Movement 1. Voices (00:00) Movement 2. Majestic (01:47) Movement 3. Ascent (13:53) Movement 4. Wandern (25:02) Movement 5. Peak (34:28) Movement 6. Transcendence (39:21) Movement 7. Embrace (42:38) Movement 8. Descent (47:16) Movement 9. Remembrance (54:52) Movement 10. Overflight (56:18) Movement 11. Echoes (59:53) D O W N L O A D S (right click, save link as): Music for the Swiss Alps MP3 (60:33) (320k) (138 mb) Cover Art & Score (539 kb zip) T R A C K L I S T I N G 1. David Sylvian - Laughter and Forgetting (excerpt) 2. Michael Stearns - Mantra/Organics 3. Leandros Ntounis – Arkadian Mountains Lagadia (field recording) 4. Hammock - This Kind Of Life Keeps Breaking Your Heart 5. Mark Rownd - Before There Was Rain 6. Deepspace - Arctic Sun and Weather Experiment 7. Jeff Pearce - The Emergence 8. Lawrence Dolton – Blue Lakes Creek (field recording) 9. Roach, Stearns, Braheny - The Canyon's Embrace 10. PEI – Bigfish Tree (Zurich) (field recording) 11. Manual with Jess Kahr - Dawn Changes Everything. 12. Eisuke Yanagisawa – Marble Mountain (field recording) 13. Hammock - Eighty-Four Thousand Hymns 14. Olivier Nijs - Birds in the Morning (field recording) 15. Philip Glass - Island 16. Parks - The Breath of Autumn 17. Mark Isham - Sympathy And Acknowledgement 18. Bass Communion - Transcendence 19. Sigur Rós - Festival 20. Philip Glass - Choosing Life 21. Patrick Franke – Cows, cowbells (field recording) 22. Lisa Gerrard – Elysium 23. Peter Gabriel - The Nest That Sailed the Sky 24. Max Richter - Horizon Variations 25. Jon Anderson - Song of Search The Swiss Alps Whose sweet image so dear silently beckons afar. Through the tempestuous night streaming fast over thy brow. As, in some changeable dream, yesterday blends with to-day. Uri, October 7th, 1797 - by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Hiking up a mountain for the first time does something to you. It changes you in ways that are hard to describe. Faced with so much overwhelming beauty on a scale that is hard to image, you can’t help but be affected. So when you descend, it’s almost like you are a different person—somehow more than when you began your climb.
Last year I had the opportunity to hike up a mountain in the Swiss Alps near Lauenen, Switzerland. It was truly an amazing experience made even more special by my companions who accompanied me, one of whom has been a guide to me both hiking up mountains and in life. I decided I wanted to try and capture this unique experience and put it to music. The first challenge, of course, was: how do mountains “sound?” I began collecting different pieces of music that seemed to reflect the feelings of my climb and represented the grandeur and majesty that are the Swiss Alps. Artists like Hammock, Deepspace, Jeff Pearce and Manual fit very well. Then I happened upon a documentary on Philip Glass on public TV. Several Glass pieces I thought perfectly captured the rhythm of Wandern—German for hiking—as did a piece by Parks. Other artists like Mark Isham, Bass Communion and Sigur Rós I thought captured well the feeling of finally reaching the top and seeing the amazing view—surrounded by peaks as far as you can see. Finally, I found other pieces representing the descent and end of the journey. Because the mix represents points along a journey I decided to label the different parts of that journey as “movements” which I have listed below along with the timecode where each movement begins. I also was able to incorporate a number of field recordings of wind, mountain streams and even cowbells in the mix. You’d be amazed at how many cows are climbing around the Alps!
So, with that I present to you Music for the Swiss Alps. This mix can’t possibly do justice to the beauty of the Swiss Alps. You will have to go and visit yourself to see what I mean. I would like to dedicate this mix to all of my friends in Switzerland but especially to my mountain guide and great friend who has taught me a lot about the Zen of Wandern and about myself. I will be returning to Switzerland soon to go Wandern again. I almost feel like I am returning home—to climb other mountains and find new paths to try and touch the sky.
- nrvnet, June, 2009
Stream:
YESTERDAY brown was still thy head, as the locks of my loved one,
Silver-grey is the early snow to-day on thy summit,
Youth, alas, throughout life as closely to age is united
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Music for the Swiss Alps
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12 comments:
good compilation
Parks (Mr. Bystrov),
I am very honored that one of the artists featured in Music for the Swiss Alps actually left a comment. I am very pleased that you like the mix. I hope I was able to do some justice to your work--which is excellent! Thanks again!
Rick (nrvnet)
Excelente compilacion,mas que quedar en los alpes, nos lleva al cielo directamente.
GRACIAS.
Gracias El Peaton de! :)
I'm downloading it now, and from the looks of the track list I know it will be very enjoyable.
Check out "Alpine Stream" from "Train Tracks and Travelogues Vol.1", also "The Black Forest" at http://tinyurl.com/mtkpfw
I was listening to MftSA this morning and thought I should let you know it has become one of my favourites. Keep up the great work!
Amazing compilation, still listen to it on the regular. In fact, I love the majority of your mixes. Thank you. =P
I'm really trying to figure out the name of a track on here. It comes in at 25:00, violin, horns, very haunting. Amazing piece. I'm guessing it's "Island" by Philip Glass, but I can't seem to find another source to confirm it.
Very nice... thank you
A wonderful mix... so wonderful that I've linked to it in my blog. The selection of the tracks is very appropriate.
And I hope it rains
You're the perfect lullaby
What kind of dream is this?
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