Last week we learned the sad news of the death of conductor Helmuth Rilling, at the age of 92. An obituary can be found at the New York Times website
Rilling will forever be closely associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, becoming the first conductor to record all of his cantatas in a project begun in October 1969 and completed on the occasion of Bach’s 300th anniversary in 1985. The results were released on the German label Hänssler, and immediately won the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’.
In honour of Rilling’s achievements, this Tidal playlist comprises his recordings of three Bach cantatas written for the Sunday before Lent – falling today – and excerpts from works he commissioned for Passion 2000, marking the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, from the composers Tan Dun, Osvaldo Golijov, Wolfgang Rihm and Sofia Gubaidulina
by Ben Hogwood Picture courtesy of Wikipedia / Thechisholm
Last week we heard the sad news of the death of trumpeter and conductor John Wallace, at the age of 76. There have been a number of affectionate obituaries for John that refer to his character, musicianship and academic influence among many other positive qualities. Wallace was principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1995, and along the way blossomed into an international soloist of considerable repute.
In 1981 he played at the wedding of Price Charles and Princess Diana, joining soprano Kiri te Kanawa in a performance of Handel’s Let The Bright Seraphim:
He also formed The Wallace Collection in 1986, an influential brass ensemble whose flexible approach brought brass music to new audiences. Several composers wrote for Wallace, among them Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Sir James MacMillan and Robert Saxton.
Arcana has put together a playlist in honour of John Wallace, featuring the concertos written by Arnold and Maxwell Davies, along with the latter’s Litany for a Ruined Chapel between Sheep and Shore, written for Wallace to perform solo in 1999.
Wallace also features as soloist in Haydn’s much-loved Trumpet Concerto, Prayer of St Gregory by Alan Hovhaness and a commanding performance by the Wallace Collection of Berlioz’s Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale. There is also a pop nugget, Wallace playing piccolo trumpet on The Alan Parsons Project’s Don’t Let It Show, from the album I Robot.
Listen, enjoy, and appreciate the ability of a wonderful player whose presence will be greatly missed
by Ben Hogwood, with quotes taken from the press release
Daphni recently announced his first album since 2022’s Cherry, which Arcana reviewed here. The Dan Snaith pseudonym – which he somehow operates alongside Caribou – will release Butterfly on 6 February via Jiaolong. To give fans a couple more tasters ahead of the album, having already shared Waiting So Long (feat. Caribou) and Lucky, today he releases two new tracks, Good Night Baby and Talk To Me.
Good Night Baby has enjoyably skittish beats and a warm, playful side. Snaith says it is “a good illustration of how far a finished track can end up from its origin / of how rudderless I am when making music most of the time. This one started out more like the mostly drums only track that you hear towards the end… but somewhere along the way turned into a big mushy loved up track with all the feels.”
Talk To Me is very different, with a slightly sinister vocal that speaks of AI gone wrong. Snaith calls it “the polar opposite of Good Night Baby. It’s rare that I manage to keep my tracks as sparse and spare as this one—just wubs, drums, voices and occasionally a little synth melody. I didn’t think that this was done until I played it out but on a big soundsystem it struck me that this was all it needed.” Minimal is the word here, though there is still plenty going on with the beats and lightly ethereal backdrop.
Adding to the single releases, Snaith has prepared a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix under his Daphni pseudonym, premiering on 17 January. It will feature music from Miles Davis, Liquid Liquid, Floorplan, Underworld through to MPH, Flava D, Champion, Mala and unreleased music by Daphni himself.
Daphni will also be hosting three radio shows on NTS leading up to the release: 21 January, 1-2pm GMT 28 January, 1-2pm GMT 6 February, 4-5pm GMT
Listen / Buy
You can listen to all the available audio from the Butterfly album below:
London shoegazers Whitelands have released Blankspace, the fourth single from their forthcoming album Sunlight Echoes, due from Sonic Cathedral on 30 January.
There is an impressive depth to this track, for as the press release recognises there is “some real grit underpinning the melody. Unsurprising, as it’s about a particularly dark period in singer Etienne Quartey-Papafio’s life. “I was faced with mortality and very difficult things,” he says. “I’m still not sure how to talk about it.” “It’s about coming face-to-face with death, grief and mortality,” expands bassist Vanessa Govinden. “This one song became a way to carry all of that heaviness.”
You can watch the striking visualiser by Whitelands’ guitarist Michael Adelaja below:
by Ben Hogwood, photo courtesy of Wikipedia (c) Dutch Simba
There was only one way Arcana could sign off for Christmas 2025 – with a tribute to the sadly departed and much-missed Chris Rea.
Before the inevitable finale, I wanted to share a couple of favourites from his considerable collection of excellent songs – this beauty from 1983:
The song Josephine has become something of a Balearic anthem, and is a sun-soaked beauty:
Speaking of sunshine, I had to include On The Beach, another dreamy song that proved versatile enough to be worked into a late 1990s trance hit:
And of course, finally, the ubiquitous Driving Home For Christmas, one of the staple Christmas songs with its wistfulness, charm…and patience!
With many thanks to all Arcana readers this year for your input and support, as well as gratitude for our fine writing contributions from John Earls and Richard Whitehouse. Arcana will return in the first full week of the New Year, but for now have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas, and all very best wishes for 2026 when it comes.
Ben Hogwood, editor, Arcana
Published post no.2,758 – Wednesday 24 December 2025
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