Brian Field composes for climate change
Regular readers of The Static Dive know Brian Field well. He is an accomplished composer and songwriter who has spent the better part of three decades creating original music with collaborators around the world. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Field works in multiple genres from traditional pop to jazz and classical. His work has been published the world over and performed on stages from Boston to Budapest.
In November of last year we featured Brian Field’s album Vocal Works, a compilation of his compositions for voice. Then in May of this year, Brian released the beautiful instrumental orchestral piece “Kaleidoscope.” The composers latest project is “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet,” a piece composed for piano to raise awareness about climate change, and it comes with a unique invitation for musicians around the world to get involved.
As suggested by the title, “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” consists of three movements. First is the incendiary Fire. Percussive keys meter out a staccato rhythm to represent the chaos and destructive power of forest fires that have ravaged California and surrounding states in recent years. The stark and beautiful Glaciers follows. Epic and majestic phrases give way to crashing chords, representing ice falling from the arctic behemoths. The piece closes on Winds, a sweeping cinematic movement that mimics both the calm beauty and the destructive mayhem wrought by the intensifying winds of climate change.
Brian Field is not releasing “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” as a traditional recording himself. Instead is inviting musicians around the world to perform and record their own versions of the piece. The project has already gained significant traction in classical music circles.