Sunday Music

Sunday Music,

As I sit here on the day of rest listening to Classical Chillout 2, I was wondering if there were any complete works of Chillout or whether everything is ruined by the beaty bits at the beginning and end.

Any polite advice apreciated.

 

Don't know the record, but judging from the title, I'd guess that it'll contain tracks that are slow and bootyful, things like

Bach - Air from suite No.3 (Air on a G string)
- Jesu, joy of man's desiring
- Sheep may safely graze
Handel - Largo from "Xerxes"
- Sinfony from "Messiah"
Beethoven - "Moonlight" sonata, 1st. Movement
Mozart - "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", 2nd movement
Grieg - "Morning", from "Peer Gynt"
Pachelbel - Canon
Albinoni - Adagio

Apart from Pachelbel, all have "rowdier" other bits, and most classical pieces do have other bits. However, to the classical lover, these complete the picture, rather than spoil it. To listen to the bootyful bit is like a meal consisting of nothing but your favourite ice cream. Probably a better analogy is to read the exciting chapter of a book and ignore all the rest - the chapter has no context and is ultimately unsatisfying. If the album is like this, it wouldn't be any good to me, except for background music for working in the garage. I want to hear and appreciate a whole work in its context.

As a personal aside, one of the reasons I love Bach cantatas is that I love the chorales of the Lutheran Church, which I've heard since childhood. Bach used many of them in his cantatas, and it's a constant joy to hear these old friends, sparkling like jewels in a new, gorgeous setting, and part of the setting consists of the recitatives that lead up to them. Without the setting giving them context, they wouldn't be as satisfying.

 

"ruined"

You could try looking out a CD of Delius's orchestral music which is substantially in the English pastoral vein (what the detractors of that kind of thing refer to as "cowpat music") and is unlikely to upset anyone. Or perhaps look for a CD of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, or pretty much anything by John Tavener.

If you wanted to try some proper music ( ), Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs springs to mind as being basically slow-to-moderate throughout and totally not bombastic - it's not really what I'd describe as "chillout" as it's just awesomely, overwhelmingly beautiful throughout and rather demands the listener's attention, but noone could object to it on "beaty" grounds.

Edit: You could always tell us what's on the CD you've got and we could take it from there.

 

Pete's already mentioned the pieces that immediately came to mind. The 4 Last Snogs was that piece of mine you liked in the Macintosh room at the spring Heathrow show, and the version by Jessye Norman - she of the huge.....lungs - was the one I signally failed to bring over to yours. I would also suggest (I always do) the Hyperion disc of Arvo Part's Triodion, sung by Stphen Layton's "Polyphony" - which came runner up in the CD Review listener's poll for record of the year. Other choral stuff that may well fit the bill are Faure's and Durufle's Requiems - Matthew Best and the Corydon Singers are pretty good on Hyperion, using reduced orchestration so don't get too heavy. Or you could go early and try some renaissance polyphony - Palestrina or Taverner (the other one) masses spin a fairly endless stream of interweaving melody.

How about some chamber music? Haydn's "Seven Last Words" actually comes it in either a choral or string quartet version. This is seven slow movements, meditations on Christ's passion. Maybe not quite slushy enough for "chillout" though. Or Shostakovich's 15th (last) string quartet - 6 slow movements lasting about 30 minutes total - I find it quite mesmerising lights out music, but possibly a bit spartan in sound for what you want. Turn of the century French is also pretty good for lacking any sense of beat - such as Satie's Gnossiennes and Three Pear-Shaped Pieces, or string and piano stuff Debussy, Faure etc..

Another disc you should certainly consider though is one of EMI's GROCs (Great Recordings of the Century), "English String Music" played by John Barbirolli in front of a couple of orchestras. You may find Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro" has a bit too much music for you , but his Serenade for Strings, Elegy and Sospiri, along with Vaughan Williams' two Fanstasias (on Greensleves and "a theme by Thomas Tallis") fit the 'chillout' bill perfectly. By coincidence I picked up a copy of this at our local 2nd hand dealer yesterday. I grew up on the version played by Marriner and ASMF which is a bit less romanticised than Barbirolli's version. Other string music you should check out are the Serendades for Strings by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Suk - although they do mostly have pulses .

But for real "non-beaty" stuff you need to hear some Morton Feldman, pieces with such descriptive titles as "Piano and Orchestra" or "Cello and Orchestra" .

When are you going to pay that visit you mentioned back in July, or doesn't SWMBO let you out to play now?

 

Gentlemen. I am somewhat disappointed that you failed to grasp the tongue in cheek manner of my post! I guess it says a lot for how you view the great unwashed from the other side of the musical fence.

Still thanks for some of the recommendations - I do enjoy the "beautiful music" on a Sunday morning. Chamber music never really did it for me to be honest. I prefer gentle yet stirring.

Graham, we must get together and abuse your music system in the near future. I'll send you a pM.

 

But you gotta admit, you did get polite advice! Occasionally, one of the great unwashed does see the error of his/her ways. Not often, but often enough to keep us hopeful.

 

Ah come on merlin, we know you better than that!

 

Oh but Mike....I think we did, but just weren't quite sure which cheek it was in at the time!!!

 

Ah, a better class of intellect over here I see

Managed to pick up some Elgar today - stirring stuff and genuinely "beautiful" Thanks gents.