Clemency Burton-Hill loves classical music and listens to it every day. To share her love of classical music, Clemency Burton-Hill wrote Year of Wonder: Classical Music to Enjoy Day By Day (2018). Each day of the year gets a recommended piece of classic music to delight the reader/listener. For example, the April 11 recommendation is Mozart’s Concerto no. 7 in F major for three pianos, K. 242. For my birthday on June 9, the recommendation is another Mozart piece: Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola in E last major, K. 364.
Clemency Burton-Hill writes introductions to all the music she recommends. She provides some history of the composer and the piece. Burton-Hill also provides some speculation; for example, she suggests that Mozart’s favorite instrument was the viola.
My only quibble with this wonderful book is that Clemency Burton-Hill recommends music, but not the performer. For example, I would appreciate two or three recommendations for Mozart’s Concerto #7. I like Jenő Jandó’s version on NAXOS. But I’d be willing to listen to other recommended versions. But this is a minor point. All in all, A Year of Wonder delights and informs in equal measure. Highly recommended! Do you have a favorite piece of classic music? GRADE: A
I saw the piece on PBS Newshour a few weeks ago. Interesting idea, I suppose, for those who rarely listen to classical music, though I doubt they’ll seek out the specific works. If they do, any performance will likely do. I listen to a lot of classical, and I usually play what I feel like listening to, on the CD I have, so it’s that performance I hear. Also, there are dozens of performances of the warhorses, but sometimes very, very few of the more obscure pieces.
I must admit, I like the warhorses.
Jeff, same here. Great music lasts!
Rick, you’re right about recordings of “warhorses” vs. more obscure music. One of the reasons I still subscribe to THE AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE is because some of the reviewers will rave about a certain performance of a piece in a review. It’s fun to track down the performance and see if I agree with the critic.
The only time I listen to classical music is when it’s backing a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Bob, several of Bugs’s cartoon featured classical music. My favorite is the one with the Zampa Overture!
OK, I’ll call you on this one. What Bugs cartoon uses Zampa? I can find references to Disney’s the Band Concert, and an Andy Panda from Walter Lantz, but nothing from Warner Bros.
Art, “The Zampa Overture” shows up in Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948).
More classical and other music for everyone’s delectation, as recommended by Barry Malzberg, Jeff Gemmill, the folks at BITCH magazine, and some guy named George, among others (Laura Nakatsuka, Alice Chang, and Joe Megalos offer music of varying degrees of “classical” including very obscure indeed):
https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2019/04/underappreciated-music-march-and-first.html
Todd, thanks for the link!
Thanks for your contributions!
Todd, I’m always happy to promote classical music and all other types of music!