Monday, September 27, 2010

On Borrowed Time by Henrik Malmstrom

Photographer Henrik Malmstrom's sister, Maija, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 20 in 1999. In 2007, when she was re-hospitalised, Malmstrom began the photographic documentation of the last months of her life. In March of 2010, (two years after Maija's death) he published his photographs in a book entitled On Borrowed Time.

The title of the book is from a quote from Maija from 2003. “…We live on borrowed time. We borrow some time here on earth, we borrow some consciousness…”

In his photos, Malmstrom tries to capture the emotions of what is going on around him. They are all black and white. Many of the photos are slightly out of focus. There are photos of his sister and other family members but also photos from around the hospital. There are some nature photos but they all have a sad, bleak quality to them. The photo above is one of my favorites. The blurry IV pole and checked tile floor could come out of any hospital. The too skinny legs to guide the pole around add a human touch to these symbols of the sterile hospital.

Taking these photos was a way for Malmstrom to stay close to his sister while she was sick. The time he spent putting the book together was a way of working through his grief after her death. "The two years I worked on it after my sister's death have come to define all of my future work. This was my sorrow work, and I am now free to move on."



More photos can be seen in this article and on Henrik Malmstrom's website. Thanks to Paul for tipping me off about these great photos.

Monday, September 27, 2010 by Amber Wollesen, MD · 0

Monday, September 20, 2010

Bedrich Smetana "Piano trio in G minor"

I must admit that Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) is not one of those composers I go around mentioning or hear brought up in conversation much. In fact, the name didn't even sound familiar when I first started researching this piece. However, his 'Piano Trio in G minor" is familiar, and the story of it's inception is worthy of a post for this blog.


Smetana was a Czech composer who lived in the 1800s. A pianist foremost, he gave his first public performance at the age of 6. He began writing orchestral work in his early 30's and continued to compose until a year before his death at age of 60. Outside of his homeland he is best known for the opera The Bartered Bride and the Moldau from the song cycle Ma Vlast.

Smetana married his childhood friend Katerina Kolarova in 1849. They then had 4 daughters between 1851-1855. Tragedy struck in 1854 when his 2nd daughter died of TB, then in 1855 his favored eldest daughter Bedriska died of scarlet fever. It was in the midst of this grief that he wrote the Piano Trio in G minor in memory of Bedriska. The piece took 2 months to write and premiered Dec. 3, 1855 with Smetana himself as the pianist.

The piece is written in three movements with three voices of piano, cello, and violin. The first movement, "Moderato assai' communicates Smetana's emotional anguish, opening with a violin solo that I find truly haunting. This motif continues throughout the first movement echoed by both cello and piano. It is often not subtle, and if you listen it feels as if the grief is angry or about to burst. The cello attempts a 2nd motif, as a solo around minute 2 of the video below. Though still sorrowful, it seems more controlled, an outsider perhaps speaking reason to the unabashed 1st motif.

The second movement 'Allegro ma non agitato' strays from the usual style of having the second movement slow like an adagio. It is in fact more of a polka-like allegro, and is said to be written more as a dedication to his daughter, absent the emotional grief. You'll hear the first motif from the 1st movement played at the beginning in staccato fashion. It certainly looses some of the sadness when played in this fashion.

The final movement, 'Finale: presto' starts off with restless energy with themes borrowed from earlier works that Smetana wrote. As this movement is to give closure to his daughter's death, I find it interesting that 3/4 of the way in (around min. 6:35 below) one of the secondary themes evolves itself into a funeral march (7:10 especially) and then just as suddenly we're back to the impassioned quick paced melody from the beginning of the movement with the biggest surprise, ending gustily in the major key of G (less gloomy, perhaps grief resolved).

The listener may have the distinct impression that this piece is the story of his grief, rather than being in the midst of his grief. This may be because we know historically that he re-worked the Piano Trio 2 years later. I wonder how different that original piece was, played just months after his daughter's death than the version heard today.

Below are the three separate movements in order from YouTube. If you have little time, I'd encourage you to at least hear the first 30 sec's of each, to sense the difference.





Monday, September 20, 2010 by Amy Clarkson · 1

Monday, September 13, 2010

Dead by They Might Be Giants

I found this song when I was doing research on strange songs people wanted to have at their funerals. I don't know if it's funeral worthy but it is an interesting song. Dead by They Might Be Giants came out on their album Flood in 1990. Dead, like many of their songs is... quirky. (The song is below and you can see the lyrics at the end of the post.)



My initial thought was that it is sung from the point of view of a person who died young or wasn't ready to die-"Accidently taken off the shelf before the date stamped on myself". (Reincarnated as a bag of groceries?) He expresses a lot of regrets about the things he won't ever get to do and wonders how the event (his death) was taken.

After listening to the song a couple times, I changed my view. Maybe it's not someone physically dead but someone who just feels that way. Or maybe he is dead and just lived a life very similar to being dead. "Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do"


They Might Be Giants don't really give a lot of clues as to what they were thinking with their songs. They have on occasion said that some of their songs really don't have a deeper meaning (or even a meaning) to the lyrics but this song seems like it does. Whether they speak of a physical death or more of a spiritual one is open to interpretation.

Dead

I returned a bag of groceries
Accidently taken off the shelf
Before the expiration date
I came back as a bag of groceries
Accidently taken off the shelf
Before the date stamped on myself

Did a large procession wave their (Did a)
Torches as my head fell in the basket, (large pro-)
And was everybody dancing on the casket? (cession dance?)

Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want (now it's over)
Or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do

I will never say the word
"Procrastinate" again; I'll never
See myself in the mirror with my eyes closed
I didn't apologize for
When I was eight and I made my younger brother
Have to be my personal slave

Did a large procession wave their (Did a)
Torches as my head fell in the basket, (large pro-)
And was everybody dancing on the casket? (cession dance?)

Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want (now it's over)
Or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do

(So) So I won't
(Sit) sit at home
(And) anymore
(And) and you won't
(And) see my head in
(And) the window
(And) and I won't
(And) be around
(And) ever anymore
(And) and I'll be up there on the wall at the store

I returned a bag of groceries
Accidently taken off the shelf
Before the expiration date
I came back as a bag of groceries
Accidently taken off the shelf
Before the date stamped on myself

Did a large procession wave their (Did a)
Torches as my head fell in the basket, (large pro-)
And was everybody dancing on the casket? (cession dance?)

Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want (now it's over)
Or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do

Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want (now it's over)
Or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do

Monday, September 13, 2010 by Amber Wollesen, MD · 2

Monday, September 6, 2010

Justin Roberts "Sand Castle" (2006)

I know Christian has mentioned before having ah-ha moments when listening to songs and finally really "hearing" the lyrics. This happened to me this week as I had the children's music writer/singer Justin Roberts on. On one of the slower songs on his album "Meltdown" (2006) I suddenly heard words that I realized were talking about dying.


Justin Roberts is known as a Children's Indie Rock singer/songwriter. While trying to make it in the Indie Rock Adult world with a group called 'Pimentos for Gus' in the 1990's, he took a day job in a preschool. Taking his guitar to entertain the kids, he began writing songs for them and produced his first album "Great Big Sun" (1997). Still unsure of his path, he headed to the University of Chicago to pursue a Ph.D. in religious studies. The music writing continued and was getting more attention than his studies, soon turning Roberts into a full fledged rocker with 7 albums released to date.

Many interviewers denote that Justin's music is often adored by adults as well as kids. Themes range from milestones such as getting glasses and picture day at school, to family dynamics of moving and sibling relationships with the song my kids love, 'My brother did it'.

Robert's isn't afraid to tackle the tough subjects either, as in 'Sand Castle' the song I was listening to with my kids. He wrote this song for a friend who lost his Mom. The music is mellow and slow and has a sorrow about the melody. In fact, I think it was this sense of sadness that made me stop to hear what the words were saying. The imagery is subtle, telling about this child and father out at the beach remembering and saying goodbye to the child's mom. The last lines "She slipped through our hands/Just like a balloon returns to the sky/So Dad and I/Knew you’d be somewhere out in the sea/In a million sandcastles to be"

I think kids are a unique population when it comes to dealing with death and loss, so to have stumbled across another possible resource was a delight. I'd be interested if anyone knows of other children's music that deals with death?

I've posted the song below to listen to with the lyrics here. For email/rss subscribers you may need to head to the original post site to hear the song (Scroll to the bottom of the page)

Sand Castle (2006)
Dad and me went out to the sea
Just to build it, just to build it
We dug our hands down in the sand
Then we filled it, then we filled it

Till you were just a sandcastle
When we watched you in front of those waves
That was like a real hassle
But you were beautiful and brave
You stood like a sandcastle
And I’ll never forget that day
I’ll never forget that day

We sang ba ba ba…

Dad and I heard planes in the sky
Engines roaring, engines roaring
We built a bridge and castles so high
They were soaring, they were soaring

Till you were just a sandcastle
When we watched you in front of those waves
That was like a real hassle
But you were beautiful and brave
You stood like a sandcastle
And I’ll never forget that day
I’ll never forget that day

We sang ba ba ba…

We didn’t want you to go
We just thought you should know
She slipped through our hands
Just like a balloon returns to the sky
So Dad and I
Knew you’d be somewhere out in the sea
In a million sandcastles to be

We sang ba ba ba…

Justin Roberts -web- -Facebook- -Twitter @MusicianJustin- -YouTube-

Monday, September 6, 2010 by Amy Clarkson · 2

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