Mathematical Institute Bulletin: Song of the Week

"A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything."

Probably the most famous quote attributed to Gustav Mahler and when you listen to some of his works it feels like he is changing direction every few notes with the vicissitudes of life. But amid the turmoil he wrote some of the most beautiful romantic music you'll hear. Here Juanjo Mena conducts the BBC Philharmonic.

Full list of Songs of the Week

Supergroup. Ah yes, a bunch of big stars get together only to find they don't like each other. Except in Cream's case they already knew they didn't like each other, at least in the case of Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce.

Cream didn't last long, but they recorded some good stuff including this late song written by Eric Clapton and Beatle George Harrison (with Ringo Star adding the vital line about swans). One for guitarists.

Over five years ago, when the wonderful Vicky Neale instigated and ran the Bulletin, your now self-appointed Song of the Week Editor suggested the odd song or poem to accompany the maths. Those suggestions don't appear in the full Song of the Week list (links now fixed), but to celebrate - or commiserate - Song of the Week at 5, here is the first ever suggestion.

Let Sandy Denny break your heart.

The Ipcress File movie is 60 years old this year. This spy film's theme tune was written by James Bond composer John Barry and it has a feel which, in comparison to the Bond movies, matches the more gritty style of 'Ipcress'. 

The film was based on the 1962 novel by Len Deighton (who is going strong aged 96). Deighton wrote cook books as well as spy and historical novels, and his main character, played by Michael Caine, whips up a neat omelette in the movie. Apparently Caine couldn't break an egg with one hand so it is Deighton's hands you see in the movie. It's a great film. And it's a great soundtrack.

And for those of you who like Song of the Week here's a full list

When all is said and done, 'Love' isn't a bad name for a band.

The epitome of the Jazz Age, Rhapsody in Blue is almost the same age (1924) as the 'Art Deco' exhibition of 1925 (see poster above). Written for solo piano and jazz band, it was subsequently orchestrated into the form you hear most often today. It's long, but it'll take you in to the weekend on a cloud.

So kick off your shoes, grab The Great Gatsby from the shelf (also 100 years old) and party like it's 1925.

With Elizabeth's Fraser's impenetrable, often made up lyrics, their 'ethereal' sound and a preference for privacy, the Cocteau Twins certainly cracked it when it came to mystery. Mind you, your Song of the Week editor once saw them having an argument on a London Underground train. Rock n' Roll.

Still, this is very uplifting don't you think? Also check out their cover of Tim Buckley's Song to the Siren (as This Mortal Coil), a Song of the Week from a long, long time ago.

Russell Thompkins Jr's falsetto and the boys showing an impressive disinterest in being filmed.

Happy Easter

This little pop classic was co-written by the talented and often overlooked Lynsey De Paul. Happy teatime everyone.

One drop of rain on your window pane
Doesn't mean to say there's a thunderstorm comin'
Rain may pour for an hour or more
But it doesn't matter, you know it doesn't matter

Frankly we could have a 'Beatles Song of the Week' in itself such is the volume and range of music they produced, much of it original and brilliant. 

'Rain' is a startling example, not least because it was a vinyl B-side, i.e., considered the inferior of the two songs on the single (the A-side was 'Paperback Writer'). Yet, from Ringo's opening drumbeats to the innovative use of backwards vocals at the end via the overall psychedelic sound, this remains exciting and modern.

Okay enough B-side music critic. Here are John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Some pieces of music are so familiar that we no longer hear them when they are played (or when you are on hold to your bank). Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' is very high on that list, yet it deserves our full attention. Especially as it is 300 years old this year.

So listen to 'Spring' with your imagination. And enjoy.

PS: the subtitles are Vivaldi's.

Trojan Records, founded by Jamaican Duke Reid and based in North-West London, was instrumental in bringing Jamaican music, initially rocksteady (as in this song) and then reggae, to a European audience, paving the way for the likes of Bob Marley. This track was later covered brilliantly by Blondie and also Atomic Kitten amongst others.

Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, was idiosyncratic  to say the least, blending a range of often experiemental musical styles over 13 albums before giving it all up and devoting himself to abstract expressionist painting (see earlier item) which, to be fair, made him far more money.

Beefheart can be very inaccessible, at least on the first 45 hearings. But fear not, this is him at his most accessible.

Minimalist sound. Minimalist output (one album). Minimalist success.

But influential. And good for last thing at night.

For those nights when it just won't happen. Clearly it also didn't happen in the 18th century when Handel wrote this aria, though the oratorio in which is features, 'Semele', is taken from Roman poet's Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'. Two millennia of sleeplessness then.

Tribute bands are ten a penny, but parody bands, where the songs are imitative but original, are rarer and none reached the brilliance of Neils Innes' Beatles parody, the Rutles. So good in fact that the Beatles themselves loved them (Beatle George Harrison funded the documentary) and the songs are now widely recognised on their own merits. Let's be natural.

New Order were formed after the death of Ian Curtis ended the career of Joy Division. At first they struggled. They seemed to, er, quite like dance music and the first album was over-produced. But when 'Temptation' was released you knew something was afoot. Brilliant drumming, years ahead of its time and worth waiting for the lines towards the end: 'oh you've got green eyes, oh you've got blue eyes, oh you've got grey eyes'. Yes, a love song. 

More famous songs were to come, but any better than this?

Can were part of the German Krautrock (a crass label from UK journalists that stuck) or Kosmische Musik (Cosmic Music) genre of which Kraftwerk are the best known, though it was about more than electronic music as Can demonstrate with their mix of styles and experiment.

If at first it is not your thing, stick with it because it will get you. Hard to believe that it is over 50 years old.

Petula Clark was a child star in the Second World War, first as entertainer and then actress, continuing to do both until, in the 1960s, she hit her stride with a series of bangers like this one which gave her international fame. Now 92, she still performs.

Take the "A' Train was composed in 1939, after Ellington offered composer Billy Strayhorn a job and gave him money to travel from Pittsburgh to New York. Ellington wrote directions for Strayhorn to get to his house by subway. The directions began with the words "Take the A Train", referring to the then new A subway service in New York City.

Happy 2025 Bulletinies

Model railway obsessive Rod Stewart has gone through many guises in his career from the blues to that dodgy disco phase to the inevitable music royalty status of today.

But when he was good, he was very good.

Chill time.

O Sapientia (O Wisdom) is one of the seven Great Advent Antiphons sung in Christian churches dating back to the sixth century. In fact we are a little early as O Sapientia, the first of the seven, is usually sung on 17th December.

You know how it is, everything you do and see and hear puts a song in your head. Or maybe it's just a few of us. Maybe it needs a name. Maybe it already has one. Anyway, your Song of the Week Editor does a lot of running.

Keep on running Tami.

The Mills Brothers were four brothers from Piqua, Ohio who were hugely successful in the pre and post Second World War years. They were also the first black artists to have their own show on national network radio in the USA.

This song (they performed the original) has their distinctive crooner vocals and then their trademark guitar sound and vocal harmonies as it speeds up. And eternal lyrics. Enjoy.