Listen: Serenity

12th January 2016

At the start of any new chapter, a flurry of emotions can present themselves: nerves, excitement, uncertainty, felicity. At the start of this New Year, we hope that music can accompany you, ushering in serenity as you ponder and plan for the triumphs ahead.

This playlist begins with the uplifting movements of Aaron Jay Kernis's Ecstatic Meditations for a cappella choir. In Mark Adamo's Alcott Music, a suite for chamber orchestra, we visit the characters of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. With John Harbison's Darkbloom: Overture for an Imagined Opera, the opening solace is challenged by a series of dramatic themes, but complete repose returns with the Delicatamente con molto espressione movement of Avner Dorman's After Brahms for solo piano. Let yourself delight in the Minuet from Yehudi Wyner's Partita. Finally, be inspired by the contemplative melodies of Daniel Wohl's Corpus and Moonlight Shadows from Bright Sheng's Never Far Away.

"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife."
— Kahlil Gibran

Serenity

—This playlist was contributed by Alyssa Foster