Startin' a new tradition...
This was muchly interesting (to me, anyway) when I did it before. So, what the heck? My new Friday tradition will be to share a piece of music and then, if you like, you tell me who/what/where it makes you think of, fandom-related or otherwise. All of the pieces that I post will have some meaning to me, which I will share, and they will all be instrumental. As I said in my other post when I did this, this is the type of music that most inspires me, creatively. Maybe I'm weird that way...
So, without further ado, I give you the inaugural Friday Music Post. :)
I'm going to start us out with something that I think is blatantly evocative. And also lovely. It's one of my favorite pieces of music ever written, and not just because of the awesome cello part. :)
It's the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, written in 1910 by Ralph (pronounced "Rafe", not "Ralf") Vaughan Williams, who was one of three major turn-of-the-20th-century British composers (The others being Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst.) He died in the 1950s, and he is one of my overall favorite composers, mostly because his music is so very evocative and dramatic. It is no surprise that he composed movie scores in the 1940s. :) Also, he wrote a tuba concerto. How many composers do you know of who wrote a tuba concerto? He gets props just for that. ;)
This particular piece is interesting in that it's all strings, a large group of string players divided into three distinct sub-groups, one of which is a simple string quartet. The overall effect of this is a layered one, such that the orchestra(s) end up sounding like an organ, which in my opinion is a lovely effect and, as far as I know, this is the only major piece of music that employs the technique. The main theme is one written by, as the name implies, Thomas Tallis, who was a 16th-century English court composer of religious music during the reigns of all the Tudor kings and queens, including Elizabeth I, at the time of the turbulent English Reformation and its aftermath.
The piece is here.
You might have heard this tune before; it's used often in movies. The most recent use that I know of was in Master and Commander from a few years back, starring Russell Crowe. I'm sharing the 5-minute-long excerpt of the piece from that movie's soundtrack. If you want to hear the entire, 14-minute-long piece (which I highly recommend), it's available for totally free (and legal!) download here. (And if you're a classical fan, you might to poke some more around that site. There are treasures there, all free. :) )
Now, for me this piece has always screamed "noble, dramatic death scene" because of its really pretty but also sad sound. Plus, there's that bit of rising solo violin at the end, like a soul ascending to heaven. Thus, among other things, it's always put me in mind of Optimus Prime's death scene from the original Transformers movie. But, it also works in my mind for any other such noble, drawn-out death scene. :)
Input's appreciated, if you want to give any. :)
So, without further ado, I give you the inaugural Friday Music Post. :)
I'm going to start us out with something that I think is blatantly evocative. And also lovely. It's one of my favorite pieces of music ever written, and not just because of the awesome cello part. :)
It's the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, written in 1910 by Ralph (pronounced "Rafe", not "Ralf") Vaughan Williams, who was one of three major turn-of-the-20th-century British composers (The others being Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst.) He died in the 1950s, and he is one of my overall favorite composers, mostly because his music is so very evocative and dramatic. It is no surprise that he composed movie scores in the 1940s. :) Also, he wrote a tuba concerto. How many composers do you know of who wrote a tuba concerto? He gets props just for that. ;)
This particular piece is interesting in that it's all strings, a large group of string players divided into three distinct sub-groups, one of which is a simple string quartet. The overall effect of this is a layered one, such that the orchestra(s) end up sounding like an organ, which in my opinion is a lovely effect and, as far as I know, this is the only major piece of music that employs the technique. The main theme is one written by, as the name implies, Thomas Tallis, who was a 16th-century English court composer of religious music during the reigns of all the Tudor kings and queens, including Elizabeth I, at the time of the turbulent English Reformation and its aftermath.
The piece is here.
You might have heard this tune before; it's used often in movies. The most recent use that I know of was in Master and Commander from a few years back, starring Russell Crowe. I'm sharing the 5-minute-long excerpt of the piece from that movie's soundtrack. If you want to hear the entire, 14-minute-long piece (which I highly recommend), it's available for totally free (and legal!) download here. (And if you're a classical fan, you might to poke some more around that site. There are treasures there, all free. :) )
Now, for me this piece has always screamed "noble, dramatic death scene" because of its really pretty but also sad sound. Plus, there's that bit of rising solo violin at the end, like a soul ascending to heaven. Thus, among other things, it's always put me in mind of Optimus Prime's death scene from the original Transformers movie. But, it also works in my mind for any other such noble, drawn-out death scene. :)
Input's appreciated, if you want to give any. :)