Red Door By the Beach

Getting ready for Easter dinner tomorrow and need to get the music playlist together.  Here are the  selections for this year. The list is divided into two parts: classical and pop/jazz.  Links are to Youtube videos of the selection. 

The poppies are blooming on the Central Coast.  I found these in a vacant lot across the street from my mechanic.  You can find beauty everywhere you look.  I’m going to have to go for a drive this week and find some more.  They revive my spirit.

Classical

• Sonata for Violin and Piano No.5 in F, Op.24 (Beethoven)
• The Four Seasons(”La Primavera,” No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269 (Vivaldi)
• Appalachian Spring, ballet for 13 instruments-Simple Gifts (Copland)
• Blumine (”Flora”), for orchestra (discarded movement from Symphony No. 1) (Mahler)
• Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), Op. 410 (RV 410) (Strauss)
• Spring Song (Mendelssohn)

Popular Music

• “Spring Can Really Hang you up the Most”
• “Beautiful Day”
• “Here Comes the Sun”
• “Turn, Turn Turn”
• “Daydream”
• “It Might as Well Be Spring”
• “You Must Believe in Spring”
• “Skylark”
• “Spring is Here”

 For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad. –G. K. Chesterton

In honor of my Irish great grandmother and in preparation for my long awaited trip to Ireland this summer, here are my favorite Irish songs.  Links are to Youtube performances.  Some are sad, some are rowdy, and some just beautiful. 

• Whiskey in the Jar 
• Down By the Sally Gardens
• Isle of Inisfree
• Galway Bay
• Spancil Hill
• Black Velvet Band
• The Rising of the Moon
• The Wild Rover
• Wild Colonial Boy

“Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?  Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand? Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? When you kiss your little baby you’ve kissed the face of God.”

So many wonderful Christmas songs to choose from.  I have about fifty on my MP3 playlist.  Here’s a  sample, a list of great tunes to help you pass the time on that long drive to your loved ones’ homes, wrapping packages, cooking, or anything else.  Some of pop, others are not, but they all fill me with joy and remind me of special times past and hopes for special times to come. 

•  ”All I Want for Christmas is You”-Mariah Carey
• “Please Be Home for Christmas”-Bon Jovi
• “Christmas Song”-Nat King Cole
• “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”-Bruce Springsteen
• “Silent Night”-Lou Rawls
• “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”-Darlene Love
• “Carol of the Bells”-Robert Shaw Chorale
• “Feliz Navidad”-Jose Feliciano
• “Little St. Nick”-Beach Boys
• “This Christmas”-Donny Hathaway
• “Sleigh Ride”-Boston Pops
• “March of the Kings”-Trans Siberian Orchestra
• “Mary’s Boy Child”-Harry Belafonte
• “White Christmas”-Otis Redding
• “Blue Christmas”-Elvis Presley
• “Gesu Bambino”-Luciano Pavarotti
• “O Holy Night”-Il Divo
• “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”-Johnny Mathis
• “Mary Did You Know”-Clay Aiken
• “Hard Candy Christmas”-Dolly Parton
• “We Need a Little Christmas”-Angela Lansberry and Cast of Mame
• “Ave Maria” (any composer)-Andrea Bocelli
• “Pretty Paper”-Willie Nelson
• “River”-Sarah McLachlan
• “What are You Doing New Year’s?”-Harry Connick Jr.

The last week of November is upon us.    I spent last week in Arizona.  Not my choice for a Thanksgiving location, but family dictates it.  Too dry, dusty, and bare for me, but being with those I love and sharing food, wine, music and stories made it just right. I spoke with friends in the Midwest whose children spent Thanksgiving morning making snow angels.  Think I’d rather look at the cactus, than slide around the icy streets. 

My pumpkins and mums that are sitting next to the red door are still are looking good, but I’m itching to replace them with something more winterlike.  I saw this lovely pot at a local winery (of course).  I think it would make a nice winter arrangement to replace the mums and pumpkins.

I’ve started compiling my winter music lists.  I’ll do a separate Christmas list later.  There are so many choices that I wanted to limit this year’s list to a nice blend of upbeat sounds of  seasonal joy, nostalgia, and some good winter storm music.  I’ve divided the list into two parts:  classical and pop.  Here are my choices for classical. 

Lieutenant Kije Suite, Op. 60: IV. Troika (Prokofiev)

Concerto for Violin in F minor, Op. 8 no 4/RV 297 “L’inverno” (Vivaldi))

Serenade no 13 in G major, K 525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”: 2nd movement, Romanza (Mozart )

 Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117 Footprints in the Snow (Debussy )

 Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” - 2nd movement-Adagio  (Dvorak)

“Beglückt darf nun dich, o Heimat, ich schauen und grüssen froh deine lieblichen Auen; nun lass ich ruhn den Wanderstab, weil Gott getreu ich gepilgart hab!”

“Blest, I may now look on thee, oh my native land, and gladly greet thy pleasant pastures; now I lay my pilgrim’s staff aside to rest because, faithful to God, I have completed my pilgrimage.”  “The Pilgrims’ Chorus” from Wagner’s Tannhauser

 Today is the last of the music playlists for Thanksgiving.  This one is secular, but as with “The Pilgrims’ Chorus” faith seems never too far from thankfulness. I tried to include a selection of different styles of music which should appeal to someone sitting around your table this holiday.  Just don’t sing with your mouthful! Today’s Thanksgiving art is Van Gogh’s Harvest.  A wonderful sense of bounty in the French countryside.

Thanksgiving Playlist

• “I’ve Got Plenty of Nothing” from Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin
• “Thank You” by Sly and the Family Stone
• “All Good Gifts” from Godspell by Stephen Schwartz
• “Amazing Grace” by Aretha Franklin
• “I’ve Got Plenty to be Thankful For” by Bing Crosby
• “Thank You” by Tori Amos
• “Be Thankful for What You Got” by Yo La Tengo
• “Thanksgiving Theme (Peanuts)” by Vince Guaraldi Trio
• “Stuffy Turkey” by Thelonious Monk
• “Mayflower Rock” by Dizzy Gillespie
• “Thank You” by Ray Davies
• “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin
• “Cornucopia” by Black Sabbath
• “Thanksgiving” by Loudon Wainwright III
• “Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant
• “Homeward Bound” by Simon and Garfunkel
• “Turkey in the Straw” by Flatt and Scruggs
• “Thanksgiving Song” by Adam Sandler
• “Thank You” by Dido
• “Thanksgiving”  by George Winston

When it comes to great music, there’s always room for Wagner.  Of course, once I introduced my children to “The Pilgrims’ Chorus,” I felt honor bound to follow it up with a showing of “What’s Opera, Doc?”  I just can’t think of Wagner without thinking of Bugs Bunny in his Brunhilde costume.  Completely destroys the beauty of the moment.” Elmer: Oh, Bwunehiwda, you’re so wuvwee.”Bugs: “Yes I know it, I can’t help it.” Elmer: “Weturn, my wove / A wonging burns deep inside me.” Bugs: “Return, my love / I want you always beside me.”

It’s  akin to when you learned the camp song, “Be kind to your web footed friends, for a duck may be somebody’s brother” before you were old enough to know it was John Phillp Sousa.  Don’t get me started on the Lone Ranger and Rossini or Chopin sonatas and funerals.   Now that I’ve got that out of my system, back to Thanksgiving. 

 ”Got no check books, got no banks.  Still I’d like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.” ~Irving Berlin

I went to the store this morning.  In the section that yesterday was brimming with ghosts, goblins, candy, and all manner of things that go bump in the night, was an entire forest of artificial Christmas trees.

  Once again, Thanksgiving is being shoved aside for Santa.  I’ve decided to make this week Thankgiving Awareness Week.  I hope to provide information on all things Thanksgiving. Canadian friends, ignore the American history stuff and save the rest for next year! 

For years, this Norman Rockwell poster (one of the Four Freedoms) hung in my classroom.  I always loved the guy looking at us instead of the turkey.  Everyone has their own favorite recipes and foods for Thanksgiving, so I don’t expect to include any in these posts.  So how about a little Thanksgiving music to go with the meal or to provide the background to a great conversation.  That’s what people did before television and football.  The music is divided into two playlists, one classical and the other a mix of different styles. Today I’m posting the classical list.  Always good for dining and digestion.  I’ll post the other in a few days.  Hopefully something for everyone and no one will be as picky as Charlie Brown who reminded us that when singing “Over the River and Through the Woods” that his grandmother did not live over the river or through the woods, but in a condominium.

Classical Thanksgiving Music

• Prelude on Welsh Hymn Tunes for organ No. 2 in G major (”Rhosymedre”)
  Composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Cavalleria rusticana, opera (melodramma) in 1 act Intermezzo
  Composed by Pietro Mascagni
• Serenade for strings (or piano, 4 hands) in C major, Op. 48 1st Movement: Pezzo in forma di Sonatina
  Composed by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
• St. Paul’s Suite, for strings, Op. 29/2, H. 118 The Dargason
  Composed by Gustav Holst
• Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor (”Reformation”), Op. 107 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
  Composed by Felix Mendelssohn
• Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in F major (”L’autunno,” The Four Seasons; “Il cimento” No. 3), Op.8/3, RV 293 Allegro
  Composed by Antonio Vivaldi
• A Symphony: New England Holidays for orchestra, S. 5 (K. 1A4) Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day
  Composed by Charles Ives
• Nocturne for piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 9/2, CT. 109
  Composed by Fryderyk Chopin

It’s time to load up the old mp3 player with autumn songs.  I made a classical playlist and one for all other fall inspired music.  These are great for walking on cool evenings, sitting by the fireplace with a good book, driving through the mountains with the changing colors of the trees, or sitting at a vineyard sipping wine among the autumn-leaved grapevines.  My favorite vacations have always been at this time of year.  A special weekend in Santa Fe one October is especially memorable since the aspen trees were in full splendor.  An amazing performance by Andrea Bocelli to get you in the mood is on Youtube. Other Youtube clips are shown in the playlists. 

Classical Playlist (Listed by composer and missing some annotations here and there, but what the heck!) 

• Elgar:Cello Concerto in E minor (adagio) 
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons-Autumn
• Tchaikovsky: The Seasons ( October and November)
• Brahms: Clarinet Quintet (adagio)
• Vaughn Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
• Grieg:Lyric Pieces #1 Opus 12-Arietta
• Smetana: Ma Vlast Vltava
• Chopin: Nocturne #7 C sharp minor Op 27 and Prelude No 15 in D flat Op 28 (Raindrop)
• Gershwin: Prelude #2
• Mozart: Piano Concerto #23 (adagio), String Quartet No. 17 in B flat minor, and Sonata in C Major -2nd Movement K545
• Piazzolla: Otono Porteno
• Schumann: Romance for Piano in F sharp major-Einfach
• Debussy: The Little Shepherd
• Rachmaninov: Prelude in C sharp minor  Opus 3

Jazz, Pop, Folk, New Age….(Listed by my favorite performances.  Can you imagine how many times “Autumn Leaves” has been recorded?  It is always a toss up between Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald for “Autumn in New York.”)

• Frank Sinatra:  September of My Years
• Ellie Fitzgerald: Autumn in New York
• Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis: Autumn Leaves
• Andrea Bocelli: ‘Les Feuilles Mortes’ (Autumn Leaves)
• John Coltrane: Autumn Serenade
• Mel Torme: Lullaby of the Leaves
• Nat King Cole: September Song
• Peggy Lee: September in the Rain
• Barry Manilow: When October Goes
• Neil Young: Harvest Moon
• Roseanne Cash: September When it Comes
• Rod Stewart: Maggie May
• George Winston: Forbidden Forest
• Plain White T’s: A Lonely September
• Small Faces: Autumn Stone
• The Vines: Autumn Shade
• Paulo Nutini: Autumn
• From Autumn to Ashes: Autumn’s Monologue
• Yo La Tengo: Autumn Sweater
• Natalie Imbruglia: Come September
• Guns and Roses: November Rain
• Earth Wind and Fire: September
• Green Day: Wake Me Up When September Ends
• U2: October
• Simon and Garfunkel: Leaves That are Green
• Fall out Boy: Grand Theft Autumn
• The Moody Blues: Forever Autumn