The last solar eclipse I viewed was on August 21, 2017 – just before a live air shift, as a matter of fact, so I thought why not share the playlist?
Oh hell, I’ll share the related Facebook post for that day, as well, with the playlist to follow. I hope it inspires you. Remember not to gaze directly at the sun without your special glasses, and enjoy the flooded earthquake Devil Comet eclipse!
If anything, once we’ve all damaged our retinas trying to view today’s solar eclipse, we’ll have developed a heightened appreciation for our remaining, unimpaired sense of hearing. Bask in the warm afterglow of today’s syzygy by joining me on [REDACTED] for a playlist curated from a wide repertoire of works inspired by the sun, the moon, and the heavens.
Highlights will include “Hymn to the Sun” from Pietro Mascagni’s opera “Iris,” ballet music from Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “Voyage to the Moon,” Kenneth Fuchs’ horn concerto “Canticle to the Sun,” reflective of St. Francis of Assisi’s appreciation of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, and George Frideric Handel’s “Total Eclipse” from the oratorio “Samson.” There will also be musical responses to the mythological figures of Apollo (the sun god), Helios (the personification of the sun), and Phaeton (Helios’ son, ill-equipped to handle his father’s blazing chariot).
Make us the bright spot of your day, as we celebrate the eclipse, from 4 to 7 pm EDT, on [REDACTED] and [REDACTED].org.
CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH ROSS AMICO, 8/21/2017
4:00 PM
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA: SUNRISE
COMPOSER: Richard Strauss
ENSEMBLES: Boston Symphony Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Seiji Ozawa
4:03 PM
SUNRISE SERENADE
COMPOSER: Aulis Sallinen
ENSEMBLES: Finnish Chamber Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Okko Kamu
4:11 PM
HELIOS OVERTURE
COMPOSER: Carl Nielsen
ENSEMBLES: Philadelphia Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Eugene Ormandy
4:22 PM
SAMSON (Act I, SCENE 2): TOTAL ECLIPSE
COMPOSER: George Frideric Handel
ENSEMBLES: The English Concert
SOLOIST: Mark Padmore, tenor
4:29 PM
HOROSCOPE
COMPOSER: Constant Lambert
ENSEMBLES: BBC Concert Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Barry Wordsworth
5:02 PM
PHAÉTON
COMPOSER: Camille Saint-Saëns
ENSEMBLES: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Lorin Maazel
5:11 PM
SYMPHONY NO. 2 in D MAJOR “THE FALL OF PHAETON”
COMPOSER: Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
ENSEMBLES: Prague Chamber Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Bohumil Gregor
5:32 PM
LE COQ D’OR: HYMN TO THE SUN (rec. 1947)
COMPOSER: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
ENSEMBLES: Orchestra
SOLOIST: Lily Pons, soprano
5:38 PM
CANTICLE TO THE SUN
COMPOSER: Kenneth Fuchs
ENSEMBLES: London Symphony Orchestra
SOLOIST: Timothy Jones, horn
6:02 PM
IRIS: HYMN TO THE SUN
COMPOSER: Pietro Mascagni
ENSEMBLES: Bavarian Radio Chorus; Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Giuseppe Patané
6:12 PM
VOYAGE TO THE MOON: BALLET OF THE SNOWFLAKES
COMPOSER: Jacques Offenbach
ENSEMBLES: Philharmonia Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Antonio de Almeida
6:25 PM
APOLLO
COMPOSER: Igor Stravinsky
ENSEMBLES: Columbia Symphony Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Igor Stravinsky
6:55 PM
ESTRELLITA (LITTLE STAR)
COMPOSER: Manuel Ponce
SOLOIST: Aaron Rosand, violin; John Covelli, piano
ALBUM: Heifetz Transcriptions