Tag: Europe

Royksopp | Royksopp Forever

From MotD reader and first-time contributor Max Willard comes the track “Royksopp Forever” (2009) by the Norwegian electronica duo Royksopp.

The duo’s album The Invitable End (2014) was widely considered to be the duo’s swan song; quite a few years of radio silence followed. In a 2022 Billboard interview, the duo describe their return: “The current scene is, luckily, a lot of things. That hasn’t changed for us. Some people look at the scene as music that crosses over, because electronic dance music became pop at some stage in the last 10 years … On the flip side, because it’s so saturated with music, there is a lot of crap as well. I have to be blunt and state the obvious. But as far as electronic music goes, for example, the genre of traditional rock was proclaimed “dead.” Those kinds of statements are so redundant. It’s just not as prominent, but it’s obviously still there. It’s just shifted a bit. Electronic music is now mainstream pop music. It’s just a little shift, but nothing really dies. It just becomes a bit more specialized and disappears and reappears. I like those shifting trends.”

Max’s take: “I think this modulation merits consideration because the entire song builds to the moment of key inflection.” After starting in D minor, the track transitions at 3:10 to a behemoth E major/A minor vamp, repeating onward to the end as it fades and shapeshifts.

Gustav Mahler | Symphony #6 in A Minor, Movement 1

From the memoirs of Austro-Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler’s wife Alma (UtahSymphony.org), on the topic of the Sixth Symphony:

“No other work came so directly from [Mahler’s] heart as this one. We both cried . . . So deeply did we feel this music and what it foretold us. The Sixth is his most personal work and is also a prophetic one. In Kindertotenlieder and in the Sixth, he musically anticipated his life. He, too, received three blows from fate, and the last felled him. But at the time, he was cheerful and conscious of the greatness of his work; he was a tree in full leaf and flower.

In this passage from her 1940 memoirs, Alma Mahler suggests that autobiographical meaning informs the content of her husband’s Sixth Symphony, and on many levels, her words ring true. Gustav Mahler did, in fact, suffer “three blows from fate” in 1907: he felt it necessary to resign from his conducting post in Vienna, his eldest child Anna Maria succumbed to scarlet fever, and a doctor discovered the heart defect that would ultimately end the composer’s life. However, none of these incidents had transpired when Mahler penned Symphony no. 6 (in 1906). Alma’s memoirs, therefore, correctly interpret this symphony as something foreshadowing events yet to come.”

After the movement starts in a brooding A minor, 1:53 brings a gentle woodwind chorale, then another wide-ranging section with full orchestra. At 2:54, a surprisingly lighthearted but brief section in F major sounds almost like a passage from a composition for children. The simplicity of the textures doesn’t last, but the tonality does manage to endure for a quite some time before more transitions appear.

Emilia | Big Big World

Big Big World is the title track of Swedish singer Emilia’s eponymous debut studio album, released in 1998. “Big, Big World…is gentle and arranged as a pseudo-procession tune,” wrote AllMusic editor Roxanne Branford in her review. “As if Emilia is taking her first cautious steps toward independence and adulthood.” The track was a #1 across Europe but wasn’t as successful in the United States. Emilia has gone on to record three subsequent albums.

The tune starts in C and modulates up to D at 2:29.

Jean-Baptiste “Toots” Thielemans | Undecided

Jean-Baptiste “Toots” Thielemans, “the Belgian-American musician who cut a singular path as a jazz harmonica player … began his professional career as a guitar player (and added the ability to whistle a line above it), but inspired by the mid-20th century innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he returned to the chromatic harmonica and developed a bebop-influenced technique on it,” (NPR). “He performed and recorded widely with his bebop heroes and many other stars of postwar jazz, and his tune ‘Bluesette’ quickly became a jazz standard. His work also graces many film and television scores.”

Later in his career, “Thielemans became a first-call studio musician for top arrangers like Quincy Jones. His harmonica graced the theme song for Sesame Street and the score for the movie Midnight Cowboy. And that’s his whistling in the commercial jingle for Old Spice toiletries. Jazz remained his first love; even toward the end of his career, he would begin every morning with practice on the complex changes to John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps.’ … He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in the U.S., and a baron by the king of Belgium. He only retired from performing at the age of 92.” He passed away in 2016 at the age of 94.

His performance on “Undecided,” a 1939 standard by Charles Shavers, would have been remarkable for any other harmonica player — but it was utterly routine for Thielemans. His technique on the instrument broke through to entirely new levels of speed and agility. The groove drops out for a break just before the half-step modulation at 1:18. As if that weren’t enough, the second half of the video showcases Toots’ famous guitar-and-whistling skills!

Antonin Dvorak | Symphony #9 in E minor (“New World”), Op. 95

Former Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop wrote for NPR of ” … Dvorak’s melodic gifts, as well as his ability to spin a seemingly infinite number of variations on a tune. This, combined with Dvorak’s Bohemian heritage, results in music unlike any other composer’s. Symphony No. 9 is nicknamed New World because Dvorak wrote it during the time he spent in the U.S. in the 1890s. His experiences in America (including his discovery of African-American and Native-American melodies) and his longing for home color his music with mixed emotions. There’s both a yearning that simmers and an air of innocence.”

The piece is often considered to be one of the most popular of all symphonies. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. (WRTI.org).

Among the more prominent of the piece’s many modulations is a shift from E minor to G# minor at 7:12.

Jon + Vangelis | Italian Song

“Greek composer Vangelis was one of the most influential figures in the history of electronic music and as a composer of film scores,” (AllMusic). “His popular work utilized synthesizers in an orchestral manner, featuring romantic melodies and lush arrangements. However, his oeuvre encompassed many genres, from progressive rock and jazz improvisation to choral and symphonic music.

He achieved international mainstream success for his triumphant theme music to the 1981 film Chariots of Fire and several collaborations with former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson as Jon & Vangelis.” The composer, who died last week at the age of 79, found his largest success in his score for the massively influential dystopian science fiction film Blade Runner (1982). The Guardian describes the score as “a stunning sonic panorama of the fragmented, alienated world that (director Ridley Scott) depicted on the screen, where advances in technology were matched by the decay of human emotions. His music became almost like an extra character in the development of the story.”

Vangelis’ joint release with British singer Jon Anderson, 1983’s “Italian Song,” modulates several times and features a sonic palette which overlaps with the Blade Runner score in timbre but not in mood; the impression that the track leaves in its wake is one of a celestial lullabye. The first shift in tonality (0:37) is from F major to A major.

Kim Petras | Malibu

German singer Kim Petras describes her song Malibu, released in 2020, as a “pick-me-up song” with a “punchy mix of synth-bass squirts and tropical-funk guitar that lives up to its namesake.” The music video for the track features over a dozen artists, including Todrick Hall, Demi Lovato, and Jonathan Van Ness, and was filmed in isolation during the pandemic.

Starting in G, the tune shifts up to A at 1:58.

Louise Cordet | Laisse Le Soleil Sécher Tes Larmes

English singer Louise Cordet had one big UK-charting hit, “I’m Just a Baby,” in 1962. Her parents were both French-born, and she attended a French lycée in London. So she was not only a singer, but also a *chanteuse* — she had Decca releases in both the UK and France.

The song “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” was written for Cordet by Gerry Marsden, and her version was the first released, in February 1964. Nonetheless, the Pacemakers’ version, released in April, became an international hit.

Using the same backing track, she also recorded the version here, with French lyrics. Translated literally, the title means “Let the sun dry your tears”.

The song starts in B, and modulates to C at 1:20.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Symphony #40 in G Minor (K. 550), Movement 1 (Molto Allegro)

“Mozart’s last three symphonies come from the extraordinarily creative summer of 1788,” (RedlandsSymphony.com) “In the space of slightly over six weeks, he composed the Symphony in E-flat, K. 543; the Symphony in G minor, K. 550; and the Symphony in C major, K. 551 …

Of the three 1788 symphonies, the Symphony in G minor, K. 550 (popularly referred to as No. 40, but probably No. 53), is the most original and has had the greatest influence on future composers. Few works from the 18th century are as intense, chromatic, and unconventional … few classical works more clearly point the way toward 19th century romanticism.”

Beginning in G minor, the movement transitions to the relative major key, Bb, for the first time at 0:27. Many other shifts in tonality follow.

Maurice Cahen | Impromptu #1 for Flute and Guitar

Guitarist and composer Maurice Cahen was born in Saint Germain en Laye, France. He began studying classical guitar while playing jazz in the Paris area. He traveled back and forth to Spain, where he discovered his love for traditional and contemporary Spanish music. In 1982, Maurice moved to the United States to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, followed by studies with Charlie Banacos and Dimitri Goryachev. Since then, he’s collaborated with various Boston and New York based musicians and has published original chamber music for flute and guitar, including the Impromptu #1.

Cahen has toured Israel with The Little Big Band and later toured Brazil with his own quartet and duo. Since then, Maurice has created numerous ensembles: Reflection, Brazilian Serenade, and various duos and trios featuring his original work, improvisation, etc. and exploring many styles, instrumentations, and genres (Classical, Latin, etc.) Maurice is currently studying North Indian Classical music and sitar technique with Jawwad Noor.

Impromptu #1 for flute and guitar, featuring Cahen on guitar and MotD co-curator Elise MacDonald on flute, begins in an overarching B minor and D major, but shifts to B major at 1:03. After touching on several other keys of the moment, we return to B minor and D major at 1:44.