#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalWinter Week 2
By Ralph Graves
For January 2019, #ClassicsaDay went with a winter theme. December’s theme, #ClassicalChristmas centered around sacred works of the season. #ClassicalWinter is about sharing secular compositions. that have a snow or winter theme.
Here are my Classical Winter posts for the second week of January.
Ralph Vaughan William – Scott of the Antarctic (soundtrack)
This 1948 film chronicled Robert Scott’s failed attempt to reach the South Pole. Vaughan Williams effectively depicted the cold and desolation with his score. In 1952 he expanded the material to create his seventh symphony, Sinfonia antartica.
Jean Sibelius – Talvikuva (Winter Scene) from Five Sketches, Op. 114
Sibelius completed the work in 1929. It would be his last published work for solo piano. Talvikuva is the second of the five sketches.
Carter Pann – Slalom
“Slalom” is a series of skiing vignettes. Section titles include “First Run,” “On One Ski, Gyrating,” and “Open Meadow, Champagne Powder.”
Jacques Ibert – La promenade en traineau from “Petite Suite”
Ibert’s 1944 piano work is entitled “Small Suite in 15 Scenes.” No. 7 is more popularly known by its English title, “Sleigh Ride.”
Randall Thompson – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Frostiana: Seven Country Songs was completed by Thompson in 1959. Robert Frost was a friend of Thompson’s. The work was commissioned for the bicentennial of Amherst, MA, where Frost had lived.
