Healing music

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  • "Sing of the Lord's Goodness" (from St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast)
  • John Tavener's Prayer Of The Heart sung by Bjork.
    When my sister-in-law was dying from liver cancer I often visited her. The drive to her place took 45 minutes and I would hear it about three times. I did this on the return trip as well. It was healing for me.

    Joan Baez sings a raw version of Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras Nr 5 that I like to listen to uninterrupted.

    Also
    Dire Straits - Why Worry

    Plus many already mentioned.
  • Anselmina wrote: »
    Some great music here. Some I don't recognize and must try out. Going down a slightly different path, I've reached that sad stage in life where listening to the theme tunes of the kids' programmes I loved when I was growing up makes me feel emotional!

    Theme tune to the series 'Robinson Crusoe' always reminds me of Memories of Summer hols!

    And the theme from Belle and Sebastian.

    I'm even getting to the stage of getting weepy over themes from Thunderbirds and The Banana Splits!

    And the theme from "White Horses"!
  • Sparrow wrote: »
    The Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy ...

    Is that the one with the fabulous Creed?

    The Orthodox Liturgies have EVERYTHING ... which is why they're not exactly short and quick

    This is the one I was thinking of -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avw-Ijb2zoI
  • Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956) was a wonderful contemporary composer of Russian sacred music ... The Divine Liturgy dates back many centuries ...
  • "The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done" ... Palestrina
  • Has anyone mentioned the wistful, melancholy, but somehow uplifting music of Gerald Finzi?

    Here's one of my favourite pieces:
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=EkQbzZgwfl0
  • Rumours is an incredible album, btut for healing, I would have to go with Sara. Partly because I find Stevie Nicks voice to be utter perfection (I know not all agree with me).

    I have all sorts of healing music - different pieces for different healing types. Drone metal is often really healing (Nadja I often go to), or electronica (Jon Hopkins, Hannah Peel).
  • The broad nature of music is amply demonstrated by the fact that I haven't a clue what @Schroedingers Cat is talking about !

    I've never heard of any of those people, or bands, or types of music, but...if it works, go for it... :wink:

    Mind you, not many people (apart from those like me Wot Listen To Radio 3) have heard of Gerald Finzi, either...
  • Thinking about it, in the Orthodox services I've attended, the Creed, like the Lord's Prayer, has tended to be said by the whole congregation rather than chanted by the choir. I'm sure practice varies.

    Whilst the Liturgy goes back many centuries, the tones don't necessarily. I've been told by Orthodox priests that nobody actually knows how the Liturgy would have sounded centuries ago as many of the settings are comparatively recent.

    Most Russian church music is a century or so old at the most.
  • The broad nature of music is amply demonstrated by the fact that I haven't a clue what @Schroedingers Cat is talking about !

    I am used to that experience. And I could have gone far more obscure!

  • Thinking about it, in the Orthodox services I've attended, the Creed, like the Lord's Prayer, has tended to be said by the whole congregation rather than chanted by the choir. I'm sure practice varies.

    Whilst the Liturgy goes back many centuries, the tones don't necessarily. I've been told by Orthodox priests that nobody actually knows how the Liturgy would have sounded centuries ago as many of the settings are comparatively recent.

    Most Russian church music is a century or so old at the most.

    It transports me into Heaven ...
  • 'Spem in Alium'.

    I'm very fond of that, but I have to be feeling peaceful already to appreciate it. If I'm in an emotional, tumultuous state, I just get annoyed with it.

    If I need to find solace in some emotional turmoil, I probably reach for Paddy's Bra first. Here's the choir of Keble College, Oxford.
  • Yes, I can see how Spem in Alium' could annoy. I have listened to it and found it irritating at times.

    Interesting thoughts about how we bring moods to music as well as music bringing them to us. Some synergies going on.

    It's a two way process but in Eliot's memorable phrase, 'You are the music while the music lasts.'
  • 'Spem in Alium'.

    If I need to find solace in some emotional turmoil, I probably reach for Paddy's Bra first.

    Never heard it called that before!
  • When I first discovered the music of Palestrina (aged 13, studying for Music O Level), I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Why had nobody told me of its existence before?! I then discovered Tallis, Byrd, Taverner, etc. which helped me to destress during the difficult years of non-stop study and exams. Very soporific, very relaxing and very beautiful.
  • Chorister wrote: »
    When I first discovered the music of Palestrina (aged 13, studying for Music O Level), I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Why had nobody told me of its existence before?! I then discovered Tallis, Byrd, Taverner, etc. which helped me to destress during the difficult years of non-stop study and exams. Very soporific, very relaxing and very beautiful.

    A lot of the musical education I received was predicated on the understanding that real music started with Bach and Handel, totally overlooking all those you note, and others including Purcell and Monteverdi. I did not really come across the pre-Baroque until the late 60s/early 70s.
  • This came up in conversation with the kids today - Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans. If you want to jump from the folk end of his oeuvre to electropop, you could try Get Real Get Right.

    They're dissimilar, but kind of the same. In the comments under the first track:
    But in reference to the disharmony, you are totally right on. that stuff get's down right scary at the end. But it's actually quite accurate to a christian belief in Irresistible Grace. No one seeks after God, But God restlessly seeks after us. And to be in His presence is a beautifully horrifyingly ego breaking experience.


  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    This little gem by Faure - Cantique de Jean Racine Op 11.

    I particularly like this youtube as I just love the conductor. Watching him is something that I find incredibly soothing and utterly sublime.

    I'm intrigued by the Pre-Bach references. I've not really delved much that direction - but I am enjoying people's sharings.

  • I'm not sure if this is exactly healing, but once one learns that "O Jesus I have promised" can be sung perfectly well to the tune of the Muppets theme song, it is impossible to hear it to any other tune. Or at least, I haven't succeeded yet.
  • LydaLyda Shipmate
    Chorister wrote: »
    When I first discovered the music of Palestrina (aged 13, studying for Music O Level), I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Why had nobody told me of its existence before?! I then discovered Tallis, Byrd, Taverner, etc. which helped me to destress during the difficult years of non-stop study and exams. Very soporific, very relaxing and very beautiful.

    My Renaissance channel is my go-to on Pandora. Embarrassingly one of my favorite composers is Gesualdo. I can't help it if a divine composer was also a murderer!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Helix wrote: »
    This little gem by Faure - Cantique de Jean Racine Op 11.

    Now that David's gone, I'm probably the only person left on the planet who doesn't like that piece. I have sung it, but if I never hear it again, it'll be too soon.

    Sorry about that.
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    Helix wrote: »
    This little gem by Faure - Cantique de Jean Racine Op 11.

    Now that David's gone, I'm probably the only person left on the planet who doesn't like that piece. I have sung it, but if I never hear it again, it'll be too soon.

    Sorry about that.

    That's the beauty of taste!


  • And the beauty of time.


    Cantique is a piece I instantly fell in love with when I first heard it, but have now heard and sung it many times; the novelty has worn off somehow. And yet it still appeals to those for whom it is fairly fresh and new - my son and his wife chose it for their wedding.

  • There’s also the beauty of relationship. My love for Cantique is no doubt heavily influenced by association with a much beloved (as my grandmother would say) and influential (to many of us) choral director and with the group he directed. Very happy memories.

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