Playlist: Music on Peacefulness
This playlist takes the idea of peacefulness as its starting point. Each piece of music says something about peacefulness as calm and quiet, as an escape, as hope for the future and as a connection with a higher being or consciousness.
Aaron Copland, Quiet City
Inspired by a play about learning how to be true to yourself, this piece sees two brass instruments sing a melancholy song over whispering strings: “Sing the songs of your own people, so that you can sleep in peace at night.”
John Cage, Dream
This mystical piece is influenced by Balinese Gamelan and an ancient Chinese divination text. Its soft and meditative quality is intended to reflect a peaceful, dream-like state.
Brian Eno, An Arc of Doves
This work combines delicate piano melodies and atmospheric electronics to evoke an image of the dove, a symbol of peace. Overlapping textures mimic the motion of wings together in flight.
Jessica Curry, I Hope You Find Peace
Part of a video game soundtrack, this piece draws you into a beautiful and melancholy world and a moment where someone is being wished a sense of peace.
Per Norgard, Swan Descending
As the title suggests, this work sees the harp play the part of the majestic swan gracefully coming in to land.
Aaron Jay Kernis, Musica Celestis
This piece is inspired by the idea of angels in heaven singing in praise of God. Some have described the way the music builds as evoking the image of an increasingly intense bright light.
Eric Whitacre, Sleep
“The evening hangs beneath the moon, A silver thread on darkened dune. With closing eyes and resting head I know that sleep is coming soon.” (Charles Anthony Silvestri)
Jean Sibelius, The Swan of Tuonela
The English horn represents the serene and peaceful swan in this musical painting. At the centre of the piece is the image of the creature floating through Tuonela, the Finnish realm of the dead.
Bent Sorensen, The Shadows if Silence
This work imagines the moment before a peaceful landscape is interrupted by the sound of church bells. After the low ringing of the bells, silence returns leaving a sense of loss.
Sarah Kirkland Snider, You Are Free
The composer of this piece described wanting to represent the feeling of “both infinite calm and a house on fire". She imagines the performances to sit between peacefulness and restlessness.
Daniel Wohl, Dream Sequence
The background crackle of a record player and an out-of-tune piano in this piece reflect a peacefulness in remembering the past. Sounds begin to overlap and blur like a collage of memories.
