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.

Just popping back in to say I have been listening though not every day.
The Gershwin is ‘our tune’ and was our first dance when we got married so is very special to me anyway. Lovely to hear it.

That's lovely, Best.

Appalachian Spring 1.: Aaron Copeland.

This is nice, quiet and gently musing. It has a cinematic feel to it. The excerpt is too short to say much else about it!

Smetana was rousing and pleasant. I did prefer the more mellifluous flute parts at the start though.

Shamefully I didn’t know the Gershwin, but it was very pretty and easy on the ear. What a perfect first dance song @BestIsWest

Not a massive fan of the Copeland, and it’s pretty overexposed in our house. The 15yo’s borough youth orchestra played it last year, and as one of the principals she practised it to death. I was quite happy not to hear it again after the concert. However she joined a new orchestra in September and guess what they’re currently rehearsing ? However if I had to pick a movement it would be this one - the woodwinds do blend beautifully

Today’s piece is Missa Papa Marcelli 1. Kyrie by Palestrina

It’s fine, it’s lovely renaissance choral music, but there was nothing that stood out to me about it.

Favourites for October are Glass, Bridge, Rautavaara, Bach, Puccini, Morley, and Boulanger.

Thought the Copeland was pretty dull tbh!

I’ve discovered this year that I’m not at all a fan of this kind of Choral singing. It may be different if actually among it and I’m sure it’s very emotional you are singing it yourself but zzzzzzz. Sorry!

Today's was perfectly pleasant polyphonic choral music from Palestrina :)

My favourites for this month are; Bruch, Glass, Gluck, Bridge, Valente, Walton, Bach, Puccini, Zipoli, Morley, Canteloube, Boulanger, Smetana and Gershwin. Special mention to Rautavaara for being both weird and wonderful.

First dance and also our last I should say as it was the one and only time I ever got DH on the dance floor! He does not do dancing!

I liked the Copeland, made me think of a sunrise though that could well have been power of suggestion with the notes/name.

Palestrina - was quite enamoured of all the choral stuff at first but the more pieces we hear of this particular type the more I struggle to distinguish them.

Faves for October - Bruch, Gluck, Valente, Zipoli, Smetana, Gershwin.

I thought the Copeland and the Palestrina were beautifully atmospheric.

It's touching that your DH made an unequalled effort on the dancefloor for his wedding day, Best!

Symphony no. 9 in D Minor 4th Mvt. 'Choral': Beethoven.

I realised on listening to this today that i think I know this music without having ever listened to it at all properly. I should really go and listen to it in its entirety. * *

Parce mihi Domine: Cristóbal de Morales

This is a calm, sombre piece of music that is very appropriate on All Soul's Day.

I think I might appreciate it more if I listened to it in a church or cathedral in the context of a religious service. I don't think it's a piece I will go back to listen to again.

For Now I Am Winter: Ólafur Arnalds

This is the first favourite piece of the month for me. I think it's beautiful; it shimmers. It's sombre in mood, but there is something reassuring about it. Light in the darkness. We had a piece by Arnalds before on the playlist which I also really liked.

I realize I've only heard bastardized versions of the Beethoven - good to hear the real deal. Rousing.

The Morales and Morales sounded a bit like the New Age CDs you used to get in fair trade shops. That's not necessarily a criticism.

The second Morales should have beenArnalds.

I don’t feel like I gave the Beethoven the proper attention as I stuck it on at breakfast time and then got on with serving/ eating/ clearing up plus getting weetabix out of toddlers hair etc. I liked it well enough but should probably try again.

I actually really liked the Morales - I wasn’t expecting it to be so heavy on the saxophone! I tried two different versions and they both were - was the one on the Spotify playlist too?

Arnalds was nice, I’m going to listen again to form a better judgement and half falling asleep just now.

Hi Alias, no! Definitely no saxophone in the Morales in the Spotify version; voice only.

Piano Concerto in A Minor Op 116 2nd Mvt. Adagio: Edvard Grieg.

I'm delighted that this piece is on the playlist. It's a long-standing favourite of mine that I played in years ago and never forgot. I think it's really beautiful. The opening is amazing. I was glad to see Clemency mention it. And I liked the learning about the fact that this piano concerto was the first one ever recorded.
I think it's very special, though there are other piano concertos that I also love, Rachmaninov's and Schumann's.

The Grieg is rather lovely.

La Réjouissance, 'Allegro': Handel.

Normally I would enjoy listening to this, but today it feels rather jarring to my ears after the dulcet tones of the Grieg yesterday. This piece, following on from the Grieg and the Arnalds is like when you are having a conversation with your friend and your toddler bursts into the room, banging on her toy drum and blowing on her trumpet.

I liked the description of the public dress rehearsal in the notes.

The Grieg is so beautiful. I had to listen to the first movement too to see what she meant about the opening, which yes I did recognise. I also listened to the third. All wonderful, I will listen to the whole thing.

I’m currently hiding in bed whilst husband deals with our own noisy toddler @IsFuzzyBeagMise , so your description of the Handel really made me laugh! I loved it actually, I’m excited about the firework display we’re going to tonight and listening to the piece has given me a bit of a musical kick up the bum to get up and get on with the day.

Enjoy the fireworks display @AliasGrape😁💥

Great description, Fuzzy! I enjoyed the toddler with the drum and trumpet. As Alias says, it gets you out of bed.

Wasn’t keen on the Morales. I too had the horrors of the saxophone version first time, but even after checking out the others I wasn’t keen.

Arnalds I liked very much, although not strictly classical. Light and shimmering. Agree that it sounds like the soundtrack of a crystal shop, but I don’t mind that.

The Grieg was lovely. I only knew the first (Eric Morecambe ) movement, which I find a bit much. This was more delicate and all the better for it.

The Handel today is bright and fun. DC2’s oboe ensemble tackled this a couple of weeks ago. The tutor chose it because it was originally scored for 24 oboes, supported by brass, woodwind and percussion, with strings only added later for the first indoor performance. There are a bazillion versions on Spotify, but I would recommend the Academy of Ancient Music’s recording, which bigs up the percussion marvellously.

Density 21.5: Edgard Varese.

This is not a piece to listen to if you have a sore head! I found the notes interesting, but I'm not too keen on the piece. My ears are too 'stubbornly conditioned' to like a nice melody :)

I thought its understatedness was a good contrast to some of the big pieces we've had recently.