Climates of the Mind

Climates of the Mind, my collection of orchestral pieces representing various moods and states of mind, is now an album, available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer and elsewhere (links at the end of this blog). Here are some notes on the individual tracks of Climates of the Mind:

Nonchalance

Nonchalance means behaving as if you are calm and carefree despite an underlying sense of unease or anxiety. In this music I had in mind the idea of a person (represented by the solo bassoon) moving nonchalantly through a variety of different environments, trying hard to stay “cool” and ignore the fact that all may not be quite as safe or predictable as it seems. Only at the very end does the mask of nonchalance momentarily slip…

(For a video of Nonchalance, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Reflecting

To reflect is to think deeply or carefully, to turn thoughts over and look at them from different angles, examine problems, consider solutions. In a reflective frame of mind, ideas arise and are looked at more calmly and rationally, the imagination has freer rein, there is space for insights and inspirations to arise and new directions to be foreshadowed. “Reflection is the very essence of every increase in consciousness.” – Marie-Louise von Franz.

Like most of my music, Reflecting is a product of intuition, imagination, lateral thinking and rational thinking working together in harmony – the title reflects the process of composition as well as the content.

(Listen to Reflecting: For a video of Reflecting, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Love

Love is the only piece in Climates of the Mind that is not wholly original. It’s based on a tune by blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), who spent almost 50 years of his life travelling around the country composing, playing and singing his music. O’Carolan wrote 3 different tunes for his good friend Kean O’Hara; this is the first and best of them, with the second tune added at the end as a sort of coda.

I first became acquainted with this tune in an arrangement for guitar by guitarist and master-arranger of O’Carolan, Andrew Weston. I was captivated, and with his permission worked it up into an orchestral piece, adding a few extra ideas along the way. (Weston has beautifully arranged and harmonized many other tunes by O’Carolan and it is hoped his arrangements will be published soon.)

(For a video of Love, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Euphoria

As a boy I dreamt I could fly, and when as an adult I made a video of Euphoria it seemed natural to use scenes of birds in flight, as they gave me the same euphoric feeling, the feeling of freedom, lightness and elation, I experienced in those childhood dreams. (For the video of Euphoria, see the link at the end of this blog.)

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is the only part of Climates of the Mind not scored for full orchestra – it’s a simple dialogue for bassoon and harp. Other than that, I’m unsure what to say…

(For a video of Uncertainty, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Grief (Echoes in the Memory)

“Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is the price you pay for love.” – Earl Grollman.

“The only cure for grief,” Grollman continues, “is to grieve.” How to grieve? According to Shakespeare, who lived in a time when death and the grief that followed was almost an everyday experience, there are two ways:

(1) “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break”* (Macbeth Act IV, scene III); or

(2) give sorrow music: “In sweet music is such art, Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or hearing, die.” (Henry VIII, Act III, Scene 1)

Grief (Echoes in the Memory) is a shortened version of Echoes in the Memory, written in 2018. As part of Climates of the Mind it may simply be called Grief (or alternatively Grief Echoes in the Memory, without the parentheses). The full original version of Echoes in the Memory (lasting 7 min 38 secs) could instead be included as part of Climates of the Mind, with ‘Grief’ added or substituted in the title.

* This quote is often given as “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.” I have been unable to ascertain which version is correct.

(For a video of Grief (Echoes in the Memory), see the links at the end of this blog.)

Melancholy Waltz

Melancholy Waltz started life as a simple little old-fashioned piano piece with the same title.

The word “melancholy” is now generally taken to mean “gloomy”, “mournful”, or even “depressed”, but in earlier times melancholy was considered a quiet state of mind that assisted contemplation and opened one up to inspiration – tinged, perhaps, with sadness, but full of its own rewards. In Milton’s poem “Il Penseroso” (later set to music by Handel), he actually refers to melancholy as a goddess (“hail thou goddess, sage and holy, / Hail divinest Melancholy”), ending enthusiastically with “These pleasures, Melancholy, give, / And I with thee will choose to live.”

I have reservations about what Milton calls the “pleasures” of melancholy, but on the whole I prefer this older understanding of the word, and hope you might give it consideration as you listen to Melancholy Waltz (and maybe even consider it the next time you are feeling a little melancholic).

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is said to be “a longing for experiences, things, or acquaintanceships belonging to the past” (Random House Dictionary); it can also be for places belonging to the past, as in the French expression for homesickness, avoir la nostalgie de son pays – literally “nostalgia for one’s country”.

But nostalgia can also be a longing for experiences or things belonging to the imagined past, things that in reality have never existed. And nostalgia can be gentle, almost comforting, or it can be a deeper “perturbation of the soul”, a yearning for something that was never really in your possession, homesickness for a place you have never lived in. The literal meaning of nostalgia in Greek, “the pain from an old wound”, suggests this more intense form of nostalgia.

But what is it we are really longing for when we feel intensely nostalgic? Some beautiful memory, or imagined memory, yes, but more than just beauty. And there is more to beauty itself than just attractive surfaces, glamorous images.

I believe beauty is real, even though we may not be able to define it or agree what it is, and that beneath beauty there is something deeper, something we long for with an intense yearning akin to the Greek meaning of nostalgia.

(Listen to Nostalgia: For a video of Nostalgia, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Gratitude

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G. K. Chesterton

“The root of joy is gratefulness.” – David Steindl-Rast

Modern research tells us that gratitude increases happiness, optimism, energy and resilience, and improves mental and physical health, sleep, relationships and (apparently) even personality. There are thus many good rational reasons for cultivating gratitude. But when we feel truly grateful we are not thinking about the benefits for ourselves! Our focus is on the person or thing we are grateful to: other people, the world, God or Nature. Gratitude is a feeling directed outside of our limited selves – that is why it has been advocated by all the major religions, by the Roman philosopher Cicero (“gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others”), and by many other thinkers in a variety of cultures and eras. As Montesquieu put it, “there is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude.”

This music is a small gesture of thanks for what I have learnt about the human spirit from survivors of trauma or great loss, for the understanding I have gained from those who (intentionally or otherwise) have shown me my own limitations, and, last but not least, for the beauty of the natural world.

(For a video of Gratitude, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Happiness

Happiness speaks for itself and I don’t think there is anything I need to add here.

(For a video of Happiness, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Regret

Like nostalgia, regret may be mild, almost comforting, or intense, painful, a feeling akin to anguish. Both kinds of regret are visited in the course of this piece.

Dreaming

In a dream, memories, myths and wild imagination weave together like threads in a tapestry. This music, like a dream, weaves different strands together on different levels – and, like a dream, declines to say exactly what it means.

Dreaming is based on my 2013 work, Lucid Dreaming, but with the addition of an entirely new part for solo bassoon and many other changes it’s effectively a new composition.

There are shorter and longer versions of Dreaming, lasting 4’29 and 7’47 respectively; either can be included as part of Climates of the Mind.

(For a video of Dreaming, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Enthusiasm

The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek, meaning “inspired or possessed by a god,” and to be enthusiastic originally meant to be fervently or even fanatically religious. The word has since lost its religious connotations, and when Winston Churchill said, “success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm,” he was not implying some kind of divine intervention! (He may not have actually said that, but his life certainly illustrated it.)

To be enthusiastic is to be full of energy and eagerness, exuberance, enjoyment, excitement, and these are the qualities I had in mind in writing this piece. The music also reflects another quality, however – one much discussed now by psychologists and educators, and one that Churchill’s alleged quote and his life both also bring to mind – resilience.

(Listen to Enthusiasm : For a video of Enthusiasm, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Fear

What is the difference between fear and anxiety? Are they different feelings, or different degrees of the same feeling? It’s true that fear sometimes relates to a specific event or place or person, whereas anxiety can be unfocussed, not obviously related to any specific cause. But the opposite can also be true…

This music makes no attempt to answer this question, and as there is no separate track in Climates of the Mind for anxiety, this can be taken as representing both.

Courage

Courage comes from the heart – both in its true meaning and in its derivation: the English word “courage” comes from the Latin cor, “heart”, via the Old French corage, “heart, innermost feelings; temper”.

Courage is sometimes described as the “quality of being fearless or brave” (yourdictionary.com), but many people who have been recognised for their courageous actions say they were far from being fearless at the time. It might be better to say that courage is doing what is needed in spite of fear, acting from the heart, as in this definition: “courage [:] noun… the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty” (merriam-webster.com/dictionary).

As with many other states of mind and heart, there are different kinds and degrees of courage. It can be, as one person has called it, “a gentle kind of strength” – the strength required, for example, to silently endure pain – or courage can be much more obvious and overt, shown in actions that confront death or cope with disaster.

Like courage, this music comes from the heart – but many things come from the heart, and I don’t claim any special merit for it on that account. What I mean is that it is not written from some logical, rational part of my mind but comes from some intuitive and inarticulate part of me that sees words as superfluous. For that reason I will not attempt to explain it further – except to say that different kinds and degrees of courage may be found here too.

Courage is the longest piece in Climates of the Mind and one of only four to feature another solo instrument alongside the bassoon, in this case a cor anglais. (The others are Dreaming, with solo violin, Uncertainty, a duo for bassoon and harp, and Serenity, also with solo cor anglais).

(For a video of Courage, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Serenity

Serenity to me does not mean being in a situation where nothing much is happening, but in a state of internal peace no matter what is happening around me. In a state of serenity I am conscious of a wider reality, not just my immediate surroundings, and I accept reality rather than fighting or resisting it.

So my music for Serenity is not contentless like ambient music, but has inner serenity beneath the surface activity.

(For a video of Serenity, see the links at the end of this blog.)

Joie de Vivre

Joie de vivre: “exuberant enjoyment of life” (Oxford Dictionary)

An accurate definition no doubt, but Rabindranath Tagore said it more beautifully: “Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth’s green covering of grass: in the blue serenity of the sky: in the reckless exuberance of spring: in the severe abstinence of grey winter: in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame: in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright: in living, in the exercise of all our powers: in the acquisition of knowledge. . . Joy is there everywhere.”

There is one thing, however, that Tagore neglects to mention: humour.

Links

30” audio samples of all tracks in Climates of the Mind can be heard here.

Nostalgia, Enthusiasm and a substantial excerpt from Reflecting can be heard in full here.

A 1 minute video introducing Climates of the Mind is here.

Climates of the Mind can be streamed or downloaded on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, QQ Music and Wangyiyun. Some individual tracks are also available separately there and on Kuwo and Kugou.

A 4 minute video introducing Climates of the Mind and videos of the following individual tracks from Climates of the Mind can be found on my YouTube channel:

Nonchalance: https://youtu.be/Mtxc1G9O2KU

Reflecting: https://youtu.be/g2O9G9NESTg

Love: https://youtu.be/n1lkYgKrVcM

Euphoria: https://youtu.be/MceH7B800Og

Uncertainty: https://youtu.be/bmmKIN79jWI

Grief: https://youtu.be/OkyQcYWv_u4

Nostalgia: https://youtu.be/pEW3tokXHCY

Gratitude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFmfBdLH7s8&t=124s

Happiness: https://youtu.be/rn-kobCUPvQ

Dreaming: https://youtu.be/-bk5dxdEVJM

Enthusiasm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srOYQ8pTGp8 (the video title is “untouched”)