Listening Party Podcast Episode 20

Brianna Bear

Brianna shared that when she is making art, she is looking for energy in her music. Her current ‘go to’ for that is the soundtrack for the movie “The Greatest Showman”. Other favorites come from growing up with her grandparent’s and their musical loves. She laughs about how her time with them created her affection for the music of Patsy Cline, which she plays sometimes when painting murals. She said the other young people, who are painting with her, have no idea who Patsy is. I told her, introducing people to Patsy Cline is a public service, she was such a great singer. Her grandfather introduced her to the classics of Chuck Berry. My favorite story she shared though, is singing Shania Twain’s “That don’t impress me much” with her Grandma in the kitchen. I can just picture it and the laughter that ensues.

• Sweet Little Sixteen, Chuck Berry
• That Don’t Impress Me Much, Shania Twain
• Walkin’ After Midnight, Patsy Cline
• Crazy, Patsy Cline
• The Greatest Show, featuring the cast, from The Greatest Showman Soundtrack, Pasek, Paul, Lewis

Kelly Legge

Kelly’s musical choices run a wide gamut. This speaks to her many roles as a new mom, drag king, and life long artist. Her notes are below.

• It Takes A Village, Raffi
  as a new parent, I think about this a lot!
• Never Let Me Down, Depeche Mode
  the song I dragged this last year 
• Bet On Love, Pharis and Jason Romero
  it’s HAUNTINGLY beautiful as well as We All Fall 

Annalysa Tylor

When I asked Annalysa what she listens to she took a long pause. As a singer and composer, she loves many kinds of music. Often, if she is working on one thing, she is listening to something very different outside of that work. I’ve always believed that classically trained musicians don’t have a smaller musical palate, but rather, a larger one. In musical training your ear is curious and can find many kinds of music rewarding. Annalysa provided a fascinating list of songs, and was kind enough to share her thoughts on each of her selections.

• No One is Alone from Into the Woods, S. Sondheim Performed by Ben Wright, Chip Zien, Danielle Ferland, Kim Crosby, Paul Gemignani
  This musical deconstructs Grimm fairy tales and takes place almost entirely in the woods, which act as a liminal space for the characters before and after the important events take place (i.e. Jack’s encounters with the giants, Cinderella’s experiences at the ball, Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the wolf, etc.).  This song in particular encapsulates beautifully the main point of Thresholds, and was an important guiding piece for me while writing it.

• Don’t Stop Me Now, Queen
  A wonderfully exuberant song from the incomparable Queen, and my go-to for psyching myself up.
• Rose Hip November, Vashti Bunyan
  This whole album is lovely, but if I were to choose one piece to introduce someone to this artist, it has to be this crystalline ode to autumn.
• ‘Erme e solinghe cime’ from La Calisto by F. Cavalli. Performed by Il Pomo D’oro Jakub, Józef Orliński, Maxim Emelyanychev
  This aria is Endymion’s yearning declaration of love to the moon (i.e. Diana), gloriously sung by Polish countertenor Jakub Josef Orlinski.  I keep trying to listen to the rest of this album, but I’ve gotten into a habit of just listening to this piece over and over again…
• An der Mond, by F. Schubert. Performed by baritone Hermann Prey
  Another “song to the moon”, this was the first German lied I ever learned, and the first recording of lieder I ever listened to.  Perhaps it is merely nostalgia or Prey and Engel’s sensitive interpretation, but I can’t listen to this without being enchanted by its understated plaintiveness.
• Your Best American Girl, Mitski
  From the beginning, which gently outlines a simple bass line, to the climax with shredding electric guitars, the use of dynamic contrast and buildup in this indie rock song is very effective.  Mitski wrote this candid song about the end of a relationship and how, as a Japanese-American, she felt excluded and alienated from the “all-American” concept and experience.  I cannot fully know what that must be like, but the emotional effect of this song on me is nothing short of cathartic.
• Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis, by Vaughn Williams. Performed by Andrew Manze, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
  These two pieces will always go together in my mind, after attending a particularly moving concert that paired them.  To me, the Fantasia seems, in some inexplicable, prophetic fashion, to foreshadow the First World War, and of course, Britten’s War Requiem is steeped in the history of both world wars.  As someone who was born several decades after the last one, I believe my emotional understanding of the history comes as much, if not more, from this music than from strictly historical sources.

Beth Dick and Christine Sam

When I asked Beth what she’s listening to, she said “I won’t listen to rap or country, but I listen to everything else. I play Phantom of the Opera, blaring, I have fun. For soundtracks, I listen to Rio and I listen to Josh Groban and Jesse Reyes, too.”

We talked at length about Phantom and her favorite tracks are not the most famous songs from the show, which surprised me. She loves the drama in them, no wonder she’s an opera fan!

Christine Sam is a big Jessie Reyez fan, and reminded me you that we have to support our Canadian artists. Like Brianna Bear, her other musical favorites come from family influences. Specifically, from rides to and from school. She told me she listened to “a lot of ACDC and Guns and Roses and Pink Floyd. My step dad is 72. I listen to a lot of his music. I also listen to a lot of anime, opening and ending songs. They are so upbeat. The beat is so happy. Even the sad songs make me happy. I definitely enjoy music. There is never a time we don’t sing. My aunties sing almost everything.”

Beth Dick

• Angel of Music and The Point of No Return, Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Real in Rio, from the motion picture soundtrack, Rio. Performed by Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, Jesse Eisenberg, The Rio Singers, will.i.am
• Mas Que Nada, from the motion picture soundtrack, Rio. Performed by Gracinha Leporace, Sérgio Mendes
• You Raise Me Up, Josh Groban

Christine Sam

• FIGURES, Jessie Reyez
• Highway to Hell, AC/DC
• Sweet Child O’Mine, Guns and Roses