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

I really enjoyed the Mahler too, it was lovely and romantic.

The Joplin was great, and DD and I had fun dancing in the kitchen to it this morning. I’d be hard pressed to distinguish one ragtime piece from another though I think.

Gladiolus Rag: Scott Joplin.

• *An enjoyable, light-hearted piece of music. Catchy and easy to listen to. I like the American selection of pieces on the playlist this month.

Aw, TheTurn. I will listen to the other movements of the symphony. I remember I did like it at the time.

I love the Mahler to bits - it's on my current playlist ATM. Tender and intimate without going all mushy. It was played on R3 this morning. I'd turned on the radio planning to catch up with all the resignation drama overnight, but was unable to turn it over until this had finished. A belter.

Fuzzy, I do agree. I can see it's all very lush and romantic, but it doesn't hit me in the heart for whatever reason.

Symphony no. 5 in C sharp minor 4th mvt. adagietto sehr langsam: Mahler.

I'm finding it difficult to warm to this.
I think it's lovely but long-winded. 'Sehr langsam'. Very slow. Just a shade quicker into 'adagio' and it might have kept my interest.

I think I played this symphony before, but don't remember this movement. Maybe I snoozed through it :)

I agree with TheTurn that the Stanford was pleasant but not memorable.

I quite enjoyed the Countdown theme.
Am getting a bit bored by religious choral music. I do like a choir but these are not engaging me.
Kurt Weill - I know the Ella Fitzgerald version of this. Love it.

I enjoyed both the Stanford and the Weill.
A much needed few moments of stillness and beauty in the middle of a hectic day.

The Stanford was pleasant but unmemorable.
This morning's Weill is gorgeous - lyrical, wistful, and with the lightest sprinkling of Broadway glamour.

Lady in the Dark, My Ship: Kurt Weill.

I also think this is beautiful. Wistful, dreamy and definitely soothing. Straight* *onto the favourites list.

Today's was just beautiful - needed it after a fraught getting ready for school morning.

Quite a contrast between yesterday and today's! I liked them both though - the energy of yesterday's and the beauty of today's.

Beati Quorum Via: Charles Villiers Stanford.

This is lovely and soothing after the excitement* *of the Countdown theme 😅

I recognise Stanford's name presumably from other choral pieces, but I'm surprised to hear he wrote so many other works that are largely ignored including nine operas and seven symphonies. That is considerable all the same. You would wonder why that is. A lack of originality, a case of bad timing, not being on trend...?

😂The Countdown Theme! Can definitely see that about today's piece.

the Countdown theme...this is brilliant 😄
Yes. It's the orchestral version of the Countdown theme, extended edition 😅

I like the title of this piece and its energy. And the applause at the end :)

I'm very impressed with your analysis of the Rachmaninov yesterday, TheTurn.
I didn't get it at all.

Today piece is John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
I'm sorry, but all I got from this was the Countdown theme. And I checked the dates and Countdown came first .

I hadn't heard of Smyth before, but I usually enjoy chamber music of this era, and this was no different. I love the even-handedness of the theme between the three instruments.

The Rachmaninov was lush and dreamy. And so very clever. Not being a great music theorist I had to sit at the piano before I really believed that this was an inversion of the 24th Caprice.

Alias 😁 Yes, I wonder if it has been used before in film or television as Biblio was* *saying.

Enjoyed the Smyth though wouldn’t say it was a favourite, I did like the notes too and her conducting with her toothbrush in the Holloway yard!

The Rachmaninov appears quite often on the Classic FM playlist. It’s very sweeping and romantic and makes me want to run after a steam train to declare my love to a departing soldier or something.

I am ridiculously behind. So far I have liked the Richter and Scaramouche, Janacek and Satie.

The Satie and Rachmaninov are both very familiar (tv ads? Soundtracks?) but I thought they were lovely and it's nice to have a name and some context.

I'd heard of Ethyl Smith in the context of her having a hopeless crush on Virginia Woolf, who was quite rude about her - ES was in her seventies at the time. This was a more dignified perspective on her work.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paginini, Op 43, Variation no. 18: Rachmaninov.

Big, bold, passionate and unashamedly romantic. Music that sounds right for a declaration of love in a black and white film.

Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in D Minor, 1st Movement: Ethel Smyth.

Very interesting notes today. I love the image of Ethel Smyth conducting the Suffragettes' Choir in the yard at Holloway Prison, keeping time with her toothbrush.

I enjoyed listening to this first movement. I particularly like the haunting theme introduced on the cello and when it comes round again later. There are many fine moments in this piece. It's excellent.

Today’s Satie is beautiful, I love it. It felt very familiar, so not surprised to hear it’s well known - it would have to be for it to be known by me!

A favourite for July already and only the 1st!