Mathematical Institute Bulletin: Song of the Week

Composed in 1894, this is one of Debussy's most famous and influential works. Based on the poem of the same name by the French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, it depicts the faun's sleepy, daydreamy afternoon. Perfect for a Friday afternoon; or as the background to that latest Teams meeting.

The Bonzos met at Art School. It was the 60s. 

Neil Innes, composer and vocalist on 'Urban Spaceman,' went on to write the music for the Rutles, a parody and homage to the Beatles.

One of the rites of passage of youth is staying up all night, preferably a Saturday night so, as dawn breaks, you can play this Song of the Week. With vocals by Lou Reed and backing vocals from Nico, this is from the Velvet Underground's much lauded first album.

You can of course play it after a good night's sleep. Or on a Friday.

1980s pop has a lot of fans which comes as a surprise to some of the people who were there at the time (including your Song of the Week correspondent). Mind you, you should have been around in the 70s.

Still, even the most grudging of critics has to admit to one or two gems and this is one of them. Great hook, great title, stupid video. No comment on the hair. Welcome to the 80s.

it is often said that there were no great British composers between Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and the 20th Century and certainly no great opera composers between Purcell and Benjamin Britten after the Second World War. Then again, Purcell left a very high bar. This famous aria is from his only opera, Dido and Aeneas. The Opera is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid and tells of the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her.

What better way to celebrate a sizzling weekend than hot stuff from the Man in Black. Ring of Fire was co-written by June Carter, Johnny Cash's future wife, about their early relationship (and no, Cash wasn't the other co-writer). There is plenty of Johnny Cash on YouTube including his famous concerts at American prisons in the late 1960s. Cash himself had spent a few nights in prison in his time.

In the first week of June, here is a song about June performed by the comic genius of Stan and Ollie. Like much of their routine it starts well...

There used to be singers and there used to be songwriters. Okay, that is a massive simplification, but the term 'singer-songwriter' only really took off in the late 60s and early 70s. Joni Mitchell is one of its leading lights with a large catalogue spanning five decades. This performance is from 1970. It must have been something to hear that voice live.

Cilla Black became best known for hosting the ITV dating show Blind Date. But she had started as a singer and in the 1970s had a regular BBC Saturday evening 'light entertainment' show (i.e unwatchable if you were under 50).

Marc Bolan, leader of T Rex, was the star of Glam Rock, and in 1973 at the height of his fame. Marc was not really light entertainment (if a bit 'lite' on lyrics sometimes). Life's a Gas was a Bolan song from a couple of years earlier.

They were not a pairing you would expect. But this is probably better than the original.

Galveston, released in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, tells the story of a soldier pining for his Texan hometown as he prepares to go in to battle. "I clean my gun and think of Galveston."

Below is the remastered original and here is an acoustic version. Country singer Glen Campbell had songwriter Jimmy Webb to thank for two more of his biggest hits, Wichita Lineman and By the Time I Get to Phoenix (written when Webb was only 19).

American modernist composer Charles Ives first wrote the Unanswered Question in 1908 before revising it in the 1930s. It wasn't performed until 1946. In the piece a trumpet repeatedly asks the question. The woodwind struggle to find an answer. Sound familiar?

In 1972, Island Records boss Chris Blackwell was looking for the next big thing. Meanwhile Bob Marley and his band needed money to get home to Jamaica. So began Bob's golden period.

Stir it Up is from their first work together, the 1973 album Catch a Fire, and this performance is from the band's May 1973 appearance on the influential music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. The Wailers, as they were known until 1974, comprised a core group of Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. They had been together since 1963. Good things come to those who wait...

Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto (1919) was one his last works but it was made famous many years later by the 20-year-old Jacqueline du Pré. This concert is from 1967, 2 years after that first recording. Daniel Barenboim conducts the London Philharmonic. It (the Adagio) is over 8 minutes, but what an 8 minutes.

PS. Apologies if the ads appear mid music. Does anyone actually use Grammarly?

The instrumental Telstar, created by the sound engineering genius of producer Joe Meek, was named after the eponymous communications satellite of the same year. The track captures Meek's obsession with sound rather than melody (he couldn't read music anyway).

Cult Birmingham band Broadcast made three albums in the early 2000s, mixing sounds around co-founder Trish Keenan's soft voice.

If you are new to - or old and unmoved by - classical music then maybe Benjamin Britten can persuade you; or at least show you how it can work. The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945) was Britten's way of showing off the roles and ranges of the various instruments in the orchestra. This last section, the short Fugue, brings it all together. If you want to know more about the piece here is a good explanation. Then maybe go and listen to it all?

Should you need relief after a long term, try a little hypnosis, Gregorian style. This chant is taken from a 1959 recording from the Abbey of Saint-Maurice and Saint-Maur, Clervaux in Luxembourg and is regarded as one of the gems of its type by the Gregorian cognoscenti. It was apparently recorded during Mass. You can certainly hear shuffling in the pews in some of the later chants.

French electronic duo Daft Punk 'exploded' after 28 years last week via a farewell video showing them in their characteristic robot helmets and leather before one of them literally explodes. Dumb? Maybe, but they were anything but, mixing genres and record collections at will over 4 albums. Here is a 2013 track from the last album which, with its melancoly but uplifting dance, seems to come from almost any genre you want. Worth a listen whatever your taste.

You have to be a little suspicious of the 'died young, neglected in their lifetime' genius, but in the case of Nick Drake, Song of the Week would suggest the reputation is well-deserved. Despite reading English at Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge (he packed it in anyway), he went on to make 3 brilliant, largely acoustic, largely ignored, albums before his death in 1974, aged 26.

This song from his second album 'Bryter Layter' seems to be about being lonely in an overcrowded world. Our overcrowded world has moved online but we can still find a few friends. Gather Town perhaps at the 5pm Chime of a City Clock?

We celebrate brevity this week courtesy of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. This, the 11th of his 24 Preludes written for solo piano, makes its point in just 41 seconds.

In the week we lost Mary Wilson, here are the Supremes (Mary on backing vocals) having a very good time with an audience who are also having a very good time. Stoned Love is from 1970, after Diana Ross had left, but is as good as anything they did. So put Teams on mute, turn off the camera and get dancing with Mary.

This song comes from the 1956 album Songs for Swingin' Lovers!,  one of the albums Sinatra made with arranger Nelson Riddle which revived his musical career. The song was written much earlier, in 1923, but it was probably waiting for Frank to get hold of it. It's been said many times but just listen to Frank's phrasing as he tells you his story.

"Do I look for those millionaires like a Machiavellian girl would, when I could wear a sunset?" sings Kate, accompanied by a Macedonian bridal dance played on Uilleann pipes (I had to look that bit up, obviously).

If you don't know Kate Bush's music then there are worst ways of spending lockdown, from the teenage years of Wuthering Heights to the most recent (and pertinent) 50 Words for Snow. Yes, she does come up with 50.

Shaking off initial reputations is the curse of many artists (and mathematicians?). De La Soul found themselves labelled hip hop's hippies after the release of their first album and they have spent 30 years trying to shake it off. Mind you, they did claim they were transmitting live from Mars and rapped a lot about peace and harmony.

So in deference to their wish to be thought of as more than that first album, here is the biggest hit from that album. Peace and love.

As Konzertmeister in Weimar from 1714-1717, Bach was charged with providing a monthly diet of church cantatas. This one is from c1715. It was performed in Lecture Theatre 1 of the Andrew Wiles Building in October 2019 as part of our 'Sunday Service' collaborations with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The Services will resume later in the year.