10 Seconds: Rebecca Toal
1. Lizzy McAlpine - Paranoia Purple (2'17"-2'27")
"As somebody describes in the comments, I honestly find Lizzy’s cover of this Yebba song to be almost religious every time I listen. The strength, the vulnerability, the breath, the guts...it makes me feel utterly and profoundly human. Lizzy is so unassuming as a performer, and yet her music touches me so deeply."
2. Morten Lauridsen/Cory Band - O Magnum Mysterium (2'23" - 2'33")
"I carried my mum’s coffin to this piece of music in October. Listening to it is obviously emotional given the circumstances, but there’s something within the sound of the Cory Band too, their togetherness and virtuosic combined strength of sound that I find unbearably existential."
3. Jameszoo & Metropole Orkest - (rolrolrol) (1'15" - 1'25")
"What the hell this track is so weird and has so many odd bits. I love it! Even in this 10 second clip, you get a bit of Snarky Puppy vibes, a bit of a creepy, half-speed Flight of the Bumblebee mixed with grime and DnB??"
4. Caroline Shaw & Roomful of Teeth - Partita for 8 Singers, No. 1 Allemande (00'19" - 00'29")
"It seems highly likely that no review has ever been written of Caroline Shaw’s music without using the word “raw” or something to that effect. I came across this track completely by accident when I was at school and was knocked absolutely sideways by its sound world. I remember thinking “how are they singing so in tune and then completely out of tune, and why?!” and feeling completely baffled by the whole thing in the most wonderful way. I subsequently forgot everything about it somehow and couldn’t remember the name of the track/composer for 10/15 years. The sense of relief upon re-finding it was immense and primal, like some of the singing."
5. Eric Vloeimans & Holland Baroque - Sans Parure (4'03" - 4'13")
"My partner played me one of Eric Vloeimans’ tracks one day and asked me to guess what instrument was playing. I couldn’t tell him right away, thanks to Vloeimans’ ability to morph his sound into a thousand different colours. I’ve since become obsessed by this blend of the rustic Baroque sound and airy, flutey trumpet sound. The pure emotion in Vloeimans’ playing speaks straight to my soul, as does the total lack of regard for tradition and musical academia."
6. Rebecca Saunders/Ensemble Musikfabrik & Juliet Fraser - Nether (3'59" - 4'09")
"Saunders’ music is not only the most exciting and satisfying contemporary orchestral/chamber composer I’ve had the pleasure of playing, but I also find that her music scratches an itch when I’m experiencing it as a listener. For me, her music constantly fluctuates between demanding that you listen intently within the sound, but then that youlisten as a whole, from a distance. This piece, Nether, is based on a monologue from James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, which Saunders describes as “a snapshot, a state of being before and during the act of falling asleep, amid glimmerings of the subconscious.”
7. Maurice Ravel/Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble - Intro et Allegro (1'28"-1'38")
"It may surprise some people to learn that I also used to be a gigging harpist, and this piece by Ravel was one of those works that I put on a pedestal - I was determined to play it one day. I never got round to learning it, but I’m secretly quite glad because I never got to see behind the curtain and learn just how difficult it was; the track is still 10 minutes of total ethereal bliss for me."
8. Anthony Willis/London Contemporary Orchestra - The Maze (Saltburn soundtrack) (1'18" -1'28")
"I’ve still not seen Saltburn and I’m apprehensive to do so because of just how much I’ve fallen in love with the soundtrack. These ten seconds in particular pull my heart apart every time I hear them, and I like that I get to imagine whatever I want rather than attributing this music to a shot of a film."
9. Mahler/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Symphony no. 2 (last movement) (00'34" - 00'44")
"A rare quiet moment in a Mahler symphony that, no matter how big the concert hall, always feels intimate (or at least until a few minutes later when it all kicks off). It’s so unusual for the trombones and tuba to take the limelight without trumpets, and I love that in amongst the vastness of this symphony, there is this beautiful small group of low brass players singing their hearts out."
10. Stravinsky/Berlin Philharmonic - Symphony 3 Movements, Movement 1 (1'08" -1'18")
"Stravinsky you groovy boy! But you can also hear so much pain in this music, and the context of World War II lurking in the background (and at times brought very much to the fore). I played this piece in youth orchestra, and at the time felt so seen by Stravinsky as the angsty teen that I was, but also knew that there was something more profound in the music that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around yet."
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