If you are into classical music and if you are interested in bringing more attention to the current climate crisis we are all facing, then I invite you to listen to “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” by award-winning composer Brian Field. Check out the official video with a jaw-dropping performance by South Korean Pianist and Sony artist Kay Kyung Eun Kim here:
Before I even begin to review this incredible composition, I want to point out that this is not just another piece of music that is being released, only to then drown in the large sea that is today’s music industry. This time composer Brian Field has really taken it to another level by creating an entire movement to bring urgent attention to the increasing buildup of greenhouse gases across the planet. To find out more about the “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” movement, check out the official website here: https://passionsforourtorturedplanet.org/ While it is obviously unpleasant to read about the reality that we are currently facing (which will get a lot worse in the future), it is also very refreshing and inspiring to see not just scientists speak up about this, but also world-class musicians. The website already features a small number of artists who are part of this movement and I am really hoping that number will increase.
The composition starts with the first movement: Fire. In this first movement, a “spark” flickers and quickly spreads, growing more complicated. The fire begins to rage loudly, and across register, building to a climax which eventually becomes more controlled, as it burns itself out and dies. The first thing I noticed while listening to this is that a fire begins in my head while the melody is being played. I think I’ve said this in one of my previous reviews about Brian Field’s compositions (see links below), but it is almost like a hypnotic spell, where the listener gets to experience whatever Field is portraying. There are also parts of this first movement that sound quite hopeful to me (at about 2 minutes, for example). I think there has always been a kind of fascination when it comes to fire and the sheer destruction it can bring. Yet at the same time it can also keep us warm and help us survive. While this composition is clearly bringing attention to all the forest fires raging across California and the American West, I can’t help but admire the sound of fire. After all, I’ve never heard fire sounding this good before. I really hope that someone at Netflix will somehow listen to this and include in a documentary or a film about climate change. The first movement ends at 3:20 as the fire slowly burns itself out.
The second movement, “…glaciers...”, is a distant, stately movement that depicts the enormous ices on earth’s poles. These slow, ponderous moments are sporadically interrupted by rapidly falling, thundering episodes, depicting the shearing of the glacial ice with ever-warming temperatures. I have to say that this sounds more sinister to me than the first movement, perhaps it is the pauses between the notes, maybe it’s because I can feel the ice melting when I listen to this. It is certainly a shockingly accurate composition of the melting glaciers that somehow hits me on a deeper level than the first movement. The lack of notes, followed by the thundering episodes really hit the listener hard. It is a much needed wake-up call the world needs and I hope people will listen. The second movement ends at about 8 minutes.
The third movement is titled “…winds…”. This virtuosic finale begins with running winds that become increasingly intense and hurricane/typhoon-like in their destructiveness before dissipating into a barely-noticeable breeze. At this stage, I’m starting to feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. This last movement is definitely my favourite part. I love the soft beginning that almost sounds magical and the fast notes that begin at about 9 minutes. I would not normally recommend to listen to a piece of music outside, but this composition happens to be perfect for that. What really amazes me each time I hear a composition by Field is how my imagination is running wild. Hurricanes are destroying the surroundings in my imagination, while I sit outside on the garden swing. I should feel terrified and anxious, yet the melody is so fascinating that I’m mesmerised and just let everything around me get swept up by the winds (again, this is just in my mind, no actual hurricane/typhoon appeared). It might seem obvious that music gets ones imagination going, but sadly there is so much uninspiring music out there that I think many people who once loved music are simply overwhelmed by the amount of choice they have. At the same time, they are disappointed by how uninspiring most of it is. This is definitely not the case here.
After having listened to this composition for hours now, I feel the urge to be even ‘greener’ than I already am, there is an urgency to this composition that makes you want to save the world (quite literally). Yet at the same time it also casts doubts over the chances we have as a civilisation to make that happen. I’ve said this about previous compositions by Brian Field, but this one really does take you on a journey that you didn’t even know you desperately needed! This composition is also the perfect candidate to be a soundtrack for an upcoming Netflix movie and/or documentary about climate change (of which I’m sure there will be many).
Not only is the composition outstanding, but pianist Kay Kyung Eun Kim does a fantastic job bringing it to live. What I should mention at this stage is that this is an instrumental solo piano piece, meaning there are no vocals. Yet this composition says more than thousands of pop songs combined ever could. There is such depth here that even Mother Earth herself would love this music and I can see nature dancing to this (in my mind, at least). This is exactly what the world needs in dark times like these and I hope we all get to hear more compositions like this in the future! If Brian Field continues like this, he might even win a Nobel Prize! For all those reasons I can only recommend you listen to the brand-new composition by Brian Field right now! Make sure to follow him on social media as well, here are the official links:
Movement Website☞ https://passionsforourtorturedplanet.org/
Official Website☞ https://www.brianfield.com/
Facebook☞ https://www.facebook.com/brian.field.779
Wikipedia☞ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_T._Field
Previous Reviews:
https://hive.blog/music/@tanbay/kaleidoscope-by-brian-field-music-review
https://hive.blog/music/@tanbay/vocal-works-by-brian-field-album-review
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, however, all opinions are my own. Content of the artist in this post is used with permission, no copyright is violated.