In this episode of American Highways, pianist Guy Livingston presents a memorial for the victims of the terror attacks in Paris. Music of Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Caravan Palace comes together, not to make sense of the tragedy but rather to offer solace. The episode concludes with a tune by the Donal Fox Quartet: ‘Peace.’
AMERICAN HIGHWAYS #31: PARIS, MOURNING – PLAYLIST
Theme Music :
Steve Reich. The Desert Music (1984)
First Movement (Fast).
Chorus of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas & William Carlos Williams.
Nonesuch Records 79101.
David Diamond
Elegy In Memory Of Maurice Ravel
John Adams conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Electra Nonesuch 7559-79249-2
jazz standard
Forever Is A Long, Long Time
Marjorie Barnes
Blueflame Records 0829410999052
Morton Feldman
Madame Press Died Last Week At Ninety
John Adams conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Electra Nonesuch 7559-79249-2
Steve Reich
Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices & Organ
Steve Reich & Musicians
Nonesuch Retrospective 7559-79962-2
Signy Jakobsdottir, Jon Keliehor, Tom Fallat, and Jarrad Powell
Small of My Back
Gamelan Pacifica
¿What Next? Recordings WN0016
Philip Glass: The Fog of War (soundtrack)
67 Cities
Philip Glass Ensemble
Orange Mountain Music OMM-0010
Caravan Palace
Jolie coquine
Caravan Palace
Wagram Music 3138992
Donal Fox
Peace
Donal Fox Quartet, featuring: Warren Wolf, vibraphone; John Lockwood, double bass; Terri Lyne Carrington, drums.
Leonellis Music IMTS 826625
Relevant Link
Here’s an update: not a response to the Paris attacks, but nonetheless completely on topic – performances on war-damaged instruments. Part of an installation by sound artist Susan Philipsz. You can experience it at the Tate Britain.
Here are two email responses I’d like to share…
Mike from Tennessee wrote:
“The world is as insane as it was 100 years ago. Keep doing what you’re doing with music. It’s what uplifts humanity out of the muck.”
and William Bolcom from Ann Arbor writes:
“I remember the hairtrigger atmosphere in Paris during the Algerian war, but to read the papers from the States it always sounded more crazy than it actually was. There were adjustments: You never went out without your passport. I had to stop going to French Commie meetings (I went to a few only, mostly to see the Russian movies) when Milhaud told me the American Embassy had called and I’d better stop or be deported – so I stopped. (It is true that my room at the Fondation des Etats-Unis was hit by the plastiqueurs a few weeks after I was gone, but no one was hurt.) Somehow it was business as usual though.
It’s all a familiar slippery slope… Hang in there.”