Listening Room

There are some wonderful musicians whose work has framed and inspired my lifelong love of music and I wanted to share them with you.

First, the musicians that made me want to BE a musician. From 1974 and the album Seventh Sojourn, live from London in 2000, Isn’t Life Strange, enjoy the Moody Blues…

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George Harrison. Inspiration personified. Seen here in Taxman, live from Japan in 1991, with soloist Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

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And of course this is where it all started – The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, 1964, in Twist & Shout, Please Please Me, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

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Then there’s the guy from whom I learned HOW to be a musician: know only right notes, make it sound fresh like the ink hasn’t dried on the page yet, and keep a sense of humor about you. A classic comedy/musical sketch from Morecambe and Wise, 1971, Previn Plays Grieg…

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Phil Keaggy pulls together all the influences of my generation — classical, blues, the Beatles and Moodies, Clapton et al — into a coherent whole, and then sends it heavenward. From 1980, a rare live clip of Time…

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Turning to classical music, here’s a must-listen. The grand finale of Mahler’s Symphony #2, “The Resurrection”, Claudio Abbado conducting at the Lucerne Festival. This clip is the last five minutes of an hour-long piece, all of which is worth hearing.

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And probably my favorite piece of all time, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony #2, conducted by Andre Previn with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Japan, 2007. Previn is considered one of the best conductors of this piece, and rightly so. Here are the last two movements. Movement 3 (Eric Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again”) is breathtaking and contains one of the most gorgeous clarinet solos ever. Because of length, the movements have been divided between three video clips: #1 – the beginning of the 3rd movement; #2 – the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th; #3 – the end of the 4th.

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From London, with St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, one of my favorite choral pieces: John Rutter’s The Lord Bless You and Keep You

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This is one of the pieces for Good Friday at St. Stephens – another Rutter gem. Unknown choir & soloist, but the best YouTube has to offer — and not bad! This is the Pie Jesu from John Rutter’s Requiem.

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And saving the best for last… here’s How Deep the Father’s Love For Us by Stuart Townend. I’m not sure who sings this version — if anyone knows of a video clip of Stu Townend performing it please let me know where I can find it — but for now this YouTube video is a beautiful rendition of the song. May it be a blessing.