September's Listening Picks

Hello again! And apologies for the absence of listening posts in August - I have been away on holiday, but am back now with 5 hopefully really varied pieces to whet your listening appetite this month.

Margaret Bonds - Troubled Water

There’s something cinematic about the way the harmonies and melodies interact in this wonderful, virtuosic piano piece, and this is a great performance of it too. Bonds takes a relatively simple melody and gives it huge heart and feeling. It’s a great example of a composition that really shows what the piano can do as an instrument.

George Crumb - Black Angels

Just to warn you, this one starts a bit suddenly! I remember seeing the Manchester Collective perform this, and it’s incredibly good at creating a dark feeling of terror and foreboding, and combining a huge amount of complexity with the main aim of creating a feeling. It’s sometimes easy to be put off by some contemporary music, but if you allow yourself to feel into what it’s going for, I think you’ll be impressed!

Edward Elgar - Sospiri

Meaning ‘sighs’, Sospiri is a really beautiful, short piece that uses a string ensemble and harp to create a lush, calming sound which is almost meditative in nature. It’s a far cry from some of Elgar’s other more lively or melodic music, as it uses small melodic motifs and an almost shimmering accompaniment.

Gioachino Rossini - William Tell Overture

This piece is strangely important to me - it was on my first ever CD of classical music. I remember being in charge of the CD player when I was 7 as assembly started, and really liked it when this piece came on. The music’s very fun and lively, with more than one memorable tune (not just the very famous bit at the end!)

Fanny Mendelssohn - Fantasie in G minor for Cello and Piano

I couldn’t not include a cello piece! This one is very much a duet between the pianist and cellist, with the cellist arguable taking an accompanying role more often than might be usual for these sorts of pieces. This gives the cellist a great opportunity to be expressive in more subtle ways and create atmosphere, which is think is really fun and interesting!