January 2021 Playlist
“HOWEVER LONG THE NIGHT, THE DAWN WILL ALWAYS BREAK”
Choosing a theme for this new playlist proved to be a challenge, nothing seemed to be quite right. So after much thought I decided that rather than forcing the issue and trying to select music for a theme I thought I would compile a playlist of the pieces that I’ve been listening to a lot recently and see whether a theme emerged!
The result of this different approach is a list of contemporary classical / neo classical music (whichever term you prefer) with a couple of pieces of film music scattered amongst them. The thread that links all the pieces together became very clear once the list was complete; gentle minimalism.
Almost all the pieces have been written in the last two decades, but have much in common with the oldest piece on the list, which also happens to be one of my favourites; Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) written by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in 1978. I know this piece is a bit of a Marmite piece for some, but I happen to love both Marmite and this piece! I love the simplicity of it and all the space he creates within the piece.
Ólafur Arnalds’ beautiful and gentle music features several times - this playlist could so easily have consisted entirely of his music as I’ve been listening to it a lot these past few months. I love it, listening to his music is akin to a taking a deep breath.
I’m interested to know the music that makes you feel the same way, let me know in the comments below.
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