Another old TV theme tune – although surely this is an easy one to identify. Not sure about the rest of the operas, but the Rossini Overtures are great!
Opera
A Meditative Walk
The paintings accompanying the music in this video have nothing whatsoever to do with the original context of the music – but they do capture and enhance the mood of contemplation rather well. I also have to admit that my knowledge of the world of paintings is so sparse that I had never even heard of the artist before finding this video 😃
An Opera Without The Singing
From Bohemia we move westward – but not far – and the music of Wagner. There are few pieces of ‘classical’ music more beautiful than this.
Not (Entirely) Die Federmaus
What I said about tuesday’s choice – that when you “mess about” you first of all have to be proficient and secondly must throw your all into it – is supremely evident in today’s video. Also a second chance to play “spot the tune” as there are quite a few included that are most certainly not part of the original overture to Die Fledermaus.
Staying In Italy…
An Italian Overture today – this one has a story attached.
A Wagner Overture
Not much of a story attached to this choice except that this was one of the pieces of music that I performed most often in concerts. Good to play – Wagner’s writing for horn is almost always – and I enjoy listening to this one as well.
Storm At Sea
With more storms on the way – supposedly – here is another piece of stormy music. I really enjoy the sea interludes and they work really well with the big forces deployed in this video.
Carry On Regardless
Now I could have used my mammoth Monday selection to share Wagner’s Ring cycle, but I have decided to have an excerpt instead. There is a lot of “funeral music” around but this may well be the most “glorious”.
Flying Sticks
Its time that my “funny moments” anecdotes included something from the percussion section. I have certainly had my fair share of flying stick moments and an assortment of other mishaps. I suspect that there are a couple of songsters at Cardiff who are still having nightmares about the close thing they had with the bouncing bomb that was my double headed bass drum mallet 😲😂
Happy (Belated) Birthday Barbra
Today’s post is inspired by the fact that the singer, Barbra Streisand, had her 78th birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday!