I’ve been listening to a lot of different styles of instrumental music lately. Instrumental music helps me think, relax, dream, imagine, create, and more! However, my music favorites constantly change depending on what projects I’m working on and what is going on in my life.
Right now I’m creating a lot of my own music, so I pull inspiration from other contemporary composers. Sometimes, though, the occasional classical piece makes its way onto my list of music that inspires my current projects! With that in mind, here are some of my current music favorites:
Stratosphere by Cash
This contemporary ambient work gently layers electronic sounds to create a beautiful and relaxing piece of music. The melody is subtle, but combine that with the slow rhythms and lush harmonies, and you get this otherworldly piece.
Cash is only 16 years old. Check out more of his music here!
January by Ola Gjeilo
You know how much I love Ola Gjeilo, so here’s another look at his piece January. I love how the melody works with the harmony to create a jazzy-yet-classical sound over the constant rocking ostinato in the bass.
Gjeilo wrote this piece as part of his album “Stone Rose”, a collection of “[i]ntrospective, lyrical piano music, somewhere between classical, jazz and pop” (according to the composer). Gjeilo also said many of the pieces on “Stone Rose” are expressions of his love for New York City. Do you think January describes NYC?
Walk by Ludovico Einaudi
Einaudi is one of today’s foremost contemporary composers. He combines minimalism with lush harmonies, rhythmic ostinatos, and emotion to create his own unique musical language.
The Way Home by Tony Anderson
This track opens with a muted piano over a heartbeat ostinato (in the form of a drum). The strings enter gradually, and the tension builds as the ostinato continues throughout the piece. The whole work is extremely cinematic; it feels like it belongs in a movie!
Check out Anderson’s website for more.
Adagietto from Mahler’s 5th Symphony
This gorgeous piece opens with a soft, subtle melody that builds and crashes straight into my heart (haha). And I love Bernstein’s careful treatment of the theme; the result is a delicate-yet-passionate sound, perfect for creating emotion in the listener. Read more about the background of this piece here (did you know Mahler was inspired to write this work because of the love he had for his wife?).
That’s all for now! What are some of your music favorites?
Hi Kathryn
Favourite music is always a bit of a movable feast for me (right now, for example, I’m really digging the symphonies of 20th-century Swedish composer Hilding Rosenberg, as currently under discussion here…but it may be a different story next week); however, an acquaintance of mine who writes, and also writes (chiefly) about, music that could loosely be described as contemporary, recently started a series of posts about music that is available online free of charge, and I hope you’ll share my enjoyment of much of the music he’s written about in the series so far.
Speaking of spreading the word, have you found the time to listen to any Rubbra yet?
Thanks for your thoughts! I’ll have to look up Rosenberg. Thanks for sharing your acquaintance’s blog, I’ll go take a look at it!
I’ve listened to a little bit of Rubbra, and I love what I have heard so far. Any specific recommendations of pieces to listen to?
That’s a tough one! All 11 of the symphonies, and all the concerti, are worth getting to know, although the early and late handful of symphonies are tougher nuts to crack in terms of initial impressions. With the concerti, I’d go in the order piano, viola, violin. After that, maybe the 2nd and 4th string quartets and some of the choral music, which is more austere but still beautiful. Happy to supply links for anything that proves tricky to find.