It’s funny, when you’re a kid, there’s nothing more exciting than snow. You stay up half the night, waiting for the first flake, and then in the morning you’re out the door making snowballs and building forts until your mom calls you back for lunch (grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup), and your gloves are wet and your fingers are frozen and you’re half-blind as you knock the snow out of the wales of your corduroys, and Mom tells you to take off your boots and not get snow on the carpet.
When you’re an adult, you put away childish things, and freak out.
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll keep calm and carry on, with a program designed to boost your serotonin and minimize your chionophobia (snow anxiety). We’ll welcome what comes with a playlist of snow-inspired works by Ronald Binge, Frederick Delius, Georgy Sviridov, Sergei Prokofiev, Angela Morley, Edward Elgar, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Adam Saunders.
Tune in and drop out – in front of the fireplace with a hot beverage of your choice. There’s no music like snow music, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
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IMAGE: Princeton’s own Patrick McDonnell tells it like it is
Tag: snow
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Let It Snow on “Sweetness and Light”
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Jingle All the Way on “Sweetness and Light”
Yes, I know the winter solstice isn’t until next Sunday. But from where I’m typing, here on the East Coast, we’re expecting snow! Perhaps you’ve already had your share where you are. That’s the wonder of worldwide streaming. You could be sipping piña coladas south of the Equator, for all I know. But here, I’m busy designing an all-weather food-station for my backyard wildlife.
Be that as it may, since by next Saturday I’ll already be going full-bore ho-ho-ho, now’s the time to get a jump on Old Man Winter on “Sweetness and Light.” I’ll do my unlevel best to conjure some seasonal atmosphere, in providing a pleasant backdrop for compiling your holiday checklist and perhaps even filling out a few Christmas cards over a cup of tea. It will be all music evocative of wintry scenes and activities.
We’ll hear works by Philip Lane, Frederick Delius, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Leopold Mozart; also the original version of “Jingle Bells,” published in 1857 by James Pierpont as “The One-Horse Open Sleigh,” in a hilarious performance by the Robert DeCormier Singers. Be forewarned: sleighs will be “upsot!”
Put on the kettle and link arms with Classic Ross Amico. We’ll be walking in a winter wonderland on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
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13 Winter Classics Perfect for a Snowy Day
So, what to listen to on a day like today, with gravity-defying snow squalls and raging winds? Here’s a baker’s dozen worth of suggestions, with audio links, posted alphabetically by composer.
Sir Edward Elgar – The Snow
Howard Hanson – Symphony No. 1 “Nordic”
Icelandic Traditional – Edda: Baldur’s Dream, rendered by Sequentia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1qm–InMLQDavid Lang – The Little Match Girl Passion
Franz Liszt – Transcendental Etudes: Chasse-neige
Sergei Prokofiev – Alexander Nevsky: Battle on the Ice
Henry Purcell – King Arthur: Song of the Cold Genius
Einojuhani Rautavaara – Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra):
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Christmas Eve
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 2
Georgy Sviridov – The Snow Storm
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Sinfonia Antarctica
Richard Wagner – Richard Wagner, Die Walküre: Act I, “Winterstürme”
You’ll be able to hear some of “Alexander Nevsky,” as written for the film (as opposed to Prokofiev’s concert arrangement), along with another work by Sviridov, “Time Forward,” on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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