Becky’s Playlist: Week 5

Last week I suggested that you should try something new and perhaps surprise yourself. Heeding my own advice, I did just that. On the final Friday of the Spring Festival of New Music, Benjamin Gait, Valerie Pearson and Peter Roderick gave an exciting rendition of Ligeti’s Trio for Horn Violin and Piano. Having never heard the trio before, I was blown away by its sheer virtuosity and the multiplicity of new and exciting sound worlds it explores.

While Ligeti’s Horn Trio isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, Brahms’ Horn Trio in E flat major may seem a little more palatable. Ligeti composed his trio in 1982 in homage to Brahms’ of 1865, and the two works are often performed side by side. While paying homage to Brahms, Ligeti is said to have remarked that ‘the only thing reminiscent of Brahms is perhaps a certain smilingly conservative comportment – with a distinctly ironic distance.’ Composed in commemoration of his mother, who had died the same year, Brahms takes the listener on a journey through the many stages of grief. The joyous finale symbolises a recovery from mourning.

Completely different in character from either the Ligeti or Brahms is Person Pitch, the third solo album released by Animal Collective member Panda Bear (Noah Lennox). Track four ‘I’m Not’ is a favourite of mine. Remixing a sample of Guillame de Machaut’s ‘Rose, liz, printemps, verdure’, performed by Gothic Voices, the track explores Machaut’s fourteenth century sound world in new and unexpected ways.

My final suggestion for this week is Wagner’s symphonic poem Siegfried Idyll, one of the composer’s few non-operatic works. Born this week in 1813, Wagner composed the Idyll for the birthday of his second wife Cosima, following the birth of their son Siegfried in 1869. The music is warm-hearted and intimate throughout, the melodies utterly beautiful, and the harmonies compelling.

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