Tim Thurston's music choices for the week of May 4th

04 May 2020 / News
labelled with

Renowned music lecturer Tim Thurston, a favourite with dlr Library members, shares with us his music choices in the hopes that music can provide some calming reassurance and will lift our spirits during this worrying time.

The 4th Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday and Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd is sung. Hence the music for....

MONDAY - SCHUBERT - GOTT IST MEIN HIRT. Another of Schubert's lovely melodies this time for women's voices and piano.
EVENING JAZZ - BRANFORD MARSALIS Trumpeter Wynton is the most renowned of the family from Louisiana - Patriarch Ellis died last month. I am a fan of sax player Branford. Gloomy Sunday has 14 million hits on Spotify!

TUESDAY - BACH - SONATAS AND PARTITAS FOR SOLO VIOLIN. BWV 1001 - 1006. Irish audiences have been blessed by many performances by Maya Homburger. I will never forget a late night candlelit concert in the Kilkenny Arts Festival - how will we manage without it this year?!
EVENING JAZZ  Myra Melford - with Kris Davis - see last Saturday - Myra is at the forefront of the world of contemporary improvised piano. Described as a virtuoso who shocks and soothes. On her recent album Snowy Egret drummer Tyshawn Sorey is stunning too.

WEDNESDAY - HEINRICH SCHUTZ - Die Auferstehung - the Resurrection. In my mind no composer deserves greater new exposure. Recognised as the greatest German composer before Bach he paid two seminal visits to Venice studying with Andrea Gabrieli and - most likely - Monteverdi. A wonderful blend of Venetian passion and Lutheran seriousness.
EVENING JAZZ - JOSHUS REDMAN - The second of three top tenor players this week. His quartet James Farm - with pianist Aaron Parks is excellent and he's recorded with Brad Mehldau too.

THURSDAY - CHANT  JUBILATE DEO Psalm 100 - O be Joyful in the Lord. In Morning Prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
EVENING JAZZ - DAVE HOLLAND - in 1968, aged 22 he was playing in Ronnie Scott's club when Miles Davis was in the audience. Miles invited him to join his band and he became one of the best known bass players in Jazz. He held the attention of a packed John Field Room audience with his 'cello and bass alone - I'll never forget it.

FRIDAY -  MOTETS FROM THE ETON CHOIRBOOK - The composers of the 64 pieces in the richly illuminated choirbook written around 1500 for use in the Chapel at Eton are not well known but they represent the amazing quality and complexity of the time. Since the superb recordings by the Sixteen they have held my fascination. Just as Bach emerged from Schutz and Buxtehude so Tallis and Byrd were keenly influenced by this thrilling repertoire.
EVENING JAZZ . Steve Lehman is a dazzling young New York alto player, a 21st century inheritor of Charlie Parker. His clips on YouTube are thrilling.

SATURDAY  BRUCKNER MOTETS. I cant say I'm a huge fan of Bruckner's gargantuan symphonies but his concise and most beautiful motets have long been favourites of mine having sung many with various choirs over the years. Locus Iste, Christus Factus Est and Os Justi are the cream of 19th century choral music.
EVENING JAZZ . JOE LOVANO. Now Sonny Rollins has hung up his sax (aged 82!!) Joe Lovano is top of the tenor tree. He has recorded a vast amount of music yet always has something interesting to say - he never seems to freewheel. Twice Downbeat's Jazz artist of the year, I heard him in a dream trio with Paul Motian and Bill Frisell in Andrew's Lane - truly memorable.

SUNDAY -  MOZART - C MINOR MASS - ET INCARNATUS EST. My favourite movement from Mozart's sacred works is introduced by a sublime passage for wind before the soprano enters - it is glorious - and should be played every Christmas (I don't think I've ever heard it then).
EVENING JAZZ  -  JOEL ROSS. He is a young vibraphone player from Chicago whose quartet played in Ronnie Scott's last year. I recently came across a lovely "Touched by an Angel" on YouTube. His future is guaranteed now he is on the Blue Note roster.

Share this Post