Have you any classical melodies that, once you've heard them, become stuck in your mind? For me, a recurring earworm is Josef Suk's Fantastické Scherzo, Op. 25. After hearing it, I find myself humming or whistling it the rest of the day.
Posts from another thread that criticized twentieth-century classical music reminded me of another earworm: the menuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel. In the video below, Pierre Boulez ably conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker, and oboist Albrecht Mayer gives a masterly performance.
Anyone old enough to remember the movie "10" -- other than those who loved it and remain obsessive about it -- is probably sick of "Bolero" today. Must admit that I look elsewhere for music when the station I'm tuned to gives Ravel another spin.Watching that reminds me how Ravel likes to build music around fringe instruments, like the oboe, for example. He gives the flutes and clarinets a good workout in his Bolero. It's definitely an earworm. While this has perhaps become a tired workhorse for some, I enjoy this performance because it is pretty energetic. Dudamel really gets into it at the end:
A bit more energetic than Boulez.
Anyone old enough to remember the movie "10" --
If anyone can inject some flavor into a tired or less enthralling piece, it is Dudamel. It's worth viewing some of his presentations in Venezuela before he moved to LA to see how he can frequently make something out of nothing. And the story of how he helped take serious music to the kids of lower income families is astounding.Watching that reminds me how Ravel likes to build music around fringe instruments, like the oboe, for example. He gives the flutes and clarinets a good workout in his Bolero. It's definitely an earworm. While this has perhaps become a tired workhorse for some, I enjoy this performance because it is pretty energetic. Dudamel really gets into it at the end:
It's worth mentioning that Ravel composed his tribute to Couperin originally as a suite for solo piano. He orchestrated it a few years later.Watching that reminds me how Ravel likes to build music around fringe instruments, like the oboe, for example.
Much as Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition for piano. Ravel orchestrated it so beautifully that you seldom hear the piano version on radio at all.It's worth mentioning that Ravel composed his tribute to Couperin originally as a suite for solo piano. He orchestrated it a few years later.
Do the Chavistas not like that style of music? 😁...my daughter, who is an attorney, has helped several dozen members of Dudamel's orchestra in Venzuela get refugee visas for the US where they are now living outside the grasp of the Maduro government.