Category Archives: Playlists

Playlist – Clare Hammond

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It is with great pleasure that we welcome pianist Clare Hammond to the Arcana playlist section.

Clare has just released a new solo album, Variations. It is a typically thoughtful and inventive program of works from the 20th and 21st-centuries, ranging from  Adams to Birtwistle, Copland to Gubaidulina.

We invited Clare to complement her new album with a selection of her own favourite sets of variations, and she has obliged with some new discoveries. We begin with one of the greatest of all, the towering Passacaglia for organ by Bach, via Leopold Stokowski‘s colourful orchestration. Then we downsize for Louise Farrenc‘s Variations concertantes sur mélodie suisse, for violin and piano, before we hear from George Walker, the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and only recently getting more exposure as a composer. Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, with her Theme with Variations, offers a strong contrast to the Farrenc, again for violin and piano.

A Decca recording from 1993 follows, an early bit of recognition for the craft of Coleridge-Taylor and his substantial Variations on an African Air for orchestra. We go to piano for Lili Boulanger‘s typically concise and expressive contribution, before the wonderfully humourous, wacky and brilliant Variations on America by Charles Ives, in the orchestration by William Schuman.

Make sure you have a listen to this as well as Clare’s album, to be reviewed on Arcana soon. Our grateful thanks to her for an invigorating hour of music:

You can read more about Clare Hammond’s Variations album on the BIS website, and to hear clips and purchase from Presto Classical, click here

Playlist – Aria Rostami & Daniel Blomquist

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It is our great pleasure to welcome Aria Rostami and Daniel Blomquist to the Arcana playlist section.

They have been working together on a second collaboration for the Glacial Movements label. Still is the culmination of years of work and musical shapeshifting, the resultant six-track album the ideal companion to our cold weather isolation here in the northern hemisphere

Still was reviewed on Arcana here, but the playlist the pair have put together reflects a little more of their listening, as well as including a couple of tracks from the album. Sit back and get horizontal with a tracklisting that includes stellar works from Bryce Hackford – the gorgeous Coast (maybe) – Mica Levi and Popul Vuh.

Our thanks to Aria and Daniel for this wonderful hour of music:

https://soundcloud.com/ariarostami/aria-rostami-and-daniel-blomquist-mix-arcana/s-qL21jUAxTUx

Playlist – Digitonal

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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Digitonal‘s Andy Dobson to Arcana’s playlist section.

He has been busy working on album number four for Digitonal, Set The Weather Fair – released only last Friday on the Just Music label. It features a typically blissful set of sonic pictures, with extra-descriptive hues from Dobson’s clarinet and cello.

The Spotify playlist here is a selection of music that led to the album, and it includes restful but thoroughly immersive ambient music from varied sources such as Loscil, Pye Corner Audio, Philip Glass and BT:

Our thanks to Andy for this regenerating collection of music. Digitonal’s new album Set The Weather Fair is out now on Just Music. You can listen and purchase on the Bandcamp embed below:

Playlist – Emika & Improvisations X Inspirations

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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Emika to Arcana’s playlist section.

One of electronic music’s most versatile artists, she is adding another string to her bow with the launch of new label Improvisations X Inspirations.

Their first collection, Inspiration Drop 1, is available as of today – and it features six striking new compositions. None more so than Eomac’s Drip, Splash, Bubble & Flow, a track created entirely from recorded water drips and drops:

Classical inspirations can be found in the music of Katta, composer and organist at the Prague Church – her Sen I has a thick and timeless ambience, its colours brightening as the track progresses. Violinist Sebastian explores the penetrating tones of the instrument on Slow Arrival, while Schlindwein brings a classical elegance to the synthesizer with Life & Death Choral.

Emika herself collaborates with an old friend, Paul Frick, the two celebrating their creative reunion with In Parallel III, a propulsive piece exploring attractive timbres with more percussive instruments.

Arcana can complement the release of this music by pointing you towards Emika’s Inspirations playlist on Spotify, where you can explore the stimulus behind this new music and discover some stimulating contemporary music. With music from sources as diverse as John Surman, Steve Reich, Bernard Herrmann and Burial, you are pretty much guaranteed to hear something new and exciting – especially as Emika regularly updates the playlist:

Inspiration Drop 1 is available digitally or through USB Card from Improvisations X Inspirations. To listen and order, visit the Bandcamp site here

Playlist – Bing & Ruth

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It gives us great pleasure to welcome Bing & Ruth frontman David Moore to Arcana’s playlist section.

We have been talking with David about the new Bing & Ruth album Species, due for release on Friday 17 July – and his experience of lockdown and recent world turbulence, onto which he effectively has a front window from his New York home.

David’s playlist reflects his deep love of Bach, with the Chaconne from the Solo Violin Partita no.2 in D minor acting as the centrepiece. Leading up to this we have the vibrant Toccata from Sergei Prokofiev, which contrasts with the winsome Sales Tax On The Women from The New Lost City Ramblers. Sons of Kemet‘s incendiary cut All Will Surely Burn is next, before Smoke Dawson‘s Pretty Polly, from the Fiddle album, transports us to the great wide open.

The Bach follows the rich colours and harmonies of Miles Davis‘ Gershwin elaboration Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab – after which we hear the sonorous Farfisa tones of Bing & Ruth‘s Live Forever, an extended highlight from the new album.

Rudy Van Gelder‘s remix of Gene Ammons‘ sultry Hittin’ The Jug is next, then The Carter Family‘s The Storms Are On The Ocean, a poignant song thought to date from the early 1930s. Just a few years separate this from The Ink Spots’ I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire, a rather beautiful song with which to close.

Our thanks to David for this inspiring collection of music. Stay tuned for the full interview and a review of the new album.

Bing & Ruth’s album Species is out on Friday 17 July from 4AD. You can pre-order it from the Bandcamp embed below