thelightisahead
Spring (2nd movement, Largo) - Antonio Vivaldi
updated
This reel is called The Wheels of the World. I’ve no idea where the name comes from but it seems fitting as music is one of the wheels of my world, so here’s to hopefully at least a few more fifteen-year chunks!
I live just up the road from where the Ellenroad Mill stood in the borough of Rochdale. The mill has been demolished but they left the chimney and engine house, and on the first Sunday of each month you can see the steam engine in action; it is said to be the world’s largest working steam mill engine (ellenroad.org.uk/). The only other tune I can think of that notes this particular corner of the world is the Rochdale Coconut Dance, so the title for my tune seemed a fitting tribute to a bit of local history.
Hope you enjoy!
Sorry for the recording quality - phone microphone is the best that I have!
Ulf Bästlein - Baritone
Stefan Laux - Piano
The Wayfarer's Night Song I (0:00)
'You who are from heaven above,
Who eases all our pain and suffering;
One who is doubly miserable
You reward with doubled delight;
Oh, I am weary of this busy world,
To what end all the pain and joy?
Sweet, gentle rest,
Come, oh come into my breast!'
The Wayfarer's Night Song II (1:42)
'Peace rests upon the peaks
All around,
Hardly a breath
Can be sensed
In the treetops;
In the woods the birds have fallen silent,
Only wait, only wait, soon
You too will rest.'
One of the most beautiful piano miniatures I think I've ever heard, not just of Schubert but of anyone. So much humanity and feeling packed into one slow waltz, hardly recognisable as a dance in origin apart from its regular structure of two eight-bar sections repeated. Despite its brevity, this piece surely ranks alongside the impromptus and 'Moments Musicaux' and shows just how far Schubert outgrew his Classical-period roots and anticipated full-blown Romanticism in music.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1952)
A beautiful song by Vaughan Williams, written relatively early in his career, with some strangely Baroque-sounding musical language - enjoy!
Orpheus with his lute made trees
And the mountain tops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing:
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung; as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.
Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,
Hung their heads and then lay by.
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep, or hearing, die.
(William Shakespeare, 1564--1616)
A beautiful Scottish folksong arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Enjoy!
By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love will ne-er meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.
Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
For me and my true love will ne'er meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.
'Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen
On the steep, steep sides o' Ben Lomon'
Where deep in purple hue, the hielan hills we view
And the moon comin' out in the gloamin'.
Chorus
The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again
Tho' the waeful may cease frae their greetin'.
Chorus
This a little chamber piece I recently completed. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with its formal cohesion - partially hence it being a 'fantasy'-idyll - but hopefully it proves pleasant enough to listen to!
Only a digital interpretation I'm afraid, though with the not-so-terrible Sibelius Sound Essentials.
Thanks for listening!
This is a piece I wrote for my A level coursework; it is an arrangement of two English folksong melodies for string orchestra, obviously much indebted to Vaughan Williams. Remember that I didn't write these tunes, merely set them to strings, added necessary passages and devised harmony!
The basic structure is:
-Introduction
-'Turtle Dove' melody introduced
-Passage
-Melody presented again in contrasting way (in basses with a countermelody above)
-Transition
-'Brisk Young Widow' melody also presented in two contrasting ways
-Return of first melody for string quartet soloists taken from ensemble
-Reprise and finish for full strings
The sound quality is fair, but not top-notch by any means - some of the gradual changes in dynamics are a little abrupt and some high notes/thick textures can get a little scrapy, but this is just the effect of video conversion/uploading. For best results choose '480p' at the bottom of the video, and if there is no 'HQ' option then just add &fmt=18 to the URL and refresh the page!
Thanks go to Derek Spedding for providing me with this high-quality, realistic digital realisation of the piece.
Remember the credit goes to folk music, not me! I hope you enjoy, thanks for listening.
Unfortunately I don't yet have any real recordings as such - this is a synthesised version, but is not too terrible a sound; either way, moviemaker has mysteriously taken down the quality slightly...
Being my first posted composition, I hope you enjoy it - please keep criticism constructive!
Thanks :)
Edd
PS. The photos are of the wonderful garden of my (regrettably) former home.
Antonio Vivaldi
I haven't uploaded a video in a long time and thought a few days ago that this was a choice concerto by the composer I'm still addicted to, Vivaldi. In many ways I think of this as the 'concerto that never made it into L'Estro Armonico'. For one thing, it is one of Vivaldi's 'concerti grossi' as much as those within his Op. 3 can be considered so. It features his usual latherings of ideas, excitement and energy, coupled with moments of great beauty and tranquility (2:00 for example).
I don't think Vivaldi wrote his Op. 3 concerti specifically to be published, even if the idea of publishing for extra money was in his mind. As far as I know, he selected some of the best from the one's he had written for the orphanage. Though perhaps not as innovative as some, I think this brilliant concerto could just as easily have made it into the set - enjoy!
By the way, I don't usually listen to period performances but I happen to have this concerto more by chance than by seeking it out (it is from a CD of my dad's). Therefore, it hasn't the sound of most of my other Vivaldi videos (usually the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields) but as this is the first version I knew, I don't find anything lacking - it's all to do with what I hear first!
- Recorded this off the radio (tut tut). Was said to be Vivaldi's Motet in E 'Nulla in mundo pax sincera', RV 630
- Recently decided to buy it for the purposes of quality
- No versions on iTunes previews sounded like mine
- I compared it to full versions on youtube and what has recently been on Radio 3 again called 'Nulla in mundo pax sincera' - this version matches up with youtube
- But nothing matches up with what I recorded a good while ago - what is this wonderful music I have?
Hope you can help, thanks,
Edd
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The brilliant overture, uploaded by request!
Enjoy!
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The brilliant overture, uploaded by request!
Enjoy!
I worked out that the key is approximately E flat, but this recording may be slightly slowed down or sped up, which would change the pitch and thus the key we hear it in (a problem with the later tracks on the CD-LP anyway, which were all too fast and very high).
I don't think this could be another person's work, passing it off as Mozart - it's unlikely that something dubious would be picked for the LP, and at any rate, Mozart's style is so perfect and pure that few, if any, have been able to imitate him. After all, that's ones reason why I want to know what this is - to get the sheet music, because it's so great! This must be authentic Mozart - but what is it?? Hope you can help!
PS. Sorry about the sound quality. Although off an old LP, and so has some pops and general rustle etc., it's not too bad, but I moviemaker has taken the quality down a fair step (especially noticeable in some piano parts), which it seems to do to my vids from time to time - that's why I haven't yet been able to upload the second part of the 3rd movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Any suggestions on this issue would also be much appreciated! I have Adobe Premiere Elements, but prefer the general easy interface, titles and saving formats in moviemaker.
Ludwig van Beethoven
The third and last in tonight's impromptu series of great Beethoven slow movements - the deeply moving, reflective adagio from the immortal 9th symphony.
Part 2 will follow when I can sort out a problem with the process (unfortunately, moviemaker has decided to reduce the quality of the second part of the recording, but luckily hasn't with this part). Nevertheless, most of my favourite bits are included here.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Another great Beethoven slow movement, following the violin concerto larghetto, which I recommend if you like(d) this! For a man with a permanent frown, he certainly wrote some of the most emotional music around...
Ludwig van Beethoven
One of my favourite Beethoven slow movements, for reasons that should be obvious! Heart-rending themes, excellent treatment of solo/tutti juxtaposition, beautiful harmonies...
A favourite moment of mine is the return of the momentarily suspended accompaniment at 5:33. Also beautiful is the suspended phrase-end at the last repetition of the melodic figure (just before 2:03) - notice the unexpected pause before the actual tonic is played (2:06), 'finishing' the motif.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Simply the excellent finale of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto in his special key of C minor, varying from very stormy to serene - thanks Ludwig!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
If Mozart had lived past 35, who knows how above and beyond his music may have gone? After all, he was well into his compositional 'maturity' at the young age he died. That such a young composer could write music like this is astounding. This aria is a great example of Mozart's music at its most magic - heaven only knows what could have come next.
Antonio Vivaldi
From La Cetra ('The Lyre', a set of 12 concerti published by Vivaldi as his Opus 9.)
This is one of my all time favourite Vivaldi concerti. It is full of exciting rhythms, harmonies and innovations.
The first movement kicks of with a slow introduction - not a commonly employed device of Vivaldi's. The movement then kicks off into the presto and continues with great vigour and yet great lyricism. The movement then ends in a particularly interesting and exciting way - we expect the usual final ritornello from the ensemble, but the solo violin suddenly and forcibly jumps back into the action with a terse arpeggiated figure, and the movement has no choice but to lead straight into a beautiful, mitigating slow movement - another innovation. The final movement has a remarkably modern, film-like theme (personally, I think it'd be a great opening theme for the upcoming Vivaldi film). Soon comes perhaps my favourite part of the whole concerto (perhaps except for the aforementioned arpeggiated part); at about 7:01 (though I suppose technically at 6:53) we begin a very satisfying excursion which I cannot explain musicologically - I need to get my hands on the score for a starting point. The solo violin, interacting closely with the orchestra (in quite a rare way for Vivaldi, with the accompaniment developing and changing in between) begins a tonal(?)/harmonic(?)/melodic(?) sequential pattern which feels sort of familiar but not - it as if our Vivaldi familiarity leads us to expect something which does not actually come, but is subsituted by a sort of alternative, mirrored version of whatever we expected, in a more-than-satisfying way. This progression, whatever type it is, ends with the same figure repeated in crescendo, closing with an orchestral ritornello. As you can see, I can't very clearly explain what I mean or explain its presence, but I hope from listening you can tell - it's a sort of alien Vivaldi moment or great satisfaction and always makes me think of Bach, even though it's nothing like his music - perhaps it is the intelligence of this moment that reminds me of Bach, the great musical intellectual. The section ends at around 7:18.
Either way, whatever you get out of this concerto, I very much hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Arcangelo Corelli
Simply an apt piece of music, written by the wonderful Corelli, as a Christmas thank you to all my youtube associates!
Various theories have been proposed as to how much this rhythmic motif appears throughout the symphony - Beethoven was indeed one of the first, if not THE first, to link the movements of a work with such motifs. Some have challenged this view concerning the 5th symphony, but I feel the theory is not groundless here, and with a little careful listening (some of it accidental), I have found what could be examples of this thematic device - this video presents my observations. Enjoy!
PS. Hope you like my Beethoven picture edit at the end!
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
With regards to me posting this well known work, please refer to my vid description for Fur Elise :)
Joseph Haydn
I've just posted the famous Andante from this symphony and so decided to post the next movement too. It has become a Haydn favourite of mine, which is sort of surprising considering that the minuet movement of the classical symphony can often be the most boring or throwaway one, even if it is not actually 'boring'.
But here I just love the elegant grace, flow of ideas and orchestration - music that actually makes you want to dance (the whole point!), especially in the opening bars with that wonderful anacrusis and long-short long-short rhythm. I also particularly like the somewhat expected and very satisfying way the accompaniment returns at 1:18 after a lull.
An excellent all-round example of the classical period minuet and trio movement, predecessor of the scherzo that fell into Beethoven's safe hands.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Much as I like putting up lesser known pieces that still show the greatness of these great composers, the popular and famous must also be served for ultimate satisfaction. So here is Beethoven's Fur Elise, a short piano piece of heartfelt emotion, in it's entirety (which is far better than the usual, cliched snippets. Or at least, snippets turned into cliches by popular culture).
Simple, effective music by Beethoven - great :D
Joseph Haydn
This famous movement by Joseph Haydn is from his 'Surprise' symphony - No. 94 in G, one of the 12 'London' symphonies.
These represent the summit of Haydn's symphonic achievement; from the early, Baroque-style days of his early employment to here, the polished yet passionate and serenely lyrical symphonies of the classical era at its height.
This movement is famous for the sudden loud chord near the beginning, hence the nickname - the most famous example of Haydn's good-natured humour, a humour which often shows in his delightful music, often very Mozartian (and that is certainly a compliment!)
This piece is well-known, although not in the same sense as items such as Beethoven's Fur Elise or Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - this is well-known amongst throroughly interested fans of classical music, and whether or not you are one of those, I hope you enjoy this witty but beautiful and at times intense and emotional movement, as good an example as any of the classical period within classical music.
Canon a4.
Ludwig van Beethoven
This joke canon by Beethoven is a good little bit of fun, yet his great sense of harmony and melody comes through even in this, making it a very satisfying musical joke! Mozart as well as Beethoven wrote canons and other such miscellaneous little pieces often as a warm up exercise or practice, or to test a minor new idea.
The more hardcore Beethoven fans will realise that the main theme from this is the allegretto theme from Beethoven's 8th symphony, which is believed to parody the metronome newly improved by Johann Mälzel. Certainly, the title and lyrics here indicate so (and perhaps this is why the theory over the 8th symphony connection came about...?)
Ta ta ta, lieber Mälzel
ta ta ta, lebet wohl, sehr wohl
ta ta ta, Banner der Zeit
ta ta ta, großer Metronom.
ta ta ta ta ta.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Antonio Vivaldi
From La Cetra ('The Lyre', a set of 12 concerti published by Vivaldi as his Opus 9.)
This, performed by The City Waites, is a sad street song from 17th century England. It concerns the age-old issue of hopeless love, still relevant to almost all people mid-teens and over.
Antonio Vivaldi
From L'Estro Armonico ('Harmonic Inspiration', a set of 12 concerti published by Vivaldi as his Opus 3.)
This concerto has been posted by everyone here so what the heck! It's my favourite version, but then, of course it is - the one we get used to is always our favourite.
The three movements are all typical Vivaldi in style, and are his usual way - short and sweet (very, very sweet!)
George Frideric Handel
A wonderful violin sonata which, although listed in Handel's Opus 1, is actually Handel's last chamber work, representing the summit of his melodious, subtle powers.
Enjoy :)
George Frideric Handel
A wonderful violin sonata which, although listed in Handel's Opus 1, is actually Handel's last chamber work, representing the summit of his melodious, subtle powers.
Enjoy :)
George Frideric Handel
A wonderful violin sonata which, although listed in Handel's Opus 1, is actually Handel's last chamber work, representing the summit of his melodious, subtle powers.
Enjoy :)
George Frideric Handel
A wonderful violin sonata which, although listed in Handel's Opus 1, is actually Handel's last chamber work, representing the summit of his melodious, subtle powers.
Enjoy :)