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

[MamaNewtNewt]

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.

I thought the Harris was beautiful. Lovely and verse. I'll go back and listen to it again later. It's a piece that shouldn't be rushed.

Lavender Field: Karen Tanaka

This piece is not on the Spotify playlist. It must have been overlooked.

This short piece for piano is calm and peaceful. It's restorative; the auditory equivalent of inhaling a freshly-cut bunch of lavender :)

Very late to the party, but I love this!

On listening again, this really is a beautiful piece. Love it.

The Tanaka is obviously a set piece for the Grade 6 piano exam if my YouTube search is anything to go by. Quite difficult to find a version that wasn’t a tutorial or demo.

When I did I had to listen to it twice, as I spent the first one sort of waiting for it to ‘kick in’ and become something else. Once I’d got my head around it, I thought it was lovely and it did make me think of bees buzzing round the lavender.

Im off to to listen to The Lark Ascending now, which is where I’m up to in my catch up. It’s one I’m very familiar with. My father in law is a big Vaughan Williams fan.

We are half way through the party Guffo 😁

I was preparing to dislike the Harris, as sacred choral stuff from this era is not my thing. But the textures here are so rich beautifully layered. Really good.

I really enjoyed the low-key, minimal sound on the Tanaka. Heartened to hear it's a grade 6 piece - one of my DC is learning piano and I think isn't far off being able to tackle it!

Eclogue for Piano and Strings - Finzi

This was gorgeous, what a beautiful way to start the morning. Calm and gentle but never boring.

The Tanaka was delightful. I quite liked the Harris, although I think I would need to listen to it a few more times to get a sense of this.

Clemency is certainly giving us variety!

Ecololgue is a gentle, meandering* *piece of music. I did find myself drifting off while listening to it. As Clemency says in the notes, you can let it wash over you and feel soothed by it.

Song of June: Jonathan Harvey.

An interesting piece of music that could grow on you in time, rather like the David Lang piece earlier this month. I found it useful* *to follow the verse while listening to it. This isn't a favourite of mine, but I appreciate it.

Speaking of favourites, it's the end of the month and it's time for a review!

This time round, the violin featured strongly in my favourites list. Tippett, Vaughan Williams and Richter were all stunning pieces. Of the vocal pieces, I loved the Harris and Orlando Gibbons. Schumann and Gounod were perfect little gems. An honourable mention goes to Raga Piloo as the most unusual piece of the month!

There are lots more I could mention, so as usual, as soon as someone talks about theirs, I will be bound to join in to say I loved it too :)

Enjoyed the Finzi very much. Interesting to hear the strong baroque nods with the ornamentation on the piano line paired with more modern chords and harmonies. I wasn't bothered about the Harris

My June highlights were Tippett, Strauss, Vaughn Williams, Kapustin, Richter, Tanaka and Finzi.

The Harvey didn’t particularly move me. It was nice, interesting to listen to and I’d be happy to hear it again, but can’t say it is a favourite.

I’m still catching up on June, but I think of those I’m up to date with, the Schuman and the Finzi stand out, I also loved Mi Teresita. And of course The Lark Ascending but that was already one I loved (one of the very few I actually was familiar with before starting the book).

Today's piece is Erik Satie: Gymnopédie no. 1
This is so well-known but in my opinion not dimmed by overexposure. It's so still and calm, but there's a crunchiness to the chords that stop it from being saccharine or boring.

If anyone does find it dull or overexposed, please have a listen to this amazing reworking by Stephan Koncz for the string quartet Made in Berlin, which I love even more than the original:

I have always liked this Satie for the reasons that TheTurn mentions.* *

That quartet's version is fabulous altogether. It's very clever, it's brilliant.
I love it. Thanks TheTurn.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 .

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.