Sunday Playlist - 1/3/2021

Here is the playlist for the first Sunday of 2021: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrVlXh4mc1MKXo_4RyZt_2TDsAJdNlhi

We begin with a raga for the early morning--Bhairav--somber and contemplative. I've then stumbled on a treasure--a video of George Harrison and Paul Simon singing "Here Comes The Sun" in their best 70s outfits. The video contains a bonus that the title doesn't announce. I'll let that be a pleasant surprise.

We continue this trend toward the sunny and uplifting as the Mississippi Mass Choir performs, "When I Rose This Morning," followed by the harmonica pyrotechnics of Roma Wilson on "I Got Just What I Wanted."

Herbert's "The Flower" is a 17th century metaphysical piece that might be more properly a spring poem. But the metaphor of renewal--"in age I bud again/After so many deaths I live and write..."--suits our moment. At least, we can hope that a spiritual spring is upon us and our nation, and that by the actual spring, the virus will be increasingly under control.

We end again in contemplation: Henryk Gorecki's "Amen." Note his brilliant use of semitones. I did name one of my books after that tiny, dissonant interval, so I'm partial to it.