This is beautifully done! I heard part 3 of this song on a drive home from a gig last night on cbc radio Canada Afterdark with Odario Williams. I've never heard this song before! Had no idea it was an Irish folk tune. Went to research who sang it. At first, I thought it was Patrick Watson, another great artist. Same timbre of voice! Wow!!!!!
I saw this at LSO St Luke's in London. After the initial shock of 'what the heck is going on?' I got in to the groove and was totally converted. Blew me away. Superb.
This song makes you feel so many emotions in the spam of 15 minutes it’s incredible. It starts out slow, mysterious, somewhat frightening and confusing. A man starts to play a banjo and softly sings about the two sisters, struggling to collect his thoughts as he does so. This part focuses on the tragedy of the murder itself, reflected by the slower pace and gentle tone to represent the grief of the family of the girl. The second part is a complete departure from the melancholic yet gentle beginning and shifts into a dark, loud, and unsettling arrangement. A man starts to sing with a grating, strained voice, starkly contrasting the gentle tone of the previous singer, as the subject shifts from the tragedy of the murder to the horrifying actions of the miller. It builds in intensity, with sounds of the miller cutting through the sister’s bones and tuning the unfinished fiddle heard in the background, until eventually all hell breaks loose. It sounds somewhat similar to the brief segment at the very beginning, capturing the absolute terror of the younger sister as she was murdered, but lasts for significantly longer to emphasize the sheer horror of what the miller is doing. Eventually, whoever, he finally finishes the fiddle, and the horror ends. In part 3 there is a dramatic shift of style more similar to part 1, but significantly more bright and soft. There is still a lingering element of grief and terror with strange background sounds, but what is done has been done, and all that is left to do is recover. The end of the song has a feeling of overcoming trauma, rising above fear and terror and making something beautiful out of something horrible, just as the miller did with the sister’s corpse. Nico Muhly is a musical genius and I hope he makes more like this. Bravo.
This is beautifully done! I heard part 3 of this song on a drive home from a gig last night on cbc radio Canada Afterdark with Odario Williams. I've never heard this song before! Had no idea it was an Irish folk tune. Went to research who sang it. At first, I thought it was Patrick Watson, another great artist. Same timbre of voice! Wow!!!!!
I saw this at LSO St Luke's in London. After the initial shock of 'what the heck is going on?' I got in to the groove and was totally converted. Blew me away. Superb.
It's criminal this has so little views. Great song. Saw a similar performance of this in NYC 2009.
This song makes you feel so many emotions in the spam of 15 minutes it’s incredible. It starts out slow, mysterious, somewhat frightening and confusing. A man starts to play a banjo and softly sings about the two sisters, struggling to collect his thoughts as he does so. This part focuses on the tragedy of the murder itself, reflected by the slower pace and gentle tone to represent the grief of the family of the girl. The second part is a complete departure from the melancholic yet gentle beginning and shifts into a dark, loud, and unsettling arrangement. A man starts to sing with a grating, strained voice, starkly contrasting the gentle tone of the previous singer, as the subject shifts from the tragedy of the murder to the horrifying actions of the miller. It builds in intensity, with sounds of the miller cutting through the sister’s bones and tuning the unfinished fiddle heard in the background, until eventually all hell breaks loose. It sounds somewhat similar to the brief segment at the very beginning, capturing the absolute terror of the younger sister as she was murdered, but lasts for significantly longer to emphasize the sheer horror of what the miller is doing. Eventually, whoever, he finally finishes the fiddle, and the horror ends. In part 3 there is a dramatic shift of style more similar to part 1, but significantly more bright and soft. There is still a lingering element of grief and terror with strange background sounds, but what is done has been done, and all that is left to do is recover. The end of the song has a feeling of overcoming trauma, rising above fear and terror and making something beautiful out of something horrible, just as the miller did with the sister’s corpse.
Nico Muhly is a musical genius and I hope he makes more like this. Bravo.
Most commonly known as "The Two Sisters", but also has many other titles depending on provenance and oral tradition. A Murder Ballad.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twa_Sisters
Weird mix, great piece. Saw it in L.A. with Bedroom Community artists, Nico and pipe organ.. Phenomenal. Like Charles Ives. Should be a CD.
It's on Nico Muhly's "Mothertongue" (2008, Brassland)
This shit gave me nightmares
it’s my favorite thing right now