I thought perhaps my final post would be something new, something I’ve heard a lot lately. James Blake’s Assume Form was just released in January. I can’t quit it; I have it on a loop. It’s unmistakably James Blake, but also different. I mean, it’s not not sad—he always delivers on that score—but this album’s sad is pretty sweet, very much in love.
Read MoreThese two poems belong to a cycle of five by Eduard Mörike. Wolf’s Peregrina songs represent a rarity in his output, a diptych of sorts—neither piece entire of itself, but together forming a musical world that illuminates the explicit narratives within, and the implied narratives between two poems.
Read MoreNewley and Bircusse are responsible for a whole host of very popular songs, including “Feeling Good” and “Goldfinger.” They composed scores for the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and well as several stage musicals, one of which, The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, produced in the UK […]
Read MoreI didn’t know who Joni Mitchell was until I went to college and fell in love—and really I can think of no better music with which to have ventured all that intoxication, desire, thrill, fear, and ambivalence than hers. The first album I really obsessed over was Mitchell’s fourth, Blue (1971), which, yes, translates to “A Case of You” on repeat for… a year? More, probably. But I did slowly work my way through most of the rest her astonishing output, including Song to a Seagull (1968), her debut, which ends with “Cactus Tree.”
Read MoreAirs de cour were the songs of late 16th, early 17th century France. It’s a huge repertoire to which Michel Lambert contributed many extremely beautiful compositions. Lambert (c.1610–1696) was a composer and singer, and also famously taught singing.
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