They’re calling this Hygge music

They’re calling this Hygge music

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norman lebrecht

October 06, 2018

From the blurb:

Copenhagen based composers, Claire Courchene (from the UK) and Jesper Mechlenburg (from Denmark), have joined together to create a sonic environment with cello and piano at its core. ‘Søndag, Søndag, Søndag’ is a body of work created with every track providing a new mood representative of each day, as a soundtrack to your week.

Comments

  • John Borstlap says:

    It is not art music, it is entertainment/film/ambient music for people for whom classical music is ‘too difficult’, or an instrument of suppression by the ‘bourgeoisie’.

    • Alex Davies says:

      That’s not entirely fair. Sometimes people just want background noise. I could imagine putting this on as background noise, as it doesn’t require any concentration. I wouldn’t put on something like Chopin’s nocturnes as background noise because I’d find myself concentrating on it. I have friends who regularly put this kind of music on at home when they are entertaining as they like background music. Recently their playlist went a little odd and we found ourselves listening to Allegri’s Miserere while having a drink and a chat and what actually happened was we concentrated on the music, which wasn’t the intention. That’s what this kind of music is for.

      • Pianofortissimo says:

        A hipster’s approach to listening…

        (That was a little old-minded, maybe someone else will provide a more up-to-date concept.)

      • Bruce says:

        Maybe your friends could put on a recording of music by Borstlap 😉

        • John Borstlap says:

          That music is a sure party pooper: conversation falls silent, lights are dimmed, ladies search for tissues to still the tears welling-up, children begin to weep and want to be brought to bed, pets crawl under the sofa, but the next day all participants feel they have become better human beings.

    • V.Lind says:

      You should have stopped that little exercise in snobbery at “ambient music.” Alex Davies is a lot close to the truth.

      • Pianofortissimo says:

        Like listening to thomas Tallis’ Spem in alium while having sex…

      • John Borstlap says:

        But I did not say anything negative about the music, I only made an observation. I think it is perfectly OK to listen to this music as nice background while doing something else, and that classical music is too difficult for many people, and I find it entirely acceptable that such people may think it is an instrument of the bourgeoisie to suppress the otherwise-attuned classes. It is a great achievement of humanity that one is free to be what one is and that every taste is OK. The problem begins when false claims are made, for instance when unsophisticated music is presented as something serious and on the same level of art music.

  • Dragonetti says:

    Well, I suppose it’s sort of harmless. The players have got to make a living somehow in a difficult world. A worthy addition to the extensive works of Einaudi and Karl Jenkins and their ilk.

  • Ricardo says:

    Whatever label the cognoscenti may fancy putting on it, is lovely, has integrity does what it purports to do and does not overstay its welcome. Yo!

  • clarrieu says:

    Anyway, all we ask ourselves at this moment (17:11 Paris time) is why NL hasn’t posted yet about Montserrat C…

  • Enquiring mind says:

    What this music lacks is a voiceover of affirmations.

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