23 Comments
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michael robbins's avatar

Needs more death metal.

James Murnau's avatar

I'm sure he just forgot. Music for a While X will definitely include David's thoughts on his favorite Blood Incantation, Ulthar, and Teitanblood albums.

Momchil's avatar

It would be an interesting experiment in the field of philosophy of mind. Should DBH, after days of listening to death metal and considering the accompanying neurological … consequences, manage to produce an essay of a quality equal to that of the previous instalments in this series, he would have provided an undefeatable argument for the primacy of mind over matter.

James Murnau's avatar

Unrelated, but my five-year-old son wanted me to tell you that he liked The Mystery of Castle MacGorilla and that Teddy was his favorite character. We just finished it tonight.

David Bentley Hart's avatar

That’s the highest praise I crave.

Barry Stephenson's avatar

Hello. If looking for Chen Yi piece on Apple Music, the artist is The Women's Philharmonic. Cheers.

Arbor Purpura's avatar

How do you feel about Arvo Pärt?

David Bentley Hart's avatar

I find him a bit monotonously uniform, to be honest. Lovely chords, tedious exposition.

Arbor Purpura's avatar

Do you have a piece(s) you return to again and again? Mahler 8 is awesome. Two of mine, for instance, are the baritone solo and “denn alles Fleisch” from Brahms’ Requiem.

David Bentley Hart's avatar

Well, the Denn alles Fleisch section of DR might be one. Bach’s Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas and Partitas, Schubert’s Winterreise, Britten’s Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Gibbons’s keyboard works, Beethoven’s late Quartets, Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues and 8th quartet, Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, Revolver…

Arbor Purpura's avatar

Shostakovich is an underappreciated listen. I sang his "Spanish Songs" on my Master's Performance Recital. Got me into his music, which I still listen to quite a bit.

David Bentley Hart's avatar

I should hope so.

Jack Domanski's avatar

It is not wholly uncontroversial to call Frank Martin the greatest modern Swiss composer. There is also Arthur Honegger (who also didn't really live in Switzerland)

David Bentley Hart's avatar

I knew someone would say that. Well, I love Honegger.

Hill Harman's avatar

I’m curious if you’ve had a chance to listen to Rosalia’s most recent album LUX.

David Bentley Hart's avatar

I’m afraid I don’t know who that is.

Hill Harman's avatar

I know I’m just some guy on the internet but the album is one of the most theologically interesting and spiritually rich works of popular music to come along in a while, and who she is… that’s even harder to describe. In all humility, it’s worth looking in to.

David Bentley Hart's avatar

Okay. I will search it out.

M Jenko's avatar

🙏 didn’t know. Now I have something to look forward to.