A beautiful arrangement of the spiritual “Deep River”, which forms the finale of the cantata / secular oratorio “A Child Of Our Time” by British composer Michael Tippett. Performed here in my favourite recording of this piece, given by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Hickox:
And from the same work, Tippett’s arrangement of “Steal Away”:
More about Tippett’s “A Child Of Our Time” can be read here.
“The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed by the excellent Hilary Hahn, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis:
Some beautiful, calming music before the approaching storm of Prime Minister’s Questions and George Osborne’s 2013 budget.
“Midnight” from the Cinderella Suite by Sergei Prokofiev:
An excellent and dramatic depiction of the clock striking midnight at the ball.
I had the pleasure of seeing the London Symphony Orchestra perform the entire ballet score at their recent BBC Proms concert the other night – as usual, they were on top form, particularly the woodwind section and the excellent and surprising offstage brass ensemble that played from the balcony during one particularly exciting section.
A review of the performance can be found here.
“Moonlight”, the third movement of “Sea Interludes”, a suite of four pieces taken from Benjamin Britten’s opera “Peter Grimes”, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducted here by Leonard Bernstein at what I believe was his final concert:
“Peter Grimes” is one of my favourite operas, and has been since I went to a concert performance by the London Symphony Orchestra with Glenn Winslade in the title role several years ago.
Against the backdrop of a lush, evocative depiction of life in a 19th century fishing village in East Anglia, the opera tells the story of how a vengeful and gossiping community harrangue and eventually cast out Peter Grimes, a local misfit fisherman.
This is one of several “interlude” pieces which Britten wrote to separate the various acts of the opera, this one coming after a particularly climactic scene. The orchestral depiction of the moonlight on the still, calm sea, is quite breathtaking.
Leonard Bernstein takes a very slow tempo in this performance, but the stilling effect is so strong that I almost feel that I am gazing out at the sea on a cold night in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
It’s Friday, it has been a long week, so I think that something melodic and uplifting is in order today.
The final movement of Dvořák’s Symphony no. 8, performed here by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Zubin Mehta.
My favourite performance of this piece was at a London Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas several years ago, and of course the LSO’s famous brass section played the blazing fanfare sections exceedingly well.
Wishing all my readers a good weekend, whatever your plans may be.
Semi-Partisan Politics 