Monthly Playlist: March 2023

Scroll to the end for the playlist and my notes.

Life has a way of coming full circle.

The very initial inspiration* for creating Salon Séance (long before it became what it is today) came to me when I created a playlist for my colleagues who had never listened to classical music. They scorned classical music as a luxury good for the elites. But as we got to know each other and I started telling them stories behind the music, they became interested. One day, someone asked me to create a playlist for them with some description so they had some context. They loved it so much that they shared it with other colleagues too. That’s how it all began- I wanted to share the incredible human stories behind classical music.

Just two weeks ago, Salon Séance was invited to Xi Days, a conference about experience design hosted by Google. At a more intimate gathering post-conference, I was talking to a few attendees who were curious to explore classical music but didn’t know where to begin. I offered to make a playlist with some stories to guide them. I shared it with a few other people too, and was encouraged to share it online, so here I am writing this post.

If you are new to classical music, my hope is for this to be a starting point for your exploration. If you are a classical music lover, I hope this curation will give you a new perspective. I built this one around the theme of recovery, which can mean so many things depending on where you are in life. I've outlined the story behind each work as you will see below. I am intentionally keeping the explanation brief, almost like prompts- I wanted to leave room for you to develop the story as you listen to them. 

Except for the last track, these are all small portions taken out of larger works (like a tasting menu). If there is one that you particularly like, feel free to check out the whole work, which will give you a completely new perspective. But at first, I recommend listening to them in order (especially tracks 4-7). 

Hope you will enjoy these incredible works of music. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts. I’ll create playlists regularly if you like it!

- Mari

*Thanks to Tim, Ryan, and Lisa for rekindling the inspiration.

Notes on the playlist:

1. Sibelius's creative recovery in Italy after the loss of his daughter.
2. Shostakovich's recovery from political oppression and censorship after the death of Stalin- regaining of his true artistic voice. Written for his son's 19th birthday.
3. Beethoven's song of joy and thanks for the gift of life, after surviving a near-death illness.
4-7: This is the last portion of an 80-minute symphony by Mahler, which is about his search for an answer to the existential question: “Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? …indeed, even if we are only to go on dying!” The following are the words, written by Mahler himself, sung by the chorus at the end of the work (at end of track 7):  

“With wings that I have gained
 I shall rise!
 I shall die to live!
 Arise, yes, you shall rise again,
 my heart, in no time!
 What you have beaten
 to God it will bear you!”

8. Bartok’s recovery from his first great love which was unrequited.
9. Ravel wrote this work for Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist determined to recover his lost career despite the loss of his right arm during WW1.