24 Hours of Music Pt 1
From ElvisCostello
Elvis Costello picks music for every hour of the day Vanity Fair, 2002-11-01
ROCKING AROUND THE CLOCK
by Elvis Costello
The perfect music for five A.M. jitters, nine A.M. bustle, two P.M. contemplation, eight P.M. assignations? The author presents a 24-hour soundtrack - Mary J. Blige, Haydn, Bjšrk, Van Morrison, Hank Williams Sr. - that can only improve your day.
What wakes you up at 5 A.M.? Toothache? Heartbreak? Or the nervous rush that comes from too much wine the previous evening? You can tell yourself it is still "night" in the hour after four. Once five strikes it is indisputably "morning".
What sound will soothe as the sharp light floods past the ill-fitting curtains of your hired room? You need fine gauze for the senses. Outside, the last taxis with exhausted revelers skulk home as newspaper trucks sling piles that lie in doorways.
Play Joao Gilberto's "Aguas de Mar�o" (Polygram), a song that has no need to raise its voice. It's either this or John McCormack's Songs Of My Heart: Popular Songs and Irish Ballads (Angel) at a low volume. The circuit of the vanity clock commences. It's just another parlour (or boudoir) game; in the words of Errol Flynn, this is only "for fun and sport".
6 A.M. A time of brief respite, before telephones and televisions assault us, and we may be still and patient enough for Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli sung by the Westminster Cathedral Choir (Hyperion). It was once thought that this work saved music in a time when dogmatic cardinals wanted to forbid the use of polyphony. Scholarship does a disservice to our imaginations by illustrating a more mundane reality. Listening to "Kyrie", you can believe that it would have been persuasive.
Voices are raised in praise. Perhaps it is enough to believe that they believe, but if that feels hypocritical, then you could always turn to Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna" performed by the Deller Consort (Vanguard). It speaks of another kind of love and sorrow.
7 A.M. There is a need for order and purpose to the day. Haydn symphonies are ideal at this hour. Concise and with an absence of bombast, they sharpen your wits with a wit of their own.Don't expect this from the slick machine of the modern orchestra. The period group is what you need, with the buzz and clang of the arcane bells, reeds, and bows. There are many recordings, but Volume 2 of the Haydn Symphonies Series, by the Academy Of Ancient Music (L'Oiseau-Lyre), directed by Christopher Hogwood, is a good place to begin.
As the murmur of news seeps unbiden through the walls and windows, you may prefer the prophecy of the opening measures of the Mozart String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465", often subtitled "Dissonant", performed by Le Quatuor Talich (Calliope), or turn to the piano for "On An Overgrown Path" played by Andr‡s Schiff on the album Leos Janácek: A Recollection (ECM), or Brahms's autumnal intermezzos "Opuses 117 and 118", performed by Radu Lupu (Decca).
8 A.M. The day is picking up pace. Mingus is playing loud in the kitchen, something is boiling. It's Blues & Roots (Rhino), or the excellent Thirteen Pictures: The Charles Mingus Anthology (Rhino). Hit the repeat function on "Jump Monk". Like the motor of a city, the rattle of an overhead railway, blood coursing back to the heart, air propelled through the pipes of an old hotel. There is a hoarse voice rising to a shout with the force of life.
What else would work at this hour? The rock-steady beat of Tighten Up: Trojan Reggae Classics 1968-1974 (Trojan) or "Expecting To Fly" from Neil Young's great, reissued compilation, Decade (Reprise).
9 A.M. The guitar and tender falsetto of Curtis Mayfield lead The Impressions in "I'm So Proud" and "Keep On Pushing". If you can't find Big 16 (HMV) or 28 Originals (ABC) on vinyl, then The Ultimate Collection (Hip-O) will spin you out of doors or across tiled floors.
Men of leisure and Victorian-minded are inclined to answer their mail at this hour. The distraction of Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (Atlantic) will save on postage. Mighty singers still walk among us. Solomon Burke's mid-2002 release, Don't Give Up On Me (Fat Possum), is all the proof you need. I must declare an interest in this one, having co-written one track, "The Judgement", with my wife, Cait. Songs from Dan Penn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Bob Dylan, and the album's producer, Joe Henry, recrown the King Of Rock And Soul. Now it is time to do some housework.
10 A.M. Turn up Madonna's "Rays Of Light", or even that "Into The Groove" 12-inch single (Warner Bros.)Éuntil the neighbours complain. Dance around the furniture with the Hoover like Fred Astaire and his hatstand. The Pet Shop Boys' Please (Capitol) will assist with the dusting. Elgar's "Enigma" Variations conducted by Sir Adrian Boult (EMI Classics) may bring a little nobility to the washing up. Gentlemen, beware, that novelty apron will rob you of your dignity.
11 A.M. Time for a cup of tea and a biscuit after all that hard work. Select a record from the dressing-up box - David Bowie's Hunky Dory (Virgin) or Elton John's excellent Tumbleweed Connection (Rocket), from his Annie Oakley period. This is also the occasion when you may seek out a lost gem like Judee Sill's "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" (Asylum) or "The Bells" from Gonna Take A Miracle (Columbia), performed by Laura Nyro and Labelle.
NOON. If you are just waking up now, then you have missed a wonderful morning. Try playing the title song from Oklahoma! (Angel Classics) at full blast until you repent. For those of you just returning from your morning appointments, there is time enough for an act or two of a Mozart opera. Try the first act of Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Karl Böhm (Deutsche Grammophon), all temptation and intrigue, or the finale conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv), for some sublime forgiveness. It depends on how that meeting went. Those leftovers in the refrigerator start to look like lunch.
