Author: whskyjack

Sunday Serendipity

I’m probably not the best person to be picking music for today. It is not my holiday. So I will leave the joyous celebration music posts for the rest of you to post in the comments.

While we are celebrating, think of the week Mary experienced leading up to Easter Sunday. That is the theme of today’s selection, “Stabat Mater dolorosa” or “the sorrowful mother was standing” .

Stabat Mater, by Gioachino Rossini 

Sunday Serendipity

Má Vlast, No. 2. Vltava (River Moldau)

composed by, Bedřich Smetana

In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of one of Bohemia’s great rivers. In his own words:

The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Studená and Teplá Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer’s wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night’s moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John’s Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Elbe.

Enjoy Jack.

Erin Go Bragh

It is St Patricks day but it is also womens history month. Classical music has not been kind to women composers, they have often seen their work ignored and trivialized. Ina Boyle an Irish composer faced the same challenges as most women composers. An early 20th century composer, it was only recently that her works have gained some attention. Todays selection was first performed in 1928 and not again until 2017 when BBC revived it.

It is a beautiful piece of music that shouldn’t have languished in obscurity for 90 years.

Psalm for Solo Cello and Orchestra by Ina Boyle

Performed by the Irish National Orchestra, Martin Johnson, on cello.

Enjoy, Jack