibly limited list chosen from my collection. Enjoy....
Claude Debussy's Three Nocturnes-Three Nocturnes , in particularly Sirenes, is absolutely unbelieveable (especially when under the spell of notorious conductor Pierre Boulez). I found my copy in a free-bin. The cover, a distant naked woman standing on the foggy shore in a forest of heavenly lagoon. The choral works rise like an exotic paradise lost, like the mystic altitude in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon , a butterfly in a blizzard. It's sure to make love to all dreamers.
Johannes Brahms' A German Requiem- The ultimate requiem. More consistent than Bach's Mass and more alive than Verdi's, Brahms is lovely and intense, seasoned with magic for all romantic mourners of eve.
Anton Bruckner Symphony No.7- This symphony is very famous and quite cinematic. But the thing to pay attention to is the coda during the Adagio, influenced in response to Wagner's death, and very Wagnerinian as well. The breath-taking coda within itself is like a triumph to the sinking fins of all great whales, a short ballad of eternal death, and a infinite melody for romanticism. Wagner himself has the everlasting monopoly of harmony, power, and the extremity of expression- and as for more German references- Carl Maria von Weber's clarinet rhapsodies are irresistible, and one can never really go wrong with Schumann's purity.
2001- A Space Odyssey- My favorite Kuberick film, and a soundtrack that rarely gets mentioned besides Strauss's impeccable dawn-of-man opening during Also Sparch Zarathustra. The record bounces between Strauss's wild and dreamy elegance and Gyorgy Ligeti's volcanic compositions of demon ecstasy.
Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe- A tidal of raging beauty like Debussy's Nocturnes, Ravel's ballet is more like the sound cooed by a school of tropical fish scaling the ocean floor. And for all you cello weepers, Rudolph Serkin once fabulously directed The Marlboro Music Festival conducting trio and sonata's of various Ravel- sure to toast the heart.
Schonberg's Verklarte Nacht- This is one of Schonberg's more gorgeous pieces. The splashing string sextet is like a small warm room with one window gleaming into a startling world.
Erik Satie- Be songs of dying swans, Satie's Trois Gnossiennes would be the last lullaby before eternal sleep. Perhaps one of the greatest composers ever, his piano melancholy will comfort a stray dog in the pouring rain. (For a little more piano in the Satie aura, Arthur Rubinstein's Chopin's Nocturnes has similar showering solace. Indeed John Cage's In A Landscape has direct inspiration from Satie ambience. Also, a lovely record that's simply called Spanish Piano Music is quite subdued yet historically thick. And of course let's not forget Messian or Glenn Gould ).
Edvard Grieg- Like Tchaikovsky, Grieg has produced some of the most organic and impressionistic collage of emotions that only the ocean is able to express. When ones like Haydn, Handel, or Ottorino Respighi crecendo to the annoyance of conceit, Grieg is wholesome and for real. And hey, why stop there when you got Schubert, Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, and Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring .
Nicolae Bretan- I just picked up this record the other day and I'am profoundly impressed by how simplistic, unique, and interesting this man is. Hardly ever escaping outside the terrain of Transylvania, dying in 1968 unknown, Bretan composes a culture of rare texture throughout Rumanian and Hungarian opera and folk songs- singing like an Edith Piaff trapped in the snow. The voice and piano emits chords that are like crisp tones of the European countryside, mysterious and inviting, forgotten but remembered only in the wind.
Max Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1- The depth of passion performed through this raining ballad reminds me of the thickest of Beethoven, who drives human fury and lust to the brink of uncertainty, becoming a timeless wonder to the heart and soul.
Ulysses' Gaze- Eleni Karaidrou's soundtrack to this movie is one of the most seductive apocalyptic saddening scores to be composed. People who enjoy the likes of director Lars Von Trier's films (Dancer In The Dark, Breaking The Waves), will find the barren-straits of this music a vast blanket of escaping seclusive climate. Prehistoric, fossilized, and futuristic it is. Or as Flaubert again would say, the winter wind in an abandoned castle.
Carson Arnold- October 27, 2002
copyright 2002 Carson Arnold
H(ear) is an online music column consisting of interviews, articles, and investigations written by Carson Arnold. As a freelance writer for various magazines and liner notes, living in the woods of Vermont with his family, Carson widely encourages one to submit their art, writing or any interesting piece of material that you would like to share. H(ear) is accepting both promos and demos for review or any other valuable music-related subjects. If you wish to make a comment or would like to receive H(ear) weekly by email please contact Carson at [email protected]
Thanks and enjoy!
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