Music for Healing: Beethoven Concertos

I've started a YouTube channel that includes various playlists of classical music. Everything is intended to facilitate healing, so most of it is calming and relaxing. You can find the channel here.

Today, I'm posting the music of Beethoven, a composer whose music is generally considered quite rousing. But sometimes rousing is needed for healing. Stretching, for example, is rousing. So is exercise. Maybe a better word is invigorating.

The following playlist includes most of Beethoven's greatest concertos: the piano concertos nos. 4 and 5, the violin concerto, and the triple concerto. The symphonies might seem like a natural place to start (and I plan to post them at some point), but I find the concertos a little more inviting. Symphonies are big, cosmic, universal -- you can almost get left behind in the torrent of sound. But a concerto is different. A concerto is essentially a dialogue between soloist and orchestra, and that dialogue gives us something to focus on as listeners. Enjoy.

Music for Healing: Mozart

Gramophone says that "Mozart's music has humanity, beauty, delicacy and an unmistakable reaching towards the sublime." Some studies have shown that Mozart's music has a positive effect on treating pain, depression, and other ailments:

The most beneficial music for the health of a patient is classical music, which holds an important role in music therapy. It has been shown that music composed by Bach, Mozart, and Italian composers is the most powerful in 'treating' patients. [...] Patients who would receive the most benefit from classical music include those with anxiety, depressive syndromes, cardiovascular disturbances, and those suffering from pain, stress, or sleep disturbances.

For me, Mozart is more relaxing than other composers. He brings a sense of calm and normalcy even when his music is quite frenetic. Here is a small selection of works:

Music for Healing: Bach

Music can facilitate healing, so I will be occasionally posting music (via YouTube) that I think is especially calming, relaxing, soothing, or otherwise conducive to healing.

First up is Bach (1685-1750), the Baroque master. Generally, I find Bach's music, like Mozart's, to be both relaxing and mentally stimulating. The interplay of the different voices and instruments brings something new to every listening experience. There's always a "new" way to experience a Bach piece, depending on how we perceive the counterpoint at any given moment.

Both selections are performed by Andras Schiff, who has the mellowest tone of any Bach performer I know. The first selection, the Sinfonias (or 3-part inventions, as they're commonly known), is a series of 15 contrapuntal exercises. The second selection, the Goldberg Variations, was written for a Count who suffered from insomnia. In other words, it's especially conducive to restful sleep.