Our Playlist column features music curated by our faculty, students, and staff and focusing on an interesting idea or theme. In this column, School of Music staff member Tze Liew shares music inspired by feelings of summer.
By Tze Liew
It’s hard not having something new to look forward to in the summer. Everyone’s pining for the usual plans — holiday getaways, graduation celebrations, beach barbecues, outdoor festivals — opportunities for growth and refreshment that have to be put on hold due to the pandemic.
Here’s a playlist of music that gets me in the mood for summer, through all the uncertainty and upheaval going on lately. A consolation that there’s still sunny walks to enjoy, brilliant blooms to sniff at, and music to take you places. And, um, sunbathing on the front lawn in my garish orange Hawaiian print pants.
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“Cathedral in a Suitcase” by Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny’s Cathedral in a Suitcase opens up spaces. It feels like adventure. The piece unfolds with the forward momentum of chimes and rustling bells, weaving in layers of synth melody and feverish guitar riffs that build up into a triumphant cathedral of sound. It makes me think of riding on winds to places that are vast and exciting.
“Arabian Waltz” by Rabih Abou-Khalil — Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble
The Silkroad Ensemble is something special — founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, it brings together musicians of diverse nationalities to “draw on a rich tapestry of traditions from around the world to create a new musical language that weaves together the foreign and the familiar.” I suggest checking out The Music of Strangers, an excellent documentary about how they are preserving traditions and shaping cultural evolution.
“Arabian Waltz” comes alive through this unique ensemble of shakuhachi, tablas, strings, pipa, sheng, changgo and more — transporting you to a land of buzzing summer heat, shimmering sand dunes and spirited folk music. Now all you have to do is dance.
“Rain” by Ryuichi Sakamo
I love rain after a hot spell. Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto captures perfectly the freshness and crystalline beauty of rain falling from the sky — I hear the rhythm of raindrops in the piano and the soaring of the heart in the violin.
“Le papillon et la fleur” by Gabriel Fauré — Performed by Elly Ameling soprano,
Dalton Baldwin piano
For all of us stuck at home, this art song by Fauré is amusingly relatable. It’s about a quirky little flower who’s sick of being rooted to the ground in a pretty French meadow. Worse, she’s in love with a butterfly who gets to flit around and flirt with the other flowers:
You fly away, then return; then take flight again
To shimmer elsewhere.
And so you always find me at each dawn
Bathed in tears!
(Click here for the full text and translation)
Soprano Elly Ameling makes this Fauré gem sparkle — the perfect blend of playful, sulking, coquettish and tender.
“Banana Split For My Baby” by Louis Prima
The weather is ripe for ice cream – and we’re lucky to have it, rain or shine! For much of history, only kings and aristocrats got to enjoy early variants of ice cream. Roman emperor Nero sent slaves into the mountains to get fresh snow so he could slurp it up with fruit juice. King Charles I bribed his chef to keep his “cream ice” recipe a secret from the rest of England.
Then when ice cream sodas became widely available in America in the 1900s, they were banned by priests who thought ice cream sodas were too sinful for Sundays. The story goes that people got around the ban by inventing the ice cream sundae: replacing soda with banana and fudge, which is somehow supposed to be less decadent…?
Here’s the legendary Louis Prima crooning about ice cream sundae in its fullest glory — with a cheeky twist in the ending.
“The Bygone Days (Porco Rosso theme song)” by Joe Hisaishi
The Studio Ghibli film Porco Rosso is one of my favourites — it’s about an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace who has mysteriously transformed into a pig. Set in the Adriatic Sea post-WWI, this beautiful theme song by Joe Hisaishi evokes a nostalgia for serene summers, carefree humanity and memories of romance.
“Pato Preto” by Antônio Carlos Jobim
Cool breezes and lush, swaying fronds come to mind when I listen to “Pato Preto” by Antônio Carlos Jobim, father of bossa nova. This is a curious piece with lyrics that suggest the upheavals of summer — drought, sadness, migration, hopes for a better future, and a longing to connect with distant loved ones — while the music leaps with the joy and exuberance of samba and carnaval rhythms. An invitation to keep on dancing, in good Brazilian fashion, no matter how tough the going gets.
“Remember Summer Days” by Anri
Okay, this one is so summer-perfect it needs no introduction. Enjoy. 😎🏄
