Video of the Day: Pianist Yifei Xu performs Brian Field’s ‘Glaciers’
Holly Baker
Thursday, January 9, 2025
The piece is from Field’s release titled 'Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet'
Today’s Video of the Day is a performance of Brian Field’s ‘Glaciers’ by New York-based Chinese pianist Yifei Xu. The piece is from Field’s release titled Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet. The project is a sweeping piano work in three movements (‘Glaciers’, ‘Fire’, and ‘Wind’) centred around three major shifts in weather patterns seen in increasing numbers and severity, caused by climate change, with the individual movements reflecting those areas.
Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet is also a collective of musicians who are concerned with the persistent threats of climate change. The piano piece has been performed / recorded in part, or full, by all current members nearly 50 times since its world premiere in 2022 - most recently on a mountaintop! 100% of the proceeds from the royalties of Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet will be donated to the Union of Concerned Scientists to support their initiatives.
Field said: ‘With the increasing buildup of greenhouse gasses across the planet, we are threatened with a climate crisis whose long- term impact is greater than world wars, political unrest or the coronavirus pandemic. To bring further awareness to this danger that—in the end—will impact all citizens of this earth, I have composed Three Passions for our Tortured Planet for solo piano which focuses on three areas of climate change. It is my hope that this work will play a role in continuing to bring further awareness and dialog around climate change, and our need to act quickly.’