Year of Wonder: Classical Music For Every Day (Part Two)

[IsFuzzyBeagMise]

Year of Wonder (Part One)

New thread to accompany the book Year of Wonder by Clemency Burton Hill.

All welcome to join in.

Chorus from St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: JS Bach.

I'm glad you made it back in one piece, TheTurn ;) I like your comments on the Bruckner and agree with them.

Today's piece brings back good memories of playing in 'The Passion'. I may have played in it twice. I liked it then and still do. Great notes from Clemency today. I had forgotten that Mendelssohn was the one who staged the revival performance for this work. Bach always feels like the cornerstone of classical music to me. Very fundamental.

I really strongly disliked today’s Bach

I felt tense and headachey listening to it - though to be fair it’s been that kind of day anyway so it may just have been the wrong piece for my current stress levels/ mood.

I'd forgotten how much I like Bach's choral work. I'm not a huge listener of choral music but when it's this intricately plotted I get properly sucked in.

We were in Oxford last year at Easter and I saw lots of colleges advertising performances of the St Matthew Passion. Unfortunately I had DC2 with me who doesn't tolerate choral stuff, but I made a mental note to go back another year without her cramping my style .

Crisantemi: Giaccomo Puccini.

I was wondering if this was the operatic Puccini or another* *Puccini before I read the notes. There is only one Puccini :)

This piece is wonderful from beginning to end. It's passionate and sultry. I love the middle section with the moody viola. I think the piece is very well written. He knew how to write for a string quartet!
It's very masterful.

The album on Spotify from which this is taken looks good. Short pieces for a string quartet.

Love Bade Me Welcome: Judith Weir.

I remember learning this sonnet at school :) I enjoyed listening to this. I think it's lively, bright and interesting.

The Puccini and Weir both had some lovely moments but I wouldn't say they entered my heart.

the Puccini is on my current playlist. I can't remember for the life of me where I heard it first, but the first few times it shuffled round I did a double-take on being reminded that it's his. It feels more restrained and pared back than the big arias of his that I know, although it definitely "sings". And I do really love it when the viola gets to shine. It's really elegant and I like it very much.

The Weir wasn't for me - I couldn't find anything to distinguish it from lots of other choral stuff that I find just...ok.

Big catch up at the weekend!

I listened to the Bruckner yesterday, not as Clemency recommended but I think I should have as parts of it really made me sit up and listen. There's a recurring theme in there I really liked. I will try to go back to it.

Albaniz and Weir were fine; but I really liked bits of the Puccini. Today's Wieniawski had the sense of someone really throwing the kitchen sink at a piece, but there were some beautiful moments. I can see why it impressed his in-laws!

Loved the Bach, which I sort-of know, but not very well. I think the one thing this challenge has really brought home to me is how much I love Bach and Baroque music more generally (I think I'd always rather resisted this as I am not a fan of Baroque art). It was interesting listening to the St Matthew's Passion having heard the Zelenka Miserere (still my favourite discovery of the whole thing) much earlier this year. There are definitely lots of parallels between the two.

Légende in G Minor Op. 17: Wieniawski.

I'm not usually a fan of showy pieces on the violin, but I liked this a lot. There's definitely a feeling of throwing the kitchen sink at it, as Welshwabbit says,* *but I thought it was good all the same. Strong, contrasting melodies, interesting piano accompaniment. Tick! Job well done.

Elevazione: Domenico Zipoli.

This is why I love Baroque music.

Oh, today's was just gorgeous. Loved it. It must have been in Morricone's mind when composing the soundtrack to The Mission, which was the last word in aural sophistication when I was in my teens.

Today's was lovely.

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: Rachmaninov.

I'm not keen on this one. I think it's rather grim and gloomy. It gives me the impression of the midweek choir rehearsal in winter when the church is cold, the singers aren't really feeling it. They are a bit flat and secretly hoping that the choirmaster will let them off early.

Watership Down, Keehar's Theme: Angela Morley.

This is a joy to listen to; it's so warm-hearted and whimsical. I enjoyed hearing the alto saxophone as the solo instrument. A lovely uplifting piece today.

Just caught up on the last two (very different!) pieces. I like your description of the Rachmaninov, Fuzzy, but in fact I rather like the mood you evoke - it's all rather Larkinesque.

The Watership Down piece was a lovely sunny piece by contrast, and the background notes were interesting and surprising.

Thank you Biblio! How kind 😄
I listened to the Rachmaninov a few times to see if my first impressions would change, but no. It was lugubrious rather than luminous, for me.

Wieniawski was lovely - rich and verging on the overblown but not quite. I think it just stayed on the right side of tricksy for the sake of tricky.

Zipoli was ok. I liked the oboe/cello solos but I found the string accompaniment bland.

Agree entirely with @IsFuzzyBeagMise on the Rachmaninov - I looked at the track timer about after listening to it for what felt like half an hour only to see that about 50 seconds had passed.

Morley was dated, cheesy and lightweight - I loved it! I have such a soft spot for Light Music. The flutes complimented the sax beautifully.

Homages 1. 'Contemplation': Cheryl Frances-Hoad.

This is the kind of music that I like to listen to when I'm reading sometimes, not exactly background music, but a gentle accompaniment to my book. It's not very memorable. I wouldn't be able to recall much of it as it seems impressionistic.

I'm curious about other music that Frances-Hoad has written. She sounds like an interesting character.

I agree it wasn't particularly memorable, Fuzzy. I'm not a big fan of tinkly piano.

Songs of the Auvergne 'Baïlèro': Joseph Canteloube.

I think this is a contender for favourite piece of the month. Just beautiful. It's music that you can sink into and wallow in. The opening bars with the oboe and flute are divine, very dreamy. The singing is so expressive and passionate. Love it.

Well, that calmed me down after a grumpy week. Transporting.

That's good.

Frances-Hoad I liked very much. Quiet and understated but not at all bland. Unlike you @bibliomania I think I prefer my piano tinkly . I can definitely hear Grieg, but with slightly jazzier inflections. I'll listen to the other movements. I'd never heard of her but a quick google revealed she was at college with my H -sadly he has no recollection of their paths crossing.

Canteloube - this one didn't really touch me in the way I thought it might. I was expecting something a bit like one of Strauss's orchestral Lieder, and it's not dissimilar, but it didn't pull my heartstrings like Strauss always does. I guess that's one of the fascinating things about music - it's very different to the sum of its parts.

Today we have 3 pieces for cello and piano 1.Modéré by Nadia Boulanger. This is gorgeous - rich and melancholy. The slightly eerie, delicate piano reminded me a little of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells at the start, but becomes lighter and warmer at resolution. One for the playlist.

I also liked today's - especially the closing bars.

I liked today's too. It's quite a short piece, but conveys a range of emotions. The tinkly piano accompaniment (!) serves as a contrast to the turbulent cello. (Sometimes I like a tinkly piano too).

Even at ten months into this challenge, I'm still surprised when people don't love the same pieces that I do. I know it's irrational, but I always think 'but it's so good!' I agree that while you might think it's good, music doesn't always evoke an emotional response, as TheTurn says.* *