Here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio–pleased to realize that it’s my 48th episode, meaning that this show recently turned four years old. Sharing this show has, in all sincerity, been one of the most rewarding and pleasurable things I’ve ever done, so I’m grateful to all who have listened.
As I was putting this mix together I was thinking about the million people we’ve lost to COVID-19, a fifth of whom were Americans. Many of them died alone, with no family or friends present, and many of them still haven’t yet been given funerals because of travel or safety restrictions. Here in America, there has been no national mourning, reckoning, or even acknowledgment of what we’ve lost. Our president trivializes the disease and its impacts, and he belittles and dismisses the 210,000 lives we’ve lost to it, every day. It feels incredibly difficult to move through collective grief when our leadership has not only learned nothing from its mistakes but is actively denying that mistakes were ever made or are still being made.
This is my dedication to those who’ve died and to those who loved them: music that, to me, feels otherworldly, reverent, and resonant with the gravity of loss. It’s mostly Russian choral music, which I love for its dark, watery awe, though it there are also a few moments of Japanese medieval futurism. It also includes two of my favorite choral pieces, Rachmaninoff’s “Bogoroditse Devo” from his All-Night Vigil and a choral adaptation of Bach’s “Komm Süsser Tod.” I hope you enjoy it–you can download an mp3 version here. Sending love, and thanks as always for being here 💙
Tracklist:
1. Yoko Kanno – Aqua (Cello Version)
2. The USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir – Hymn Of The Cherubim (Excerpt) (Comp. Tchaikovsky)
3. Osnabrücker Jugendchor – Amplius (Comp. Gregorio Allegri)
4. This Mortal Coil – Song To The Siren
5. MDR Rundfunkchor – Bogoroditse Devo (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 “Vespers”) (Comp. Rachmaninoff)
6. Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble – Komm Süsser Tod (Come, Sweet Death) (Comp. Bach)
7. Yoko Kanno – Aqua
8. St. Petersburg Chamber Choir – Chorale (Comp. Josef Ketchakhmadze)
9. Bulgarian State Radio & Television Mixed Choir – I Have Chosen The Blissful (Comp. Alexander Gretchaninov)
10. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Falling As Flowers Do – Dying A Glorious Death
11. Choir of King’s College – Nyne Otpushchayeshi (Nunc Dimittis) (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 “Vespers”) (Comp. Rachmaninoff)
12. St. Petersburg Chamber Choir – Alleluia, Behold The Bridegroom (Anonymous)
13. The Cambridge Singers – Libera Nos, Salva Nos (Comp. John Sheppard)
14. Unknown – Russian Cathedral Bells
Thank you. I continually return to your work as source of solace and I’m grateful that you keeping doing this
Gracias. Mantener el pulso vivo.
You have opened my eyes to so much music over the past few years. It’s been great.
That was very very enjoyable. I will definitely come back to this. You’ve done it again!
I keep listening to that devestating opener, thinking back to your words. Thank you for all the great music and mixes, and prayers for you, loved ones, and like-minded listening souls, with more stories and music to share.