Soliloquy

What could have prompted Gustav Mahler to compose a work as unclassifiable as this one? Written between 1907 and 1908, a pivotal period in Mahler's life, The Song of the Earth occupies a special place within his oeuvre. It combines the “fin de siècle” spirit with the fascination for the exotic that was spreading amongst his peers at the time. Vienna was in turmoil when this music was composed, and the piece oscillates between the notions of farewell and new beginnings. With a lot of layers to peel back, The Song of the Earth definitely merits a closer look.

From Sappho of Mytilene to Kaija Saariaho and Clara Schumann, several women have managed to break through the macho codes of the milieu and become composers. While the classical music landscape has been largely dominated by men in recent centuries, the work of their female colleagues, whether pioneers or contemporaries, is just as fascinating. Here we put eleven undervalued figures of female composition in the spotlight.

For over thirty-five years, Marc Ribot’s name has been on the covers of albums by Tom Waits, Alain Bashung, Diana Krall, John Zorn, Robert Plant, Caetano Veloso and numerous other artists, and when he's not busy lending his unique guitar to others, the New Yorker takes pleasure, under his own name, in breaking down and re-building rock, jazz, funk, Cuban music and anything his fingers touch.