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.

Today’s was suitably somber but did nothing at all for me I’m afraid.

I really liked today’s. Yes it was sombre but soulful. It’s nice for someone like me who has no classical musical knowledge to hear the different instruments and figure out which sounds I like. Cello and violin I like, clarinet not so much.

May I join please? I've spent the last few days catching up on this and I'm up to date now. I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the music that I wouldn't normally have listened to.

I'm finding it works best for me to listen to the piece before reading the notes - that way I'm not influenced by knowing any background and it's 'only' the music. I'm also using YouTube and sometimes listen to 2 or 3 different versions of the piece.

I liked Trauermusik - I found it reflective rather than sombre. I was surprised when I read the notes as it certainly hadn't struck me as funereal. It's an amazing feat that it was written and performed in less than one day!

Welcome to the thread greypot and LaDolceVita!

I really liked Trauermusik. Sombre and stately without being sentimental, the tone of the viola is beautiful, and I liked the pared back accompaniment.

I wasn't keen on today's, I just found it a bit nondescript.

Hello everyone new and legendary!!

I loved todays one. I thought it had reflection and hope within in it. I found it very soothing to listen to and agree it is astounding that it was written in one day.

Also thank you everyone, I like our new convention of the first person of the day who comments also writing the piece’s name x

Oh I'd not spotted that! Very good idea. Snd welcome to the new joiners. Some of us have a decent knowledge of classical music, others, like me, not so much. I'm still really enjoying this journey though.

Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenk District -Adagio arranged for strings

Sombre. Have not seen this opera. Feels like something I would really love with familiarity.
The book’s entry for this was pretty astonishing and made me laugh out loud a couple of times.

Shostakovich: Adagio for strings from 'Lady Macbeth'. I really like this piece. It's interesting. It has depth. I love the climax almost half way through and the whispering viola at the end.

The version that HeronLanyon posted is slower than the Spotify one and it's more accurate, closer to the original. The quartet is not playing 'adagio', they are playing faster than that. I really like it. Strong, dramatic, powerful music.

I enjoyed this too. Not sure which version's on the playlist, but I went for the Jerusalem quartet. I thought this arrangement sounded great in the faster passages - there's a real sense of ferocity.

I really liked this too. I listened to the spotify playlist version but will listen to the version HeronLanyon posted (when DH is not around and talking to me about his Wordle all the way through it).

I think this might be my favourite piece so far. I've listened to it three times so far (same version as Heron) and I'm finding more to it each time. Shostakovich isn't a composer I've really listened to but I think I will now. I definitely want to listen to the whole opera.

Really liked it. Reminded me of a film soundtrack, which makes sense as it's designed to tell a story.

I really enjoyed today’s piece - I’ve not actually read the notes yet, kindle died and I’ve only just got round to plugging it in, I shall read them when I get to bed. So I listened to the version Heron shared and found it beautiful.

biblio fully agree about soundtrack. It strongly reminded me of Korngold brilliant Hollywood composer previously operas etc. I saw Die Katherin at Covent Garden a few years ago and was really blown away (slightly obsessed!).
It also reminded me of some Rachmaninov Preludes which I’m listening to and trying to play at the mo. Such interesting overlaps.

Definitely! It had a feel of a soundtrack to it.

If you don't know Mussorgsky, 'Pictures at an Exhibition', I recommend it. The original version is for piano and there is also an orchestral version. It's very colourful.

I feel about this book a little as I do an advent calendar. Cheating to skip ahead but very tempting !

I’ve just listened again - Heron’s version this time and I like it even more. So beautiful.

Von Weber: Clarinet Concerto no. 1, 3rd Movement, Rondo

This is a happy, cheerful piece of music. I like it, although I wouldn't put it on my favourites list. Forget what I said upthread about the register of the clarinet. It has a great range and can reach upper notes very easily as demonstrated here.

@HeronLanyon

I feel about this book a little as I do an advent calendar. Cheating to skip ahead but very tempting !

I always look a little bit ahead :) I need to listen to pieces more than once so they sink in!

I loved yesterday's, I definitely have a preference for strings. I think I do need to seek out different versions in future.

Today's was a jaunty little number, I especially liked the start.

Catching up again - Trauermusic by Hindemith, Adagio by Shostakovich, today's Clarinet Allegretto by Weber.

It's not ideal listening in groups- previously I listened to the Hindemith and didn't like it after the Reich and the Schubert. But this time I thought it was beautiful and expressed group mourning and reflection. Though I'm not sure I will always return to it. Great story. Is sight-reading really such a British thing? Google would suggest absolutely not tbh.

The Shostakovich was gorgeous - I started by loving the opening, lost interest and then the final half was amazing. I want to read The Noise Of Time by Julian Barnes about him. Possibly the rest of the opera is less accessible.

Today's Weber i wasn't in the mood for after the Shostakovich. I don't really like woodwind except for saxophone, though I acknowledge that there are lots of great tunes written for woodwind. I think it's too easy for the composer and player to put in loads of decoration and I lose the thread.

I rather liked today's. Very sprightly with a comic edge, like newborn lambs staggering and then bouncing around a field.

That's lovely bibliomania. I think I'm really going to try to stick to one a day this week. It's not ideal to listen in a way it's not designed for.