“This list is most certainly not an exhaustive one, but I will be taking these to my desert island, when that day comes,” she said.
1. Josquin des Prez
“As a church musician for most of my short life on this earth, I have performed many choral masses with various choirs. Missa Pange Lingua ... is based on a plainsong hymn, a genre dating back to at least the ninth century, and as such uses the foundations of Western art music with which to compose his last such mass setting. Characterized by intricate contrapuntal techniques, which signaled a new compositional style, this mass always sparks my intellect and moves my heart. It challenges even the most seasoned of choral ensembles.”
2. Ags Connolly
“I might be slightly biased ... but he’s an original, like his own musical heroes ... and he happens to be my brother-in-law. He writes country music texts and tunes that are completely his own, and for that he’s climbing the Ameripolitan music charts fast with his debut album called, ‘How About Now.’ When I’m cooking, or just needing something to chill out to, he’s one of my go-to artists. He’s been dubbed ‘the English Willie Nelson!’”
3. Blossom Dearie
“About 25 years ago I asked one of my more knowledgeable and widely-cultivated music friends to recommend me a starter jazz-music CD. Without a shred of doubt he said, ‘Blossom Dearie.’ So I bought one of her compilation albums that featured some of the tunes she recorded in Paris. Her sound is cutesy, 1950s bebop in style and timeless. When I lived in Manhattan, I was fortunate to see her up close and personal in a small, intimate club in Times Square. When I saw her she was close (to) 90-years-old and I was completely dumbfounded to hear that her vocal quality was every bit as original-cutesy bebop in 2005 as it was in those 1950s recordings I have of hers.”
4. Maurice Duruflé
“Growing up French Canadian, the music of the French musicians from the 19th and early 20th centuries ... was something I couldn’t escape. (I) had French piano, theory and organ teachers since being a teenager and so their passions soon ignited my own. In my mid-twenties, as one does, I backpacked through parts of Europe. One pilgrimage was to stop in at St. Etienne du Mont in Paris, where Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé were the organists, composers and performers each week ... I walked into St. Etienne for noonday mass (and) sat down ... next to a very well-coiffed and -dressed elderly woman. Following the service we spoke and I told her of my adoration for the music of Maurice Duruflé and as we spoke, I realized that I was conversing with his wife the great French organist and interpreter. Gobsmacked to say the least, I asked for her photo. She declined. But I managed one, sneakily, later as she was chatting with one of the priests. The Duruflé ‘Requiem’ is one of the greatest such settings of all time, for me.”
5. George Frideric Handel
“Since its first performance in 1741, (his) name has been intrinsically intertwined with this oratorio, ‘Messiah.’ I’ve conducted this three-part work in its entirety a few times now, and each time I make new musical and spiritual discoveries in it. It manages to make me cry, feel awesomely happy, feel pity, remorse, anger...I’m conducting ‘Part Two’ in two weeks’ time with my professional vocal ensemble. ‘Part Two’ centers around the Passiontide, as that is the liturgical season we’re in at the moment in the Christian church. There is much profoundness in the work, ending with the ever-famous Hallelujah Chorus. From sorrow comes great, great joy.”
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Skylar Griego is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
