5 on Friday -- Set 241

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

I'm still in a ballet state of mind -- music from my favorite ballets has been going through my head all week as I readjust to being back in the office at my day job.

All pieces feature my favorite Russian dancer Vladimir Shklyarov from the Mariinsky Ballet.

So -- let's get seated, watch the lights go down, the curtain go up -- and on with the show.

1 - Adagio -- Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K488 from Le Parc --  composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This lovely piece of music has definitely been going through my head this week. Mozart is mainly associated with lighter music, but I've always been a fan of his darker, more emotional pieces.

I absolutely love the 'high-flying kiss' section of this dance piece, which starts at the 6:15 mark and ends at the 7:00 mark.

2 - The Young Prince and The Young Princess from Scheherazade -- composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Another beautifully sensual pas de deux...sigh...

3 - First Galop of the Prince from Cinderella -- composed by Sergei Prokofiev

And now for something completely different. The piece I'm referring to begins at the 17:08 mark and ends at the 18:19 mark.

It's the perfect rushing-around music.

Of course, if you also wanted to check out the romantic closing pas de deux beginning at the 39:25 mark and ending at the 44:35 mark, I wouldn't discourage you. 

4 - Pas de deux from the Le Corsaire -- composed by Adolphe Adam

5 - Finale from Etudes -- composed by Carl Czerny

5 on Friday - Set 164

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

On this Easter weekend, I'm sharing some pieces of sacred music appropriate for the celebratory mass on Easter Sunday.

For those who don't celebrate this holiday or who take a more Universalist approach to life, these pieces are so filled with rejoicing in renewal and rediscovery, they speak to those emotions without any need for religious connotation. 

1 - Gloria - composed by Antonio Vivaldi - New Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus  - conducted by Riccardo Mutti

One of my favorite choral pieces ever. So lucky to have sung this with my former choir and an orchestra.

2 - Sanctus - Unknown choral group 

The music ends at the 1:38 mark

3 - Te Deum - composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully

4 -Benedictus - composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Orchestra dei Ducati, conducted by Fausto Pedretti

5 - Agnus Dei, also known as Adagio - composed by Samuel Barber - Dresdner Kreuzchor, directed by Roderich Kreile

5 on Friday - Set 97

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Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This week takes me on a little stroll down holiday memory lane.

These pieces are newer versions of those that were once on my Christmas cassette tapes, or are from tapes that I associate with Christmas because that's when I played them. And when I say tapes, I mean wa-a-y-y back in the 80s when I used to listen to them on my ghetto blaster, in my bedroom.

1 - Arioso by J.S. Bach - Noa Gabay and Megan Morris

I used to have this absolutely lovely tape of harp music. It was dark pink with an 18th century white-wigged lady on the front. I tended to play that tape excessively once Christmas rolled around.



2 - Yuletide Garland - Liona Boyd

My family used to have this collection of Christmas music by Canadian classical guitarist Liona Boyd. Somehow it seemed to make its way to Toronto with me when I moved out on my own in my early twenties.



3 - Sleigh Ride from Three German Dances by Mozart - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

This piece was on a classical music tape that wasn't geared toward the holidays, but I used to cue this one up when I was listening to Christmas music.



4 - Waltz of the Snowflakes by Tchaikovsky - Kirov Ballet Orchestra

Obviously, where would my Christmas be without The Nutcracker? It has been a part of my musical Christmas landscape since I was a small child, when my sister and I opened up a gift addressed to both of us--a double album of the full ballet score by the London Symphony Orchestra.





5 - Believe in Your Dreams and They'll All Come True - From the 1974 Little Mermaid soundtrack, composed by Ron Goodwin

Here in Halifax when I was growing up, the local TV station always broadcast a trio of Oscar Wilde-based animated specials at Christmastime:

The Happy Prince
The Selfish Giant
The Little Mermaid

These weren't Christmas specials in the literal sense, but each story revolved around the values of the Christmas season. In The Little Mermaid especially, the music has always stayed with me--so much so, that when I've needed a cheerleading boost for myself when things weren't working out, I've often turned to this song.

It begins at the 8:20 mark and runs to the 10:50 mark.

Thursday Thirteen - 112 - 13 of My Favorite Classical Pieces

1 - Bach's Air on a G String



2 - Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1



3 - Chopin's Prelude in D Flat Major, Op. 28, No. 15 - The Raindrop



4 - Tchaikovsky's Grand Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker


5 - Prokofiev's The Arrival at the Ball from Cinderella

CLICK HERE for the clip











6 - Tchaikovsky's Finale from Swan Lake



7 - Prokofiev's Tomb Scene from Romeo and Juliet



9 - Puccini's E lucevan le stelle from Tosca



10 - Mozart's Rex Tremendae Majestatis from his Requiem



11 - Orff's O Fortuna from Carmina Burana



12 - Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War from The Planets



13 - Wagner's Siegfried funeral march from Götterdämmerung



Janet says My nana would've LOVED this post!

Leah Braemel says I own every single one of them.

Anthony North says It certainly brings out the emotions.

Thursday Thirteen - 14 - 13 Favorite Pieces of Classical Music

1 - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
Pas de Deux: Adagio and Coda (romantic dance between the Sugar Plum Fairy and either the Prince or Peter)

2 - Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake
No. 28 and 29 Scene finale (the battle between Siegfried and Rothbart at the end, the tragic parting of the Swan and Siegfried)


















3 - Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
No. 19-21 The Balcony scene/ Romeo's variation/ Love Dance



















4 - Puccini's Tosca
"E Lucevan le stelle" ("And the stars were shining") / the prison lament of painter Mario Cavaradossi

"How the stars seemed to shimmer,
the sweet scents of the garden,
how the creaking gate whispered,
and a footstep skimmed over the sand,
how she then entered, so fragrant,
and then fell into my two arms!
Ah sweetest of kiss, languorous caresses,
while I stood trembling, searching her features
concealed by her mantle. My dreams of pure love,
forgotten forever! All of it's gone now!
I die hopeless, despairing, and never before
have I loved life like this!"

















5 - Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries
Beginning of Act III of "Die Walkure" / about eight minutes in length, the Ride consists of four Valkyrie sisters who prepare to transport the fallen heroes to Valhalla. As the four other sisters join them, the Valkyries greet one another with their battle cries as the orchestra provides the thunderous, hair-on-the-back-of-my-neck-raising motif.
















6 - Puccini's Turandot
"Nessun dorma" ("None shall sleep") / the hope for victory by Calaf that he will be the one to finally win the heart of Princess Turandot

"The Prince - Nobody shall sleep!... Nobody shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know... No!...No!... On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...

The Chorus of women - No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.

The Prince - Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!"

7 - Mozart's Requiem
Rex tremendae majestatis / this pretty much sums up my feelings about the Creator. I was lucky enough to sing this with my old choir in Toronto.

"Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awful majesty,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Who freely savest the redeemed,
Salve me, fons pietatis. Save me, O fount of goodness."


















8 - Carl Orf's Carmina Burana
I got to sing this amazing piece as well. What a heart-stopper!








9 - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
Snow Queen Pas de Trois (from the National Ballet of Canada version) or Tableau II, a pine forest in winter / the part of the winter scene that comes before the Waltz of the Snowflakes

10 - Puccini's Madama Butterfly
The "Humming Chorus"

While Butterfly awaits the return of her American lover when his ship returns to port in Japan, her lovechild and her servant Suzuki fall asleep when he does not arrive. But Butterfly never stops waiting. / this part usually has the men in the audience in tears

11 - Vivaldi's Gloria

Another choral piece I was lucky enough to sing. This goes through my head often.















12 - Satie's Trois Gymnopedies
The 1st Gymnopedie / one of my favorite pieces of music, and when my bridesmaids and I were arranging our bouquets, etc. before my wedding, I heard the pianist start to play this. I got chills and knew it was a good sign.









13 - Handel's Messiah
The Hallelujah Chorus / of course, which choir hasn't sung this one? But when we get to the part where we're singing "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" I have never been able to get through it without crying. It gives me shivers just thinking about it.