Tag: orchestra

Most Passion dramas, in their final scenes, carefully avoid hints of the events to follow on the third day: the only joy they sometimes convey comes from the dawning realization by the centurion at the crucifixion, that Jesus truly was the Son of God. The libretto published by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (see Thursday’s post) ends […]

Psalm 130, the sixth Penitential Psalm, concludes positively with reassurances of God’s ‘plentiful redemption’ but begins as a gloomy lament in which the penitent cries out for mercy ‘de profundis’, ‘from the depths’—presumably the depths of despair where the light of hope is extinguished. While there is nothing in its text that marks it as […]

‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’, the fourth movement of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, has remained one of the most popular orchestral pieces for the last hundred years and has often been performed by itself without the rest of the suite. That’s not surprising: it is dazzlingly bright, uplifting music, stuffed with big tunes — four […]

Our series on big tunes, big sounds must include one of the most emphatic tunes and most massive sounds of any devised before the age of amplification and electronics: the first movement, ‘Mars: the Bringer of War’, of The Planets, the ‘Suite for Large Orchestra’ by Gustav Holst. In its awesome beauty, this music makes […]

The second movement, Allegretto, of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Op. 92, is the choice for my third post in the big tune series. Today, it is probably the most widely loved example of Beethoven’s music because of its special place in modern popular culture, having been featured in at least nine movies, including, most recently, […]

The nine-minute first movement of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Op. 97, is the choice for this, the second post in the ‘big tune‘ series. It has a persistently positive feel to it (as have movements 2-5 too) — some would say that’s exactly what we need when, in our social-distancing and lockdown, we work […]

While we live with social distancing, when normal performances by orchestras, choirs, bands and other ensembles are not possible for several months at least, it’s worthwhile to remember the corporate music-making that is part of our culture and which, until recently, we took for granted. This is the first of some occasional posts on the […]

Join the discussion (registered users only) At the time of posting this (late March 2020), spring has already begun here in Ireland, yet more northern countries are still experiencing the bitter resistance that Haydn’s music describes as Winter clings on with malevolence. Warily we try to welcome Spring despite our deep concern about the coronavirus, […]