I listen to classical music quite a bit. I’m not really as knowledgeable as I’d like to be with regards to history and styles and terminology, though I’m always learning, and we’re fortunate to have a truly, truly excellent classical public radio station in Classical King FM, based in Seattle, WA. In addition to broadcasting on FM radio, they also stream on-line, in a few different flavors.
I just started listening to their Evergreen channel a few weeks ago. It’s made up of relaxing pieces, great for while you’re reading or writing or otherwise trying to focus.
Well…this one piece kept grabbing my by the heart every time it came up. Over and over. I love it so much. And then…another piece did the same thing, and it turned out to be the same composer: Ola Gjeilo, a young (only 38 *now*, and he’s been writing for some time!) Norwegian composer and pianist, now based out of New York.
I love his music so much I’ve been sharing it all over the place this week. I love it so much I had to buy his self-titled CD. But this piece is still my favorite.
Again, I don’t know the right terms, how to describe in words the way the chords shift all as one, intersected, woven together, and the way the music is at once harmonious and dissonant.
But I love the depth of it. It’s so emotional it is almost pain as well as pleasure, the kind of joy that aches.
You know what it makes me think of? Have you ever been out in the middle of nowhere on a clear, cold, winter night when the sky was lit by pinpoints of stars, and stars beyond stars until the whole of it glowed and you understood why they call it the Milky Way? And oh, the daunting timelessness of starlight: ancient light, newly arriving for our eyes, making one feel so small and yet touching eternity. This is like that put to music–there are notes behind notes, tangled, spinning around one another, pulling the listener into a spellbound dance. I’m sure the title is part of why my head goes there, but really, that’s how it feels.
And then, on top of that, we get the Kyrie Eleison. “Lord, have mercy.”
The whole thing just gives me chills.
Check it out. Do.
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Enough Ice Cream 
Great song. Reminds me of a cross between New Age and music heard in a cathedral. Very relaxing. I listen to all genres of music. If I am programming though I listen to Classical music. Something easy, instrumental, and relaxing.
Being East of the Rockies I generally listen to WCPE. I grew up with Classical music and marching band music. I’m still not as educated in it as I should be after decades of playing piano and trumpet.
My first radio job was at a 50,000 watt classical F.M. I stopped by to visit, did an audition tape the general manager did not like. About 5 minutes later the program director asked if I could go on the air that afternoon. A few minutes later I did the afternoon shift before the program was over both the GM and PD came in the studio and offered me a 6 to midnight Saturday slot.
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