Europe

The Old Gods of Asgard | Dark Ocean Summoning

The Old Gods of Asgard is a fictional heavy metal band that debuted in Alan Wake, a fantastic horror/action video game produced by Remedy Entertainment. The real group behind the curtain of the game is Finnish metal ensemble Poets of the Fall. While the band has four steady members, two of them, Marko Saaresto(lead vocals) and Markus Kaarlonen(keys), have avatars which first appear in-game as brothers Tor and Odin Anderson. Real world guitarist Olli Tukiainen makes appearances as Bob Baldur. According to the Alan Wake Wiki, the boys form a band with far more in-game lore than can be adequately covered in a brief post that’s ostensibly about a modulation. Suffice it to say, their casting throughout multiple Remedy games functions largely as a vehicle to showcase Poets of the Fall absolutely ripping their way through some excellent metal tunes. One such instance, “Dark Ocean Summoning” (2024), is the source of today’s modulation.

The song begins with an atmospheric verse set firmly in A minor. The verse builds into a chorus that sets the stage for the modulation waiting in the wings, but refuses to give it to us just yet. Another verse and chorus lead us finally into the modulation we’ve been hoping for, starting at the 2:50 mark and culminating with a whole-step modulation up to B minor. This shift occurs for no good reason other than that it is rad, and gives the song an excuse to showcase Tukiainen’s guitar shredding skills. The song’s tonal center moves around a bit during this time, but after some very Vincent Price-esque narration at the 4:03 mark, it settles nicely into a triumphant refrain of the chorus in the new key, where it stays until the end.

Laura Fygi | Let There Be Love

“Although Dutch singer Laura Fygi initially garnered notice as a member of the disco group Centerfold, after setting out in 1992 as a solo performer she pursued a more jazz-inspired path with her debut effort Introducing Laura Fygi,” (Qobuz). “On subsequent efforts including 1993’s Bewitched and the following year’s The Lady Wants to Know, she collaborated with figures including Johnny Griffin, Toots Thielemans, and Clark Terry; in 1997, Fygi worked with one of her idols, the great composer Michel Legrand, on Watch What Happens.

Bewitched (1993) is a straight-ahead jazz date in which the singer is joined by a rhythm section, a string section, and some guests. She performs fresh and warm versions of a dozen songs, the majority of which are ballads. The performances are concise (only one tune exceeds four and a half minutes) and lightly swinging … Throughout, Fygi holds her own and sounds quite relaxed and musical, making these standards her own.”

“Let There Be Love” sets up housekeeping comfortably in E major, but shifts surprisingly to G major as the vocal makes its first entrance at 0:34; at 1:52, the tonality rises to Ab major partway through a relaxed piano feature. A huge list of artists have covered this 1940 standard (written by Lionel Rand with lyrics by Ian Grant), but here’s a sampling of the best known: Chris Botti, Jimmy Dorsey, Julie London, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Rosemary Clooney, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tony Bennett.

Franz Schubert | Piano Sonata in B-flat Major (D.960)

Paul Lewis: “I have been concentrating on (studying) the last six years of (Schubert’s) life, basically from the time that he received his diagnosis of syphilis. This perhaps was his death sentence, when he came to the realization that he wouldn’t live long,” (Classical Scene). “There was something that changed in the music at that point, not to say in any way that the music prior to that point was shallow at all, or lacking in emotional depth, but there was a different kind of darkness that came through …

Schubert’s music is full of nostalgia. There’s a lot of looking backwards. When we listen to the way he combines and contrasts major and minor tonalities, often placing a major tonality in the context of a minor one, the major seems sadder in a way because you have the feeling that you’re looking into the distance at something you can’t have anymore. That to me is a sort of overriding feeling there when he contrasts these two tonalities.

But in the slow movement of the b-flat (1828), towards the end when you come out of the c-sharp minor into the c major, there’s something different: it’s not just sadness. Rather it’s like seeing the light somewhere—going towards something different.” That modulation occurs at the 26:22 mark.

Abba | Hasta Mañana

“‘Hasta Mañana,’ an ABBA ballad released on their 1974 Waterloo album, never quite managed to reach the top of international charts, but is nonetheless included in most band compilations, including Greatest Hits and The Best Of ABBA,” (MusicTales). “The song was originally intended for the Eurovision Song Contest and was subsequently replaced by Waterloo featuring the lead vocals of both ABBA’s female singers Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad which followed the band’s promotion concept more closely.

‘Hasta Mañana’ is credited to the ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as well as their manager Stig Anderson, who scribbled the final version of the lyrics. It is reported that a draft recording was handed over to Stig to compose the lyrics before he left on vacation in the Canary Islands, where he snatched that catchy phrase ‘hasta mañana’ (meaning ‘see you tomorrow’ in Spanish) while listening to a radio broadcast.”

The tune is a slice of the quartet’s slightly simpler sound from the period just before the full effect of their worldwide fame took hold. Starting in F major, the tune shifts via a late half-step key change to F# major (2:33). Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad from the UAE for this submission — his 21st!

Felix Mendelssohn | Variations Serieuses, op. 54

“In 1841, at the height of his mastery, Mendelssohn wrote three variation cycles for piano in quick succession,” (Long + McQuade). “The first of them, the ‘Variations Serieuses’ Op. 54, should probably be regarded as his most important piano work. It formed part of an anthology of works by renowned composers of the time, proceeds from the sales of which were intended for the erection of a monument in Bonn” for Mendelsossohn’s German colleague, Beethoven.

“At that time there was something of a production line of so-called “Variations Brillantes” for piano; Mendelssohn gave his seventeen Variations in D minor op. 54 the title ‘Variations Serieuses’ to distance himself from these. The beautiful main theme has an earnest, poignant character that is sustained throughout all the transformations.”

Beginning in D minor, the tonality flips over to the relative F major after the completion of the first eight measures (0:20). Continuously shifting variations on the theme continue from that point.

Piranhahead feat. Carmen Rogers | The Beauty of Life

“Carmen Rodgers has graced a wide assortment of independent R&B recordings since the early 2000s,” (Qobuz.com). “Known for lively and soothing vocals and unreserved songwriting covering a broad spectrum of emotions, her solo work includes the albums Free (2004) and Stargazer (2015), and the EP release Hello Human, Vol. 1 (2021). For the majority of her career, she has been a close associate of the Foreign Exchange and that group’s Lorenzo ‘Zo!’ Ferguson.

Exemplars of progressive R&B and hip-hop, the Foreign Exchange use the neo-soul idiom as a mere jumping off point for an evolving sound that draws from sophisticated funk, quiet storm, deep house, broken beat, and much more. An early and prime example of the Internet facilitating collaboration, FE began in 2002 as a strictly online dialog between North Carolinian rapper/singer Phonte (of Little Brother) and Dutch producer Nicolay.” The two initially worked together from opposite sides of the Atlantic.

The Foreign Exchange, in collaboration with Reel People Music, compiled a 2017 collection of tracks, Hide & Seek, by various artists they’ve worked with in one capacity or another. A tune form the album, “The Beauty of Life,” features Rodgers and Detroit-based producers Piranhahead and Divinity. Infused with a latin-inspired groove, the track spends must of its time in F# minor. But at 3:54, the tonality smoothly moves half a step upward to G minor for the balance of the track.

Trijntje Ooterhuis | Joy To The World

Thanks to Steck for submitting this mod. His write-up is below:

Vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis is a Dutch pop star. Her first fame came with the pop group Total Touch, which included her brother Tjeerd. She was a founding member of the Dutch supergroup Ladies of Soul, originally formed for a memorial concert for Whitney Houston, and which continues to put on an annual concert. In her solo career, she’s recorded several albums of Burt Bacharach compositions, with Bacharach playing on some tracks.

In case you were wondering how to pronounce her name, you can find that here.

“Joy to the World” is an English Christmas carol dating from 1719. (Editor’s note: Jeremiah the bullfrog is not part of this tune.) This recording is taken from her 2010 release of holiday songs “This Is The Season”.

Starting in B♭, there’s a modulation to B at 1:14. After a finger-picking guitar section by guitarist Leonardo Amuedo, there’s another half-step modulation at 1:58, and the choir takes us out.

Franz Liszt | Vallée d’Obermann

“Franz Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann (‘Obermann’s Valley’) is a virtual tone poem for solo piano,” (The Listeners’ Club). The Hungarian composer “wrote this music in the 1830s at a time when he lived in Switzerland with the countess Marie d’Agoult, with whom he had eloped. The piece was later revised and published as part of the first of a collection of three suites titled Années de pèlerinage (‘Years of Pilgrimage’).

Vallée d’Obermann begins with a gloomy and desolate descending theme in the pianist’s left hand, accompanied by hollow triplets in the upper register. Chromaticism and wrenching dissonances evoke a sense of aimless wandering, exhaustion, and angst. These opening bars bring to mind Liszt’s description of Obermann as ‘the monochord of the relentless solitude of human pain.’ This initial motif forms the seed out which the entire piece develops, using the process of thematic transformation that we find throughout Liszt’s orchestral tone poems. Through this metamorphosis, Vallée d’Obermann briefly transcends the darkness of E minor and floats into the celestial sunshine of C major. In its final moments, the music surges upward to an exhilarating climax.”

“In a letter Liszt once confessed that, ‘My piano is the repository of all that stirred my nature in the impassioned days of my youth. I confided to it all my desires, my dreams, my sorrows. Its strings vibrated to my emotions, and its keys obeyed my every caprice.’” (Classic FM).

The transition from E minor (and transient departures from that key) to C major falls at the 4:48 point. The lighter mood is further accentuated at that point by a noticeably higher range and softer dynamic — for awhile, at least!

Paul Mauriat | Love is Blue

“Love is Blue,” originally composed by Andre Popp and Pierre Cour, started off its life as Luxembourg’s entry in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest,” (Stereogum). Several versions charted over the years, “but the version of the song that really hit … was the one that French easy listening composer Paul Mauriat released the following year.”

MotD regular contributor JB calls Paul Mauriat’s “Love is Blue” (1968) “… a perfect encapsulation of the zeitgeist of the mid-60s. At the same time that the Rolling Stones were recording truly transgressive stuff like ‘Under My Thumb,’ there were still large and enthusiastic audiences for weekly variety shows like Lawrence Welk and The Grand Ole Opry. Mauriat’s arrangement manages to simultaneously include both a beautiful harpsichord melody and cheesy strings and horns.”

Starting in A minor, the tune’s progresses through two verses before reaching the chorus, which shifts to A major at 0:54 after a dynamic huge buildup previewing the major key at 0:51. The pattern continues from there.

Keven Eknes | Falls

“Keven Eknes is a Norwegian guitarist and composer based in Los Angeles, CA,” (artist website). “He is developing his first full-length instrumental album, Dark Canyon, created in collaboration with keyboardist and producer Alex Argento, following earlier solo releases.

… As a touring and session guitarist, Keven has performed and recorded with Jonathan Cain (Journey), Engelbert Humperdinck, Jesse McCartney, Leslie Odom Jr., among others. He was part of the house band for NBC’s American Song Contest, performing with artists including Michael Bolton, and has worked extensively with the Deadline Hollywood Orchestra on projects featuring artists and composers such as Mark Ronson, Diane Warren, Jaeil Jung, Brian Tyler, and Bear McCreary.”

Eknes’ 2014 track “Falls” is largely built in A minor. From the first bars, its lyrical melody soars above a peaceful 12/8 feel. A chorus arrives at 1:38 — initially in Bb major. But after a shift in the groove and a falling chromatic bass line, the section eventually ends on a sustained D major chord, fading to the 2:11 mark. Next is a soft-spoken dialogue among drums, bass, and guitar. At 3:04, the cycle repeats, with the guitar melody augmented and developed along the way. A blistering bridge in E minor hits at 4:13, shifting over to A major at 4:48. 5:20 brings a gentle restatement of the theme, starting in A minor but concluding in D major.