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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 · 13/02/2022 11:14

Yes, it's a toe-tapper :)

Welshwabbit · 13/02/2022 15:06

Fell off the thread, and have done a mammoth catch up today. Too much in one go so I think I will have to go back and listen properly but I really liked Il cavalier di Spagna (Caccini, 2 February), the Miserere (Allegri, 7 February), the Landi (8 February), and the Liszt (yesterday).

Original poster
MamaNewtNewt · 13/02/2022 16:18

I enjoyed today's music. Very energetic and sparkly and made me want to dance (which I'm even worse at than singing Smile). Recently watched the film for the first time and loved it.

OP posts:
TheTurn0fTheScrew · 13/02/2022 17:28

yesterday's Liszt was charming but not especially memorable.

Loved the Bernstein today. West Side Story is fabulous, and this expansion on the score is so richly layered. I also listened to the reset of the suite (and will be seeing it performed next month).

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 13/02/2022 17:28

rest of the suite

PermanentTemporary · 13/02/2022 22:20

A big catchup from me too. I loved the Allegri Miserere, the Bray Agnus Dei and the Liszt. There wasn't anything I hated but I have to say the Berg is the kind of piece i usually find just sliding over the surface of my brain without any connection. I might listen to it a few times.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 14/02/2022 09:47

Bach: Concerto for Two Violins, Second Movement

I am familiar with this piece already and I think it's lovely. I enjoyed Clemency's notes. An interesting take on it :)

BestIsWest · 14/02/2022 15:17

Lovely but not one that bowled me over.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 14/02/2022 16:26

I am cross that she didn't choose the first movement, which I love to pieces. The second movement is very lovely (big JSB fan generally) but the first movement is a proper banger, with an opening melody that stays with me for days as an ear worm (in a good way).

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 14/02/2022 17:53

Yes, it's fabulous TheTurn0fTheScrew. I love it too.

AliasGrape · 14/02/2022 20:56

I fell a few days behind.

Liszt - this was lovely, it was indeed very consoling after a rough few days!

Bernstein - what an unexpected treat for this to come up. I’m a huge West Side Story Fan.
Utterly joyous.

Bach - This was lovely. I can’t see quite what Clemency sees in it, but I did enjoy her notes.

Cherryana · 14/02/2022 20:58

Hello everyone new and legendary,

I really loved todays one. I think it has a clarity, beauty and ease that only the truly brilliant could ever create.

Welshwabbit · 14/02/2022 21:27

I love this piece - all the movements! If I had to pick, Beethoven is my favourite composer, but Bach runs him a very close second. Everything is just so perfectly in the right place and that really appeals to me (also a huge ABBA fan and there's something Bach-like in the slight variations they put into their successive verse/chorus structures).

Original poster
MamaNewtNewt · 15/02/2022 08:14

I liked yesterday's but it didn't grab me.

OP posts:
IsFuzzyBeagMise · 15/02/2022 09:53

CPE Bach: Flute Concerto in A Minor (Allegretto)

I like this piece a lot. It's a lively little number. It's good to hear the flute too; it's always a beautiful instrument to listen to.

BestIsWest · 15/02/2022 18:14

I like todays too. A jolly piece.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 16/02/2022 10:19

Schumann: Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, third movement

I am familiar with this piece already and it's an absolute favourite of mine.
I think it's utterly beautiful, soulful, divine.
The opening notes are like a sigh, before the main theme is presented on the cello. The middle section reminds me of a prayer, everyone in unison and then there is new hope with the reprise of the theme in a change of key again on the cello, before an utterly peaceful conclusion.

AliasGrape · 16/02/2022 14:20

Catching up again, I really must go back to making time every day. Still only a day behind this time.

The CPE BachIt made me feel rather breathless and hurried, I was thinking more about the skill and energy that would be required to play the piece rather than the music itself I think. I didn't even know there was a Bach Jnr. Learning lots Grin

Schumann Beautiful.and sad. I like strings far more when there's a piano too. This made me think about battling through winter and longing for spring (probably because I was looking out at grey sky and my muddy bare garden as I listened). The very end surprised me a bit and yes did feel perhaps a little more optimistic

BestIsWest · 16/02/2022 15:58

Ah todays was lovely. I imagine I will have this playing in the background quite often.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 16/02/2022 16:37

yesterday's CPE was nothing special. I have a reasonably good junior flautist in the house and there are better baroque flute pieces heard coming from her room fairly often.

Today's R Schumann is a beaut. I love a piano quartet, and I love the Romantic feel here. It's nice to hear the cello doing lots of the heavy lifting with regards to the wonderful, lyrical melody.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 16/02/2022 17:00

@AliasGrape

Catching up again, I really must go back to making time every day. Still only a day behind this time.

The CPE BachIt made me feel rather breathless and hurried, I was thinking more about the skill and energy that would be required to play the piece rather than the music itself I think. I didn't even know there was a Bach Jnr. Learning lots Grin

Schumann Beautiful.and sad. I like strings far more when there's a piano too. This made me think about battling through winter and longing for spring (probably because I was looking out at grey sky and my muddy bare garden as I listened). The very end surprised me a bit and yes did feel perhaps a little more optimistic

@AliasGrape there are other Bach Jnrs who were composers too. WF Bach wrote a flute duet that's among my favourite pieces, played brilliantly
Grawlix · 16/02/2022 18:26

@AliasGrape, yes, Bach had an enormous number of children, and as TheTurn0fTheScrew says, several of them (all boys, though, afaik - not sure the girls got much of a look-in Sad) were composers as well. One of them, Johann Christian, moved to London and took Mozart (aged 8) under his wing when he and his father visited on their European travels.

JC's buried in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church.

bibliomania · 16/02/2022 18:46

Today and yesterday felt like a language I don't understand - mellifluous but I don't quite connect.

AliasGrape · 16/02/2022 19:17

@TheTurn0fTheScrew @Grawlix thank you! I feel very ignorant!

Grawlix · 16/02/2022 21:09

Alias I think it’s perfectly excusable not to know the names of all of Bach's 20 or so children!

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