I don't know what it's like overseas, but in our confused and despotic little 'Kingdom' things are rather murky right now, and not just because of the dark mornings and wild weather conditions. Whether some contemplative early morning Frederik Magle will help rationalise things more clearly I guess depends on the listener, but for me I'd much rather wake up to his music than force myself to listen to the latest 24 hour news outpourings - especially when the topic for his new composition 'Lux Aeterna' is rather appropriately that of 'hope' and 'the eternal light'.
We have of course featured Frederik Magle previously, a Danish composer with a very impressive biography and set of releases. I appreciate also his apparent attempts to reach out to audiences that may not have previously heard his music through the use of videos and similar, and 'Lux Aeterna' is a deeply beautiful piece of music that should make you stop in your tracks. It's composed for soprano (featuring Maleen, who we've written about previously), duduk, electric piano, synthesizers, and pipe organ - a fusion of sounds which allows the composer to experiment with a mix of classical and experimental visions. The effect is mesmerizing, the opening simply demands that the listener be still and quiet, before Maleen's atmospheric and mournful vocal takes over, building with a power and grace that gives the music an authority and confidence, finally leading to a positive hopeful conclusion. The mix of instruments is unusual and interesting, and is really compelling too, just take a listen for the fairly subtle but easily noticeable sounds of the duduk.
Watch the beautiful video to 'Lux Aeterna' here:
You can find out more about Frederik Magle on his Website, Spotify, You Tube channel, Facebook or Instagram. But sadly not Twitter where we spend most of our time...: