Baptism: A Journey Through Our Time

Folk · 1968 · 23 tracks

Baptism: A Journey Through Our Time

A stark departure from guitar-folk, blending spoken poetry and crystalline vocals with somber orchestral arrangements of Joyce, Whitman, and Lorca.

It's Joan Baez reading the world's greatest poetry over a haunting chamber orchestra, and it's surprisingly intense.

A somber and intellectually rigorous meditation on mortality and war through the lens of classical literature.

Baptism: A Journey Through Our Time · vs · Joan Baez

Cello+3.5σ

The instrumentation foregrounds cello far more than the catalogue usually does.

Tracklist · 23 Tracks

01

Old Welsh Song

1:16

02

I Saw the Vision of Armies

1:16

03

Minister of War

1:10

04

Song in the Blood

4:27

05

Casida of the Lament

1:03

06

Of the Dark Past (Ecce Peur)

1:59

07

London

1:20

08

In Guernica

1:01

09

Who Murdered the Minutes

3:21

10

Oh, Little Child

1:25

11

No Man Is an Island

0:57

12

From Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

2:14

13

All the Pretty Little Horses

1:14

14

Childhood III

1:09

15

The Magic Wood

2:27

16

Poems From the Japanese

2:21

17

Colours

1:14

18

All in Green Went My Love Riding

3:24

19

Gacela of the Dark Death

2:09

20

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young Man

0:50

21

Evil

1:31

22

Epitaph for a Poet

1:15

23

Old Welsh Song

1:19

Moments Worth Waiting For

The jarring transition from the gentle Old Welsh Song into the stark, rhythmic recitation of Whitman's war visions.

The way the woodwinds swell and recede like a tide during the reading of James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist.

The chilling, high-register sustain of the final note on Gacela of the Dark Death that hangs in the air.

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A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season

A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season

Loreena McKennitt

Shares soprano, chamber folk, somber, cello (vocal style)

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Shares modern classical, flute, soprano, chamber folk (subgenre)

Some Blue Morning

Some Blue Morning

Shares chamber folk, narrating, violin, cello (signature)

Silencia

Shares mournful, modern classical, somber, violin (mood)

The Life of the World to Come

The Life of the World to Come

The Mountain Goats

Shares library, chamber folk, narrating, somber (atmosphere)

Becoming a Jackal

Becoming a Jackal

Shares chamber folk, storytelling, cello, art pop (signature)

Melanfonie Momente

Melanfonie Momente

Shares modern classical, soprano, violin, cello (subgenre)

Litany of Echoes

Litany of Echoes

James Blackshaw

Shares modern classical, library, chamber folk, violin (subgenre)

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