The Best Music in the Whole World June 2007

The Six Best for June

In this page we intend to humbly come before you and offer you the six best pieces of music from the whole world. Call it our version of “desert island discs”. In addition we will come back each month and present another offering of the best pieces of music from the whole world. So come back each month we will tell you about the best of humanity’s sweet music. The order of these pieces implies no particular ranking. Here goes

One: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the second movement, marked Allegretto. You’re saying that Beethoven was one of the greatest composers of all time; there is the Symphony No. 5, perhaps the greatest symphony ever composed, the Choral Symphony No. 9, the Moonlight Sonata, the list of great works is staggering and perhaps only surpassed by Mozart & Bach. How can you choose one work? We do and the allegretto is our favorite.

The Symphony No. 7 was premiered in 1813 and it marked the real arrival of popular recognition that Beethoven was the greatest living composer. It was also the last time Beethoven conducted as his hearing was almost gone and during the rehearsals he could not keep his place. Wagner described this music as the “apotheosis of the dance”. Indeed, the music constantly flows and there is a sheer physicality that infuses the score. The second movement is stately, elegant, rhythmic and hypnotic. Listen for yourself. This recording is conducted by Benjamin Zander. Our favorite performance dates from the 50s and was conducted by Bruno Walter; it use to be available on Columbia’s Odyssey series. The Zander can be purchased at ArkivMusic, a fine source for classical music with excellent service.

Two: “ Prelude in Rast” from the CD “Ode to Flowers” by the Hamavayan Ensemble. Rast is an Arabic music scale and you can find a basic introduction to Arabic music scales here. This 3 minute piece is played on the kamancheh and the robab; the robab is a lute like instrument fro Iran, Afghanistan and India and is the ancestor of the North Indian sarod and the kamancheh is a Persian and Azeri instrument related to the violin. The performers are Saba Alizadeh and Nima Alizadeh. The Hamavayan Ensemble is from Iran and is headed by Hossein Alizadeh. His CD “Endless Vision” was nominated for a Grammy in 2006. “Prelude in Rast” is one of the most profoundly beautiful pieces we have ever heard. Listen to our sample of “Prelude in Rast”.

Three: “Cheikhna Demba” from “New Ancient Strings” by Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko. The kora is one of the greatest musical instruments With its 21 strings in two parallel rows, this harp-lute is unique to the Mande people of West Africa who once ruled the great Mali empire. This music is some of the finest string playing you will ever hear. The tunes weave an intricate tapestry of ornamental variations, lyrical melodies and flowing rhythms. Find yourself a quiet place and let this music flow over you; it is a wonderful experience to listen to these two instruments dance around each other. This music also takes its inspiration from an LP entitled “Cordes Anciennes” which was recorded in 1970 and was performed by the fathers(both kora masters of their day)of Diabate and Sissoko. Listen to a selection from “Cheikhna Demba”. “New Ancient Strings” is available from Amazon at this link and the older LP has been transferred to CD and is also available here.

Four: “Pather Panchali or the Song of the Little Road” In the 60’s, we in the West started to discover the music of the world, but also discovered the cinema of the world. What Kurosawa was to Japanese cinema, Satyajit Ray was to Indian cinema. Pather Panchali is the first movie of the Apu Trilogy. These films follow the story of a young boy named Apu from boyhood in a Bengali village to adulthood in Calcutta where he finds love, tragedy and redemption. Not only did Ray direct these films, but he also composed the very fine music. The theme from Pather Panchali is here played as a haunting duet between Ravi Shankar on sitar and Bud Shank on flute. This version is from an LP released many years ago called “Improvisations” on the World Pacific label which was one of the first music labels to bring Asian music to American ears. It has been transformed to CD and can be purchased here. Listen to “Pather Panchali”.

Five: “Balcony Rock” Dave Brubeck “Jazz Goes to College”. Many jazz performances will be included in our best of lists. We would like to start with “Balcony Rock” from the Dave Brubeck-Paul Desmond Quartet from 1954. This quartet improvised with a freedom and daring such as few musicians ever produced. This is a plain old blues. It starts with Desmond’s alto sax; his tone is one the smoothest sounds you will ever hear. Then Brubeck comes in and plays 12 of the most astounding choruses of the blues to ever emerge from the piano. Towards the end they play a fugue and the end with a beautiful duet. This is 12 minutes of wonderful music. Our sample is short, but we hope it gives you an idea.

Six: “Wondrous Love” Here we choose a song from the Sacred Harp tradition. This song first appeared in 1835 from a collection entitled The South­ern Har­mo­ny and Mu­sic­al Com­pan­ion published by William Walker. It has been a favorite in many “shape-note” singing conventions ever since. The beauty of the song is such that many other artists have performed the song. Here are the lyrics:

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.

To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;

While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;

While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;

And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;

And through eternity, I’ll sing on.

There is strong faith in redemption in this song. The sample we have is from Jean Ritchie from an album she did on Sire many years ago. There are many other wonderful versions: Chanticleer has a great version. Another version worth having is by Martin Simpson, the English guitarists. His version is just guitar and some background strings. It is available for download at eMusic.

Let us know if you enjoy these lists. Make suggestions of your own and we will publish them. Don’t forget to include links. If you wish to buy or download any of this music, we have some suggestions. E-Music is a great place for downloads, instead of paying for each song you pay for a monthly quantity. Very good for world music, jazz and classical. If you wish to buy classical CDs, we strongly recommend Arkiv Music. If you wish to buy world music, CD-Roots is absolutely the best place. Of course, we would like you to look at what we have to offer. The very finest spiritual and sacred music. Look at our Tibetan page, our Sufi page, our new releases and our music from Iran. Great music and very informative, too. Expand your musical and spiritual horizons.