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1
Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 1
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cédric Pescia
04:33
2
Ma fin est mon commencement
Jackson Hill, New York Polyphony
06:18
3
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 "Unfinished": I. Allegro moderato
Franz Schubert, Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti
15:21
4
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": IV. Finale. Adagio lamentoso
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Teodor Currentzis, musicAeterna
10:21
5
Stabat Mater, P. 77: I. Stabat Mater dolorosa. Grave
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Gemma Bertagnolli, Concerto Italiano, Sara Mingardo
05:10
6
Symphony No. 9 in D Major: IV. Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend
Gustav Mahler, Philharmonia Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
29:08
7
String Quintet in C, D.956: 2. Adagio - From "Conspiracy"
Franz Schubert, Weller Quartet, Dietfried Gurtler
05:17
8
1’33 "Hommage à John Cage"
Silas Bassa
01:33
9
The Beginning of the End
Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet
04:28
10
The Finale
Danny Elfman
02:35
11
Morts - Vivants
Philippe Katerine
02:05
12
The Fruit of Silence
Pēteris Vasks, Vestards Šimkus, Latvijas Radio Koris, Sigvards Kļava
07:27
13
Endless, Nameless
Nirvana
06:43
14
Quatuor pour la fin du temps, I/22: VIII. Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus
Olivier Messiaen, David Krakauer, Jonathan Crow, Matt Haimovitz, Geoffrey Burleson
09:18
15
The End of All Things (feat. Renee Fleming)
Howard Shore, Renée Fleming
05:12
16
String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135: III. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo
Ludwig van Beethoven, Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer, Christophe Coin
07:01
17
Genesis
Grimes
04:15
18
Funeral Music: IV. Sehr langsam - Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit (Choral)
Paul Hindemith, Antoine Tamestit, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
02:18
19
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
04:00
20
Vier Impromptus, op.90 D.899: Vier Impromptus, op.90 D.899: III. Andante mosso, G flat major
Franz Schubert, Paul Lewis
05:50
21
Parsifal, WWV 111 / Act III: Prelude
Richard Wagner, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
05:22
22
Positif
Mr. Oizo
02:51
23
Symphonie fantastique, Episode de la vie d'un artiste, Op. 14: IV. Marche au supplice (Libre adaptation d'Arthur Lavandier)
Hector Berlioz, Le Balcon, Maxime Pascal, Académie de musique de rue Tonton a faim
04:45
24
Einstein on the Beach: Act II, Scene 2 - Night Train
Philip Glass, Michael Riesman
13:52
25
Apocalypse Please
Muse
04:12
26
Adams: Doctor Atomic, Act II, Scene 4: Countdown
John Adams, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers
06:05
27
Requiem
Nico Muhly
03:59
28
The Great Gig In The Sky - 2011 Remastered Version
Pink Floyd
04:44
29
Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 11 a 4
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cédric Pescia
06:34

Swan Songs

This playlist focuses on composers' final works: complete or not, abandoned or interrupted by the very death of their authors.

Wouldn’t the final ending simply be the end of music? This playlist draws on the final works of composers: completed or not, abandoned or interrupted by the very death of their authors. Schubert’s fatality in his “Unfinished Symphony”, or his quintet, slow and stripped-down; the flights of despair and the black holes in Mahler’s final pages, which also finishes off the very genre of the symphony, by exposing all of its structural contours; Tchaikovsky’s lyrical “Pathetic”; Mary’s tears at the foot of the cross, Pergolesi’s final work at 27 years old; much like Amy Winehouse and her deeply soulful Back to Black; and Nirvana’s final apocalypse. The end theme in compositions can take on an absoluteness in its outcome as presented in Beethoven’s last quartet and Bach's Art of Fugue.

I chose Machaut’s symbolic canon Ma fin est mon commencement (14th century) revisited by the 20th-century American composer Jackson Hill, because of its unbelievably poetic and accurate way of making one accept the unavoidable. In an alternative approach: mysticism is explored with Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time; Parsifal as a way of reaching the Grail; Ligeti’s Requiem. “Repetitive” music assumes the absence of an end in its very form, as a potentially neverending evolving loop: Einstein on the Beach, Doctor Atomic, Muhly's Requiem... “The End” – the last words symbolised in every movie – which serve as a landmark: Requiem for a Dream, Lord of the Rings, Corpse Bride, It’s Only the End of the World. I needed to insert a minute of silence in the middle of these deeply emotionally music pieces (a tribute to Cage), as well as the playfully unusual productions of Le Balcon, Mr. Oizo and Katerine. As a child of the ’70s, I made a pact with Pink Floyd, with the eternal “Great Gig in the Sky” to no longer be afraid of the end.

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