2020-07-22
Sometimes you need to sit back and think, meditate, or pray.
Sometimes you just need to unwind from COVID stress.
For this you need music that’s beautiful and calm (although I find sometimes a bit darker helps me too).
Here are some of my favourite pieces for this purpose.
There are no lyrics in these pieces (although there are voices!). Don’t get me wrong: I love songs with lyrics, but I find my attention being pulled away from my own thoughts to concentrating on the lyrics.
Playlist
To save you effort, there’s a full playlist of these songs on my YouTube channel, so you can listen to them uninterrupted:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3n2QAY12_xRoMOP3CYhOEDlpXwJrouyR
Here are the individual pieces...
Please remember: these tracks are chosen for the calm music, not the video.
Grusin: On Golden Pond (CPO/Kunzel)
Beethoven: Romance Cantabile (PO/Chung)
Snow: Midnight Arctic Walk from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (OST)
Glass: Facades (LCO/Warren-Green)
Morricone: Act Of Faith from Bugsy (OST)
Doldinger: Erinnerung from Das Boot (OST)
Snow: Substitute Wife (OST)
Snow: Love Theme from Conundrum (OST)
Newman: Whisper Of A Thrill from Meet Joe Black (OST)
Horner: Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics from A Beautiful Mind (OST)
Shostakovich: Andante from Piano Concerto Nr 2 (NYPO/Bernstein)
Stravinsky: Lullaby from Firebird (BP/Rattle)
Tangerine Dream: Movements Of A Visionary
Holst: Neptune from The Planets (RPO/Handley)
I hope you enjoy my list, and find it useful.
I have two other lists that I regularly use myself.
If the feedback is good, I’ll post those too!
Yours,
Stephen Walter
Blue Mountains Piano School
