2021: a year in music
I think overall I’ve listened to less music in the past year, since that was a year when I started writing music myself. A lot of what I’ve been listening to was in preparation to my writing. Here is a selection of albums and pieces that I’ve listened to repeatedly and enjoyed most, in no particular order:
AMIROV, F.: One Thousand and One Nights Suite / Symphony, "To the Memory of Nizami" (Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra, Yablonsky) (Azerbaijani Composers,Vol.6) - I love the symphony from this album so much! It is written for a string orchestra in a dramatically and texturally rich language, which is recognizably Fikret Amirov’s language. The opening of “The joy of Sheherezade” from his ballet “1001 nights” is the subject of one of the piano fugues I completed in summer of this year.
Azərbaycan klassik muğamları (solo tar) Shahriyar Imanov [Classical Azerbaijani mughams (solo tar)] Azerbaijani tar is a plucked string instrument with a rich, metallic timbre, and Shahriyar Imanov is an exceptionally masterful tarist. In this album he plays traditional Azerbaijani mughams where fixed elements and phrasings are expanded upon through improvisation.
Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht [Transfigured night] This piece has a powerful, magnetizing opening that draws me in from the very first moments and keeps me absorbed throughout. I think I’ve come to appreciate Schoenberg especially in the past few years.
Azerbaijan: The art of mugham - Alim Qasimov and Malik Mansurov Two mughams in their full form are performed here: Bayati-Shiraz and Zabul Segah. Alim Qasimov is a foremost mugham singer, with an incredible command and range of voice, from quietest fragility to berserk passion and technically challenging thrills. In a mugham ensemble, there are mostly improvisatory unmetered solo voice sections intertwined with rhythmic sections where all of the instruments participate - tar, kamancha (bowed string instrument akin to violin in its range) and ghaval (percussion instrument akin to tambourin). I noticed that I’ve been generating more mugham-like melodies after listening repeatedly to these recordings.
Rebecca Clarke - Sonata for viola and piano - I listened to this sonata, via my teacher’s recommendation, when I was writing my Fantasia for viola and piano. There aren’t that many pieces where viola comes to the fore as an individual instrument (as opposed to orchestral works), and this sonata is a beautiful example of that.
Jacob Druckman - Reflections on the nature of water for marimba solo. This piece was recommended to me by my percussion teacher when I told him about the idea of my cycle “Four elements”. The 5 movements of this piece represent different states and textures of water in an expressive, playful language.
Daniil Trifonov - The Art of Life I’ve mostly listened to The Art of the Fugue from this album. I will write a separate post on Bach and how my brain seems to especially avidly absorb patterns from his music. The Art of the Fugue is special to me also because I listened to it on repeat during the 3 weeks I was writing my thesis.
Fikret Amirov - Song of Perishan from the film “The great support” (1962). This song is written in the Shur mode of mugham. It literally took my breath away when I first listened to it.
Nat King Cole - Nature Boy - This is a song that featured in one of the viral collaborative tiktok videos o f 2021. A twitter friend helped track down its origin. A very charming song indeed.
Monetochka - Раскраски для взрослых - Monetochka rose to fame in Russia in 2018 when this album was released. I started listening to it after I watched her interview with the Russian journalist Yury Dud. I really like her wit and detached and fast recitation.
Dune soundtrack by Hans Zimmer - There’s no denying it, I was mesmerized by this soundtrack, and listened to it repeatedly, finding new cross-references and narrative devices upon each listening.
Gabriel Fauré Piano trio Op. 120 , Maurice Ravel Piano trio M. 67 - These two trios were recommended to me by my composition teacher while I’ve been working on my own piano trio, and their magic completely stopped me in my tracks. Especially the 3rd movement of Ravel’s trio had an overpowering effect on me.
* Header image credit: Transferred from az.wikipedia to Commons by Zaka Mirzayev, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25408195
