Monthly Archives: December 2012

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Monday Music: Mars, The Bringer of War (Gustav Holst)

For New Year’s Eve, I wanted to choose something which reflected some special part of 2012.  I also liked the idea of something astronomy-oriented, since we are, after all, celebrating another orbit of the Earth around the Sun.  The landing and footage from NASA’s Curiosity Rover on Mars seemed to fit the bill on a historic and astronomic level, and of course the obvious music to match with this is Mars from Holst’s Planets.

Sadly, nobody has quite got to this combination yet, and making a video of this sort is not really within my skill-set, not to mention the fact that there would undoubtedly be copyright issues associated with combining images and music, neither of which I own!  So for today, I’m including two videos for your wonderment and delight (because really, science is amazing stuff).  The first is a clip of Holst’s Mars, accompanied by a computer simulation of Curiosity’s launch and journey.  The second is a video of Curiosity’s landing on Mars on August 6th, 2012.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZWOGcdC_PI&w=420&h=315][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJgeoHBQpFQ&w=560&h=315]

Happy New Year!  May 2013 bring you more wonders, more music, and more amazing science.  Because we can never have too much amazing science.

(and if you want more images of Mars, checkout NASA’s website here… not to mention this illuminating footage from the Curiosity probe just after landing…)

 

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Friday Fun: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Kern / Harbach)

Advent is over, and while we are technically in the Twelve Days of Christmas now, I suspect that we have all heard as many carols as we need to for one season. I myself have participated in three carol services, one midnight mass, one Christmas Day mass, and four rounds of workplace (and hospital) carolling, along with all the attendant rehearsals that these entail, so I’m feeling just nicely carolled out for the time being, and ready for something a bit different, musically speaking.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz68KvMtHOA&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →

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Advent Calendar Day 25: There Were Shepherds Abiding in the Fields (Handel)

Merry Christmas!  I thought it fitting to end Advent with another piece from Handel’s Messiah, and this recording is a fascinating one, dating from 1930.  Singing styles have changed quite a bit since then, and I think my personal preference is for a rather faster version of this recitative, but there is something rather special about listening to a voice that was recorded more than 80 years ago.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMU6gMxbPJ8&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →

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Advent Calendar Day 24: Magnificat (Arvo Pärt)

Those of you who know me in real life are probably scratching their heads right now and wondering how on earth a piece of classical music written in 1989 found its way onto my music blog, and above all onto my music blog for Christmas Eve of all times.

The thing is, for me Christmas Eve is all about Midnight Mass – about the waiting in candlelight late at night, singing words that were written hundreds of years ago and have been sung every year since they were written, about the sense of mystery and immanence that comes before the rejoicing.  And I wanted a piece of music that reflected that – a piece with archaic words and melody – plainchant, for preference, and the Magnificat, or an Alleluia, or something of that nature.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiKNUma4dY0&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →

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Advent Calendar Day 23: In The Bleak Mid-Winter (Holst)

This carol is purely wishful thinking on my part.  The forecast for today is for 39°C – appallingly hot for December – and a bit of frosty wind feels as though it would be very welcome just now.  Especially as I still have to do all my Christmas baking!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hs9-Sxf9j4&w=420&h=315]

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Advent Calendar Day 22: Spem in Alium (Tallis)

I have to confess that this is not exactly an Advent Carol. In fact, today was meant to be The Truth Sent From Above, but as I was looking for the King’s Singers version, I found their recording of Spem in Alium, a piece designed for eight choirs of five voices.

Since there are only six singers in The King’s Singers, I immediately had to see how they’d managed it…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJDLQZWKWe8&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →

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Advent Calendar Day 21: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (Wilcocks, who should know better)

I had such good intentions for this Advent Calendar, truly I did.  I thought it would be nice to share with you some of the more beautiful Advent music out there, and I have.  But this is Friday, which means that even beautiful music must have an edge of silliness to it.

This is another medieval carol, and it’s actually very gorgeous both in lyrics and tune and I really love it.  And this arrangement is spectacular.

There’s just one little problem with it: it has an orgasmic alto line.

No, really.  I can’t listen to this one without giggling, no matter how good my intentions.  It’s fairly absurd even if one doesn’t have a dirty mind, but if one does, oh dear.  See (or rather, hear) for yourself.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Yod6A403s?rel=0]

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Advent Calendar Day 19: Carol of the Birds (James Wheeler)

After all the sad and contemplative carols of the last few days, I thought we deserved something cheerful.  But what?  I was sort of tempted by Masters in this Hall, an old favourite of mine, but it’s kind of terrible, as even I have to admit (I love it, but it so easily turns into a pub song).  And I thought about For Unto Us a Child Is Born, but we already did Handel, so that’s no good..

So then I thought that we are probably about due for an Australian Carol.  Which is why we’ve ended up with a Catalan one… No.  No we haven’t.  Though there is a Catalan Carol of the Birds too, and it’s fairly gorgeous.  I recommend giving it a listen.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJH9ToUdMBQ&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →