Category Archives: Playlists

Playlist – Spring Serenades

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To celebrate the month of May, and what should in theory be a passage of warmer weather (!), Arcana is celebrating the art of the Serenade in a playlist.

Serenades have been a form in classical music for a good 250 years now, elevated to a higher form by Mozart but also perfected by 19th century composers such as Tchaikovksy, Dvorak and Brahms.

This playlist chooses selections from some of the best, venturing into the 20th century for examples by Elgar, Britten and Swedish composer Dag Wirén, while drawing on wonderful ‘drawing room’ music from the 18th century by composers including Mozart, Beethoven and Hummel.

Find a quiet hour if you can, and enjoy…

Guest mix – Room of Wires collide with Rednetic

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It is our great pleasure to welcome Room of Wires and their Rednetic label to the Arcana playlist section.

With their new EP Fever Switch out now, Room of Wires have shared with us a mix they did of their favourite artists on the label. This includes the duo’s own work, with one of the standout tracks from the EP, the shuffling Never Seen Before, blending into the powerful Silent Lines from their distinctive plague of people album released earlier this year, with the strong presence of industry amid the ambience.

The mix unfolds at a natural pace, with plenty of room to breathe – and settles after the dense mass of sound that begins the mix. Gradually the textures thin to reveal flickering electronic figures, and a steady beat asserts itself, from where the duo progress across an hour of excellent music. Later on the view pans out to the dub-infused electronica of Lachrylic, whose Tacet makes a strong impression, before the rich tones of Garden of Meditating Maqam Rast, by Lowriders Deluxe. Finally Room of Wires sign off themselves, with the expansive TouchToneOne, a sonic exploration prompted by steady beats.

Our thanks to Room of Wires for this special mix:

https://soundcloud.com/rednetic/room-of-wires-collide-with-rednetic/s-V2xD4fIyCDe?si=44eba37fb77c421ea8256ee9e7bfea5e

Guest mix – John Sellekaers

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It is our great pleasure to welcome John Sellekaers to the Arcana playlist section.

In fact the Brussels-based, Canadian born musician has gone one further and contributed an hour-long mix which, to be honest, is an absolute treat. Just a few seconds of Andrew Wasylyk’s Blossomlessness #2 is all it will need for you to mentally cast off the cares of modern living and float into pure musical ambience.

The mix develops with some lovely contributions from Simon McCorry, Atom TM, Loscil and Mark Van Hoen to name just a few, and gradually Sellekaers introduces more beat-based work to his equation – before pulling back and letting the music create a wonderful amount of space.

Arcana reviewed John’s new Observer Effects album on the Glacial Movements label back in August, finding its immersive ambience ‘coldly effective’ – a compliment to the purity of his productions. The same applies to his DJing, as you will find here.

Our thanks to John for this wonderful selection of music:

https://soundcloud.com/johnsellekaers/arcana-mix-john-sellekaers/s-h5O2utyh77y?si=2e6a6416b0364bdd82f5e50f4fecae31

Playlist: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at 50

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by Ben Hogwood

Last week Arcana published an interview with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra violist Dov Scheindlin, in recognition of his time with the orchestra and their significant birthday. 50 years is a long time for a chamber orchestra, let alone a conductor-less one! Joining the celebrations, Deutsche Grammophon have released a 55-CD box set of all the orchestra’s recordings for the label.

Arcana have drawn on personal experience to select a playlist of recordings from the orchestra too, mostly from the DG archive. They range from a perky Haydn symphony to sparky Stravinsky pieces, from the wonderful open-air freshness of Grieg‘s Holberg Suite to the instinctive genius of Brad Mehldau‘s recently-released variations.

If I had to pick a favourite it would be a quite wonderful disc of Respighi orchestral works, crowned by an account of Trittico Botticelliano, a set of three orchestral responses to Botticelli pictures that is both colourful and intensely moving. Listen to the third picture, The Birth of Venus, and you will see what I mean:

Playlist – World Mental Health Day: Music To Grow To

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Today – Sunday 10 October – is World Mental Health Day.

Rather than post the latest concert review on Arcana, I decided to take some time out to come up with a simple playlist of music I have found helpful to listen to in busy or fraught times.

I have called it Music To Grow To, as it begins with one player (Ravel‘s Menuet antique for piano) and grows to music for two people (Messiaen‘s timeless Louange à l’Éternité de Jesus from his Quatuor pour le fin du temps), then three (Mozart‘s sublime Divertimento for string trio).

Philip Glass‘s restful Company is next, for string quartet, then we switch to wind instruments for the 12-player Serenade by Dvořák, a lovely piece.

Finally a long, contemplative piece that should be experienced live whenever you get the chance! John Luther Adams‘ Become Ocean performs the function of being incredibly immersive, ambient music and it uses the whole orchestra from small beginnings to slow, steady growth.

Give the playlist a try on Spotify below: