Day 832: Rhapsody in Blue

Remember a few blog posts ago when I told you there would be several focusing on music? Well, here's another of those posts! I went to a piano recital today, as one does, and, oddly enough, there wasn't just one Disney reference...there were two!

First, as part of a piano duet, there was a performance of Nuages, the first movement of Nocturnes by Claude Debussy. I didn't realize it at first, but in the middle of the performance I was sitting in the audience just trying to figure out why I knew what notes were supposed to come next and why it all felt so familiar. It didn't take me long to figure out that, of course, that movement is in Impressions de France, just like all the other songs in the world seem to be. 

However, that wasn't the biggest Disney reference of the recital. As a finale, there was a grand performance of a new arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue featuring many of the musicians from here at St. Norbert College. Of course, Rhapsody in Blue was featured as a segment in Fantasia 2000, something Tanner even noted in the show notes in the program, which brought a smile to my face! The segment in the film depicts New York City through music, some of which you can watch in the clip below! 

If you want to catch the whole performance of Rhapsody in Blue in Fantasia 2000 you'll have to check it out yourself! Fantasia grows on me more and more everyday, probably because I'm a music major, but also because each segment is a beautiful representation of the world of music and is worth a look by everyone! 

Have a magical day!

Day 812: Beethoven

We're past Spring Break and past midterms here at college now...or at least past midterms when it comes to music. It seems my other classes prefer to have midterms after break, so there's definitely still those to worry about. However, with music done already it means we've started looking at a new composer (because...you know...three composers in a semester is more than enough for us...at least when it comes to Classical Music). We've already spent our time on Haydn and Mozart, which means that there's still one big composer left: Beethoven.

In class we listen to a lot of music, as is customary for music majors, and today we spent some time listening to Beethoven. While, we didn't listen to either of the songs I'll talk about in a minute, the works did get be thinking. Somewhere along the line I was sitting in class listening to the music and for some reason, a horse race popped into my head...which reminded me more than enough of Fantasia, because that's exactly what Fantasia is...it's music accompanied by the various stories and visual effects the animators heard while listening.

When it comes to Beethoven in Fantasia, there's one in the original 1940 film and another in Fantasia 2000, so I figured that in honor of listening to all the Beethoven I would share them with you today, partly because they're spectacular, partly because the above story is very real and partly because it's already late and I still have some work to do. So listen away and enjoy these lovely scenes from Fantasia:

Have a magical day!

Day 756: Carnival of the Animals

While doing homework over the past few days, I've been listening to a variety of music. For me, that means just about everything all across the board. Literally, I could be listening to rock music or Disney Parks music or something completely classical, which is a lot closer to the music topic of the day.

One of my music major friends was talking about Carnival of the Animals not that long ago, and that led me to wondering when I'd last heard the complete work. It wasn't hard to find the whole thing on YouTube, and then I just set the playlist on repeat while working on some French flashcards. It worked pretty well for me to be completely honest.

There was just one small problem. When you listen to a multi-movement work such as Carnival of the Animals, you have to eventually choose a favorite movement, because that's just how we work around here. If you're talking about The Planets Suite, you have to figure out which planet is your favorite (Mars or Saturn for me...definitely), and if you are indeed talking about Carnival of the Animals you have to choose a favorite animal.

Now for those of you that aren't familiar with Carnival of the Animals, this is a multi-movement work by Saint-Saens based around various animals. So you have the lions and the Tortoises and the Swans and so on and so forth. And the best part? It actually connects to Disney in more ways than one!

If you heard certain portions of Carnival of the Animals, you would definitely recognize at least one of them from Fantasia 2000, which you can watch right here:

And as if that's not enough of a Disney reference, the song is also used in the soundtrack that accompanies the film in the France Pavilion at Epcot. Yes, it's there too! Actually, a solid amount of Saint-Saens music is used in that film, and that generally ends up being the reason I listen to his music more often that other composers. Just goes to show you the power of Disney and the music they use! 

Oh, and for the record, my favorite movement is probably a tie between Aquarium and Swans. 

Also, happy birthday to the one and only Colin O'Donoghue!!!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on January 28 due to a busy schedule).