Whether it was as the guitarist who created the gothic-western landscape of Shiva Burlesque 20 years ago, the even bigger guitar sound of Grant Lee Buffalo that rode herd in the ’90s (while he screwed up his courage to get his feet wet as a singer) or his current solo career (a wonderfully diverse summation of most everything that’s come before), Grant-Lee Phillips has become a consummate musician. Little Moon (Yep Roc) is the kind of record you keep playing until the songs refuse to go away, even long after you’ve switched off the electronics. Phillips is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week, Read our Q&A with him.
Phillips: “Scene With Cranes” by Jean Sibelius is a classical piece that I’ve fallen in love with. The Finnish composer, born in 1865, was associated with the Romantic period—not to be confused with the Romantics, as in the 1980 hit ” What I Like About You.” A slow-moving fog of dissonance and suspension is my best go at labeling this tone poem, but check it out with your own two ears.
One reply on “Grant-Lee Phillips’ Happiness: Jean Sibelius’ “Scene With Cranes””
Jan Sibelius is an intrepid voice from the rugged North and today at Down With Tyranny you can find out why we make the point that Sibelius’s music reflects the hardiness of the Finns, living close to nature, close to the land, a land of astonishing physical beauty, but a challenging, even punishing environment that keeps basic issues of survival at the forefront of its rugged inhabitants’ attention.