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.

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree: Elizabeth Poston.

I also really Iike this carol. It features in a collection of Christmas carols that I bought years ago. I love the purity of the choristers' voices at the start and how it gradually builds up from one voice to the full choir and back to the single vocal line at the end. Really beautiful. I love the simplicity of it. Vaughan Williams' influence and the folk element is interesting. I hadn't considered it before.

I’m also reading The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater daily at the moment - and I’ve been using the kindle app in my phone for both as I can’t find the charger for my bloody kindle.

Anyway I thought I’d opened to today’s notes from Clemency and it took a good few sentences of reading about chutney before I realised I’d mixed my daily reads up.

The apple thing obviously threw me, that and I’m very very tired today!

I did like the Poston carol but I’m not sure it’s one I would return to regularly.

Ha, I'm reading The Christmas Chronicles too, Alias. I thought it would put me in a lovely Christmassy mood, but mostly I feel disbelief at the sheer faff.

Sorry for derail - will listen later.

I disliked the Poston, although her life seems extraordinary. If something is based on folk, then keep it folky - I don't like it being prettified and rigified into a classical mould, and I found the high notes painful.

The Corelli is short and jolly, so I liked it.

I loved the Corelli. It's lovely and mellow in the slower ssections with an uplifting middle section. I liked Clemency's description of it. I could imagine a group of friends coming together to play it as it isn't challenging from a technical point of view. It wouldn't take too much effort and it's enjoyable.

That made me laugh about the Christmas Chronicles, Alias :) I'm just finishing books on the readalongs. I can't cope with anything new at the moment.

I know exactly what you mean biblio - I actually read it last year and just felt really irritated with him, but I started late and read in a huge chunk so thought I’d see if daily small doses would improve things. Not really but I’m committed again now haha. There’s the odd nice recipe I plan to try and never do, and some nice photos. But mostly I hate the idea that you’re doing Christmas wrong if you don’t have £80 candles, decorate fallen branches from your huge and well stocked garden with vintage glass decorations sourced from the Nuremberg markets themselves before stocking your ‘larder’ with artisanal figs from the picturesque greengrocers which just happens to be on the corner of your street. Some of us live in a mid terrace in Stockport and shop at Lidl Nigel, but we manage.

Awful derail sorry! I’ll listen to today’s piece shortly.

Loved the Corelli - a lovely, undemanding piece that felt really warm.

Definitely!

Nesciens Mater Virgo Virgum: Jean Mouton.

I love this. I could listen to it on a loop. I think I can hear the voices going around in a canon, now that I've read about it. I was thinking before I read the notes how the music seems quite dense, but that it's not cluttered. All the parts seem to fit into each other beautifully. It really is lovely, restful and soothing.

Wow, I loved the Mouton.. I put it on the background and then had to stop and lie down to listen to it, and remember the world still has so much beauty. I could feel a change in my heart rate.

Aw, fabulous 💓

Great name. Jean Mouton.

The Corelli I already have on my Christmas playlist. It's bright and festive despite the minor key, and just a great easy listen.

The Mouton was not for me although I admire the complexity and cleverness of the layering. But I am thrilled that it has moved IsFuzzyBeagMise and bibliomania - the best music really does have the power to change how we feel

Doesn't it just 😊

I thought the Mouton was gorgeous.

Lágrima: Francisco Tarrega.

A lovely, gentle piece of music. You can nearly feel the homesickness of the composer in the middle section when it's in the minor key. I like the contrast between the major and minor sections and the return of the major one in A-B-A form. The album from which this is taken looks good. Must listen to it later on.

Agreed, Fuzzy, the Tarrega is a very likeable piece.

The Tarrega was very nice what there was of it. It felt a bit incomplete to me somehow though.

Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben: Johann Cristoph Bach.

I like this cantata (I think this is a cantata?). I think it's rather comforting in spite of its bleak title (now that my life is ended).

I'm not quite feeling the wow factor that Clemency experienced, but I would listen to more music like this. I felt a bit sorry for this lesser known Bach and how some of Johann Cristoph's pieces were attributed to Johann Sebastian. The Bach clan were numerous and many had Johann in their names too. J.S. Bach had a son called Johann Cristoph Friedrich, confusingly!

Never knew there were multiple musical Bachs. Today's was pleasant without blowing me away.

I enjoyed today’s JC Bach but I’m not sure it’s life changing for me.

Symphony no. 10 in E Minor, Op 93, 2nd Movement, Allegro: Dimitri Shostakovich.

I wasn't looking forward to listening to this; I was sure I wasn't going to like it. Well, I was wrong; I think this excerpt is brilliant. I would listen to more! I think this piece has a mad, wild energy and is very angry in tone, which makes sense in the historical context. I thought this was excellent and I will go back to listen to the complete work sometime.

Very helpful to get the historical context. Not a cheery little Christmas number, understandably.

The Lamb: John Tavener.

This is a melancholic carol, which has an eerie, haunting quality to it owing to its sparse, dissonant harmonies. It doesn't raise any Christmas cheer, but I like it all the same for its simplicity and I find it very moving. I hadn't realised that it's composed of only seven notes. It also has an interesting time signature or several time signatures. It's more complex than meets the eye.

doesn't raise any Christmas cheer

I agree with that, Fuzzy!. I expected to like it more, but didn't warm to it - it didn't feel like a warm piece.