Colleen (Cécile Schott) - The Golden Morning Breaks - The Leaf label - 2005

My absence during the majority of the summer was not intentional; it was a very difficult time (not going to burden or bother everyone with details - we are all here, after all, for glorious music!) and although 'this' continues for me, I'm glad that the oppressive heat and turmoil of the season is over.

One issue that I will share - and this is quite embarrassing for me - is my dreadful financial state which forced me to cancel my internet provider for a couple months. Never imagined it would come to that! Alas, this is but a "first-world problem" as they say - but then again having an i.s.p. or a connection of *some kind* is pretty basic, like owning a phone. So the "bargain" tier service I'm using now is slowww - slow like a Purcell Fantazia in fact (zippyshare is currently taking 12 min to upload 100mb!). But, I am here all the same!

So much for not whining/kvechting : /  I did keep it short, which is atypical for me hehe.

This is an album that I turned to repeatedly during the summer to try to find peace and calm, surrounding myself with Schott's mysterious and quiet beauty. This is her 2nd album from 2005. 

Composer and musician Colleen (Cécile Schott) creates an aural realm that is oft melancholy yet also cheerful - one must really listen to what's happening to "feel" it. She creates ambient sounds that are dark, yet also full of light that shimmers and sparkles delicately. Schott achieves this by employing all types of bells, chimes and even a glass glockenspiel from the 1800's. On this album she also plays several acoustic guitars, small electric pianos and organs, a harp, primitive mallet instruments, and a handful of toy instruments (such as a hand-cranked music box). 

Tracks:

1. Summer Water

2. Floating In The Clearest Night

3. The Heart Harmonicon

4. Sweet Rolling

5. The Happy Sea

6. I'll Read You A Story

7. Bubbles Which On The Water Swim

8. Mining In The Rain

9. The Golden Morning Breaks

10. Everything Lay Still

I first discovered Colleen's music in the debut film "The Unloved" by Samantha Morton. I find the film to be as poetic and magical as it is sad and tragic (it's a child's eye view of the U.K.'s government-run care system for orphans and children in danger who are stuck in foster care. The music meshes with the atmosphere and images as if Schott's pieces were composed for the film (the film was made 4 years later, in 2009). This is a film that I am really fond of and definitely recommend. The soundtrack also includes works by Colleen taken from other albums - I just might upload some others even if just a couple of people are receptive to this music. Hopefully everyone can find something to enjoy here!

Enjoy

Colleen-TheGoldenMorningBreaks-Tzadik.zip

http://www104.zippyshare.com/v/CHTDzgRc/file.html

Timothy Nelson - Music for the Brothers Quay Documentary - "Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)" - Mütter Muszea, Atelier Koninck & Pro Bono Films 2012

Twin brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay have been ('two') of my favorite filmmakers/artists/directors for many years now. I am a huge fan of surrealist stop-motion animation and puppetry, especially from Eastern Europe-the Czechs in particular have always had a special preoccupation with surrealism, and many of the best surrealist and experimental filmmakers have come from the Bohemian land of King Rudolf II. The Brothers Quay have always collaborated with the most interesting one-of-a-kind composers, the best example being Leszek Jankowski whom the Quays had a long creative partnership with. Jankowski composed music for most of their short films and a couple full length features as well. The music for their fascinating documentary-short (31 min) was written by Timothy Nelson, a composer, sound designer, and multi-instrumentalist whose music powerfully adds to the film's visual strength. I knew nothing about him prior to the film. The music is oft abstract,  gloomy, other-worldy, beautiful, and in general hard to pigeonhole. It works wonderfully within the fascinating, macabre setting of the Mütter Museum.

Dvd cover of the Quay's film. 

Timothy Nelson's soundtrack is included on the dvd as mp3s so I finally plopped them on my HD.

"Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)" is specifically a documentary on the collections of books, instruments, and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mütter Museum. It’s a ghoulish, educational and intriguing collection.  This short film, commissioned by the College, is the first made by the internationally recognized and brilliant Quay Brothers here in the United States. The coupling of the Quay Brothers' vision with the collections of the Mütter Museum and the College's Historical Medical Library has produced a riveting experience of contemplative set pieces in which the Quays find poetry in the ill-fated, true-life stories of the "ossified man" Harry Eastlack, and famed Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker among many others. The resonant voice-over is performed superbly by Derek Jacobi. 

Composer Timothy Nelson

The "Viennese eye phantom"

Above is the skeleton of Harry Eastlack, a young man who died from the rare disease Fibrodysplasia Ossificants Progressiva, where cartilage in the bones ossifies, causing a "second skeleton" to grow.

Scene which explores a rare, very old anatomical "pop up" book

Skull from the Hyrtl collection

The actual plaster cast made shortly after the death of the Bunker Brothers

Part of the Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl skull collection

The Brothers Quay during filming at the Mütter

Rather creepy device known as the perforator. This was used to save the mother's life in 'emergencies' by taking another

This is actually a tumor

And no this post has nothing to do with it being Halloween here in the States tomorrow! To be serious, I am fascinated with all kinds of dark subjects, and medical anomalies are extraordinarily interesting. One cannot begin to fathom however these kind of existences. The museum has 1000s of examples of all kind, including the strangest objects ever swallowed, and a (human) colon in a display case that's about 3 feet long. The Quays tell the stories of those unspeakably afflicted with great dignity.

The composer's own site says that "Nelson's film music has been compared to that of Zdeněk Liška, Alan Splet, Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda and Toru Takemitsu. I urge all of you to be adventurous and check it out (and the documentary as well!). I think anyone missing more traditional, or lyrical music here will well enjoy the brief last track, "Orchids"..

Enjoy ye adventurers 

Timothy_Nelson-Through_The_Weeping_Glass-Tzadik.zip

http://www83.zippyshare.com/v/3E9BOSkh/file.html