Music for Loss

Black Friday is just a few days away and already I'm determined to find an alternative to the "holiday music", which is played so often and for so long that it's more like Doomsday music...to my wallet anyway. If you're looking for a tongue-in-cheek alternative, you'll welcome Music for Loss by Hannah Lash. If her name sounds familiar, it's because I wrote about Hannah in an October post. 

Music for Loss is both a haven  from and an ode to the holiday craziness. The opening  reminds me of Saint-Saens's Aquarium from the "Carnival of Animals" suite. The notes flutter about like falling snowflakes. But instead of the glass harmonica Hannah uses the equally angelic celesta. Just like in Aquarium, though, the serenity afforded by celesta is lost in the unsettling harmonies among the strings and brass.  



I don't know for what loss this music was written. Maybe for my money, my patience, or my hope of ever spending Christmas without having to go shopping. But Music for Loss rightly characterizes the loving spirit of the season and the materialism that seeks to ruin it. Just the song to turn up on my phone when I look around slowly at the chaotic crowds in stores like I've entered the Twilight Zone.