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Original poster

Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Everyday (Part 1)

990 replies

MamaNewtNewt · 04/01/2022 15:50

This thread is for the 50 bookers (or in fact anyone else who wants to join in!) who are reading Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Everyday by Clemency Burton-Hill.

The author has selected one piece of music for each day in the year, and includes a brief overview of the piece and the composer to provide some context. There's a playlist on Spotify and we can share links to each piece of music for those without access to Spotify.

I think most of us are planning on (roughly) sticking to the daily setup but feel free to read / listen ahead although the discussions are likely to stay around the music for the current date.

Thanks to @TheTurn0fTheScrew for bringing this book to our attention on the thread. Really looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.

OP posts:
IsFuzzyBeagMise · 08/03/2022 20:44

@AliasGrape

I am very behind and fell off the thread. I haven’t had chance to catch up yet, but I really want to. Hopefully tomorrow is the day - I might just join in from tomorrow and then catch up on the missed ones as and when.
Yes do! You shouldn't have to worry about listening every day!
AliasGrape · 08/03/2022 20:33

I am very behind and fell off the thread. I haven’t had chance to catch up yet, but I really want to. Hopefully tomorrow is the day - I might just join in from tomorrow and then catch up on the missed ones as and when.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 08/03/2022 20:04

It's a no from me. It's such a sweet title, that I thought I would be listening to something tender and soothing. It has an unsettling effect with the discordant harmonies. It's interesting, but not likeable and the composer sounds like a very nasty piece of work.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 08/03/2022 19:42

O dolce mio tesoro by Carlo Gesualdo

Not my cup of tea. I get that his choice of harmonies would be revolutionary for the time, but I didn't especially enjoy it.

bibliomania · 07/03/2022 22:11

Don't know about today's. It might be a grower, especially that bit where the wind instruments come in.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 07/03/2022 21:24

@Cherryana Grin you're welcome! I hadn't thought of it before, but I like it!

Cherryana · 07/03/2022 21:17

@BestIsWest and @IsFuzzyBeagMise thanks for playing my game!! I think a relative in a strings section and sharing a name - gives you dibs!!

Have to say todays was one of my least favourites. I found it a bit drab.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 07/03/2022 16:47

I enjoyed yesterday's Beethoven. I listened to it outside on a cold, crisp morning, and the "brio" definitely put a spring in my step.

I really, really liked the Ravel today. I liked how the piano was used to accompany the flute and oboe in the pair of soaring solos. It felt quite unconventional for a concerto, not at all what I expected.

Welshwabbit · 07/03/2022 13:16

@MamaNewtNewt there's a lovely Bryn Terfel one on Spotify too I think. Much better than the one on the playlist which sounded like a John Lewis-ified Christmas ad version. Except not that good.

Original poster
MamaNewtNewt · 07/03/2022 12:21

@BestIsWest it was! Just catching up on everyone's comments so will try the alternative version. I think the Spotify version was just awful.

OP posts:
BestIsWest · 07/03/2022 12:00

I think we all hated the version of Ar Hyd Y Nos on the Spotify playlist if that was the one you listened to @MamaNewtNewt.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 07/03/2022 10:13

I have listened to this piece (Ravel) twice now, but I'm still not connecting with it either. I'll try again later!

Original poster
MamaNewtNewt · 07/03/2022 09:54

Another big catch up for me due to crazy busyness at work.

String Quartet no 2 in D major 3 Nocturne Andante by Alexander Borodin I liked this and enjoyed reading about the composer who managed to combine music, science and feminism. What a guy.

Symphony no. 2 in E flat major op 63 2 Larghetto by Edward Elgar one I had heard before but probably never listened to properly. I loved it, I really do think he wrote his soul. And it was beautiful.

Petite messe solennelle 1 Kyrie by Gioachino Rossini I didn’t mind this, it might be one that grows on me.

Ar hyd y Nos All through the Night Traditional Welsh. Maybe it was just the version I listened to but I hated this. Saccharine and over produced.

Missa prolationum 1 Kyrie Eleison I by Johannes Ockeghem yet again this transported me to a medieval church. I loved it.

Carmen Suite no 1 3 Intermezzo by Georges Bizet I’m not a fan of opera in general so my heart sank a bit when I saw this, but I really enjoyed it. I found the accompanying story really added a poignancy.

Concerto for two trumpets in C major RV 537 1 Allegro by Antonio Vivaldi I didn’t mind the tune of this but I didn’t like the trumpets, they just sound so thin and patchy to me. I’m really not keen on brass instruments. I enjoyed the bits without trumpets though.

Symphony no. 1 in D major op 25 (Classical’) 1 Allegro by Sergei Prokofiev Oh I really liked this. A bit unusual but in a good way

Piano Trio no 5 in D major op 70 no 1 (Ghost) 1 Allegro vivace e con brio by Ludwig van Beethoven I quite liked the changes of tempo in this one. It kind of keeps you on your toes, almost like he’s making sure you are still paying attention.

Piano Concerto in G major 2 Adagio assai by Maurice Ravel. I didn’t mind it I guess but it didn't grab me. Not sure I get why CBH found it so life changing but to each their own.

OP posts:
BestIsWest · 07/03/2022 08:51

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major

I’m sorry but I thought this was a bit dull and I was bored by it.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 06/03/2022 19:51

Cherryana I don't have a connection to anyone famous, so I would definitely relish any link to Jacqueline Du Pré. She was a fabulous musician. My second name is Jacqueline. That's as close as I can get to her :)

I love a bit of chamber music so I'm happy with this. That's interesting in the notes about the piano, that previously, the violin and cello would have been inferior to the piano, whereas they are all equal partners here. I hadn't realised that. A very competent piece of music.

BestIsWest · 06/03/2022 13:17

I really like todays - dramatic and yet melancholy.

I think you beat me hollow at six degrees of Jaqueline Du Pre Cherryana

I do have a relative who plays in the strings section of one of the big London orchestras so he possibly knows someone who knew her or played with her but that the closest I can get.

Welshwabbit · 06/03/2022 12:14

@IsFuzzyBeagMise I agree about Vivaldi. Always makes me happy. I enjoyed the Prokofiev, but the one I've gone back to the most of the recent pieces is the Elgar. I'd not heard it before and some parts are achingly beautiful.

Cherryana · 06/03/2022 11:39

Piano Trio
Hello everyone. Still here!! I started a new job and with that and something else big I lost myself for a few weeks.

I really enjoyed todays.

It also made me think how I can get to Jaqueline Du Pre in less than six degrees of separation ( do you know that game?!) two different ways.

One through a childhood friend of mine who was related and one through my husband who is friends with the family. I love that game because I am a complete nobody but I seem to know people who know everybody!!

BestIsWest · 05/03/2022 18:03

I do get what Bibliomania says - it seemed very pompous in a way to me but I also get the joyfulness of it. Bit conflicted and think I might have to listen a few times.

bibliomania · 05/03/2022 09:42

This is the kind of classical music that alienates me and makes me think I don't like the genre. However I was intrigued by the explanatory notes saying that it was a playful pastiche of earlier styles - not something I would ever have been able to spot myself.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 05/03/2022 09:06

Prokofiev: Symphony no. 1 in D Major, 1st Movement

It's another blast from the past for me. I hadn't heard this for years and I really enjoyed listening to it.
I think this is a brilliant piece of music. It's fun, witty and absolutely joyful. I recommend the other movements of the symphony too if you liked this.

bibliomania · 04/03/2022 18:32

Very bright and sprightly.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 04/03/2022 11:35

Yes! This is nice, bright and breezy. It seems completely effortless, which is no mean feat. Even if the instrument is more evolved today, it must be challenge to produce a nice clean tone.

I love the music of Vivaldi. No matter what the piece, combination of instruments, I love it.

BestIsWest · 04/03/2022 11:29

Vivaldi - Concerto for two Trumpets I like a bit of trumpet and this was rather jolly.

bibliomania · 03/03/2022 21:00

Today's was rather sweet.

For yesterday, i agree that I love the historical connection with the older music. It's the same thrill as handling an archaeological find.

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