Saturday, November 05, 2011

A query and a question for music lovers




Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra.

We heard this piece performed last night at the DSO with solo guitarist, Xuefei Yang (also Tchaikovsky's 5th and a piece by Osvaldo Golijov).

Especially lovely is the adagio in the Rodrigo piece. I was able to find out the piece was used in BRASSED OFF (with a trumpet rather than guitar) but all of us felt sure it was used in a war movie or western. Anyone know which? One person thought PLATOON. Can anyone tell me?

Secondly, this piece of music, which I have heard before, moves me like almost no other piece of music. What piece of music can bring you to tears--and it doesn't have to be classical.

Detroit Passport to the Arts, in their third season now, put on a rollicking good time with an afterglow of Spanish food, flamenco dancers and the Scottish music from the north of Spain. Anyone in the Detroit area is crazy not to take advantage of this. Six fabulous evenings at the orchestra, opera, theater for $139. The food and drink alone last night was worth the price.
To get your passport, go here.

21 comments:

Heath Lowrance said...

This is what I was able to find out, since I have nothing better to do this morning: it looks like that piece of music was used also in Rio Bravo, or something else by the same composer. Also, there's something in the movie Deer Hunter by a different composer who is often confused with this one. And this piece was also (apparently) used in many TV commercials... Does "Rich Corinthian leather" ring a bell? That's all I was able to find out.

Anonymous said...

Carmina Burana
parts of Beethoven's Ninth
The 1812 Overture

Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

So a war movie and a western. I have seen Rio Bravo many times. Thanks so much!
Yes, the ninth would make my list--esp. the choral part.

Deb said...

The 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th, especially the Song of Joy, will have me crying every single time I hear it. There is a Church hymn based on the same music and I can never make it through singing it without crying either.

Anonymous said...

Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, was the music played at Platoon. At Wikipedia there is additional information about Concierto de Aranjuez, but I have not seem Brassed Off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concierto_de_Aranjuez

pattinase (abbott) said...

I love that piece too and heard it twice last year as it was the anniversary of his birth. Thanks, Jose.
I am coming back to Spain, I've decided. There is no warmer, more wonderful country in Europe.
Hard to beat Beethoven's 9th.

Yvette said...

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov will seldom leave me dry-eyed.

Also, near the end of CARMEN I am always in tears. The music is so emotionally charged.

Also there are bits in TOSCA which move me to tears.

I always cry when Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman sing TIME TO SAY GOODBYE. It's gotten so bad that I can't really listen to it anymore unless I'm alone and can indulge in a good cry. :)

Al Tucher said...

It summons a pretty vivid picture of Clint Eastwood in his black hat and serape, but I couldn't tell you which movie.

Deb said...

An interesting little moment of synchronicity: Not long after posting my comment about Beethoven's 9th, I had to call my credit card company. I was transferred from one place to another and just knew I was going to get stuck in voice-mail Hell. But what music was playing while I was on hold? Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th. I had to smile.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Funny how often that happens. Is it just that your attention to it has been alerted or is is something otherworldly.

Anonymous said...

It was Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain trumpet version of the Rodrigo Concierto that first put it on the map.

Tear-up music? The Bach(or Bach-Busoni) Chaconne, Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad, Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending & 5th Symphony, conclusion of Mahler 2, to name a few.
Art Scott

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I'm glad it doesn't have to be classical music because I wouldn't be able to name any till I heard them again with the exception of Beethoven's 5th and 9th Symphony.

Music that has moved me in recent times, though, would be Hans Zimmer's soundtracks for GLADIATOR and BLACK HAWK DOWN, the latter absolutely haunting. I think its origin lies in Arabic music. I can't stop listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA either; the one sung by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford.

pattinase (abbott) said...

And now I have some Christmas present music for Phil.
Miles Davis--I did see that on you tube and now I will go listen to all of this.
Funny how war movies and westerns produce great music. I wonder why. Thanks!

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I agree, Ms. Abbott. The reason the music of BLACK HAWK DOWN pulls you down, rather than uplift you (which it is not meant to), is because it conveys the horrors of war in just a few minutes. It also tell us how young and innocent American soldiers are fighting other people's battles across the world, often at great cost to themselves and their families back home.

Generations are going to continue listening to Ennio Morricone's score in the spaghetti western THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE UGLY.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Just got THE MISSION from my library today. Please call me Patti, btw. Unless you prefer not to.

Dana King said...

Mahler 2. Every time.

Anonymous said...

Patti, let me know when you'll be around.

Ron Scheer said...

I cry easy, but the opening theme for the TV movie LONESOME DOVE does it for me just about every time.

I've known and been touched by Concerto de Aranjuez for a long time. Another is the Spanish guitar piece "Leyenda," which was the theme at WFMT in Chicago when I was in college. Someone was playing it at an outdoor market on a lovely autumn morning in a desert town here recently.

Anonymous said...

Finally I chime in.

STRAUSS - DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION
BEETHOVEN - 9TH SYMPHONY
SMETANA - THE MOLDAU
GROFE - GRAND CANYON SUITE
IBERT - ESCALES
BUTTERWORTH - A SHROPSHIRE LAD
RALPH VAUGHN WILLIAMS - LARK ASCENDING
DEBUSSY - LA MER and PRELUDE TO THE AFTERNOON OF A FAUN
DELIUS - OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY and BRIGG FAIR
GERSHWIN - RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Anonymous said...

and don't even get me started on film sound tracks...

Unknown said...

I agree Yvette, all are emotional, I truly love Rachs theme of pagan I. Also Chopin Nocturnal and his2nd piano concerto, so beautiful ‘