Playlist: Music on Reflecting
This playlist takes the idea of reflection as its starting point. Each piece of music says something about reflection as a state of mind, as a way of making sense of things and as a way of bringing ideas or sounds together.
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending
A musical picture of a bird rising and falling in flight. This work is thought to be able to reflect of the mood of the listener: if you’re happy you might feel joy and freedom and if you’re sad might will feel release and healing.
Michael Nyman, The Diary of Anne Frank: ‘Why?’
Music reflecting on what it would mean to be able to change the past: “If … at the sound of wish, The summer sun would shine, And if … just a smile would do, To brush all the clouds from the sky…”
Nils Frahm, Says
A series of beautiful musical moments pieced together in a way that’s almost hypnotic. Pauses in the music invite you to reflect on where the melodies might go next.
Ludovico Einaudi, Elergy for the Arctic
A work that reflects on the beauty and fragility of the Arctic, and what it would mean to lose part of our landscape, performed on a floating ice platform at the North Pole.
Henryk Gorecki, Three Pieces in Old Style
A piece that reflects the composer’s past and present musical influences and finds an authentic way to bring them together.
Elena Katz-Chernin, Waltz of Things Past
Inspired by an often nostalgic type of dance, this work adds a sense of warmth and charm reflecting the character of the composer.
Arvo Part, Spiegel im Spiegel
This title translates as ‘Mirror in the Mirror’, and the piece reflects the composer’s meditative, calm and simple style of writing music.
Claude Debussy, Reverie
A reflective piece of music that sees a gentle, repeating theme open up into a rich and colourful dream-world. Reverie is the state of being happily lost in your thoughts.
David Fennessey, The First Thing, The Last Thing and Everything in Between
Written as a reflection on a friend after his death, the composer felt that “I don’t want to say ‘in memory of’ because his spirit still seems very present to me”.
Steve Reich, Duet for 2 Solo Strings and String Orchestra
Two violins play the same musical lines, as reflections of each other, sometimes drifting apart from each other before meeting together again.
Olafur Arnalds, Re:member
In this piece a live pianist triggers two electronic self-playing pianos, who generate musical material reflecting what they hear.
