In just under a week, Naxos has become my go-to place for "work music," background music I put on while playing around with spreadsheets, putting together traffic reports, or writing.
For a little under $20 a year, you get access to their overwhelming library of classical, jazz, and even some spoken word. But, of course, if you're choosing Naxos you're a classical nut looking for some real obscurities. Ligeti, anyone?
I can't say that I've worked my way into their vast store of musical arcana just yet, but I've been delighted to stumble upon some real gems.
Today, another: Music to Die For, an album made up of a tightly curated collection of requiems and other sorrowful selections. It's perfect music for a somewhat gray Wednesday.
Many of these I've come across before. The Mozart and Faure requiems were a gift from my first college boyfriend (yes, we were *that* couple). And, of course, others have become pop culture staples (Carmina Burana, Moonlight Sonata, etc).
But there are some real gems here that were news to me, most notably Samuel Barber's beautiful, melancholy, love-and-longing drenched Adagio for Strings, Op. 11.
The song apparently formed the musical backbone for Oliver Stone's Platoon, which I'm ashamed to admit I still have not seen in its entirety. But here's a nice sum-up I found on Amazon, attributed to James Stockstill:
"Barber's violins play first at the aftermath of the torching of a Vietnamese village and then again as the undercurrent for Charlie Sheen's reflective monologue at the film's finale. Each time, they embody the pain and anguish of the previous moments, searching for cause but finding only loss and despair. The strings become the screams of the wounded, the souls of the lost, and the conscience of the living, and in so, the Adagio for Strings itself serves as a testament to an experience that must be faced to be understood."
NB: Before you plop down your $19.95 for the Naxos subscription, there is one drawback. You have to manually play each song. That is, the cheaper subscription doesn't allow you to play an entire album with one click or create a playlist.



