Final set for now. I can play this time as I have not yet listened and have been given no extra info. I expect I will defeat you all as I consider myself the superior one on high art but I will give you some time to flounder before your trouncing. Same rules as before.
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Notes from RA
a) None but the lonely heart (Tchaik). It is equally lovely as a piano solo, violin or a song. Maybe a bit corny?
b) Chichester Psalms (Bernstein). We once watched such a memorable biography and they played this as the finale, freezing his smiling conducting pose as the last notes faded away and the credits rolled. Very dramatic.
c) Sibelius 2nd symphony last movement. Such a terrific build up to the end. I suppose I could equally have chosen some Bruckner symphonies, but I find something thrilling about Sibelius. Hard to describe.
d) Lyric Pieces (Book 1 Opus 12) Grieg. There’s another very similar one (Opus 71 no 7). Even in music, sometimes the simplest things can be very beautiful. Another visual memory of a Arena film showing Leif Ove Andsnes playing Grieg’s own piano in his little house in Norway. That must have been quite a feeling for him.
e) Gee Officer Krupke (West Side Story – Bernstein). I once had to cover for the head of music for a term while waiting for the new appointment to arrive and I did a very lively lesson on this track. I enjoyed it even if they didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.
f) Cordoba (Albeniz). You can’t be a Hispanophile and not listen to Albeniz’s guitar or piano transcribed pieces. I have a glorious recording by Julian Bream which so evokes the time and place. I like most of the pieces but this one is head and shoulders above the others for me.
g) Asie from Scheherezade (Ravel). How on earth did you know this? Has Maria had to sing it at some time? Generally, I have struggled (but persevered) with choral/voice music but every now and then one comes along like this which makes your toes curl. If I can follow the text it helps a lot because, so often you cant hear the words properly.
h) Mahler’s 9th Fourth movement. For me, the most emotional music ever written (but then I’ve only heard about 1% of music ever written!) If it gets better than this, I need to hear it.