WEEK FIFTEEN - GUEST DJs 2
Once again we feature choices from a number of guest DJs.
Don't forget to comment on Facebook.
Oh, and there's something different on Wednesday.
Don't forget to comment on Facebook.
Oh, and there's something different on Wednesday.
Monday June 22
Guest DJ Paul from Tonic 1 Calon Lân, Only Boys Aloud One of the first songs I sang after joining Tonic 1 was Calon Lân and despite struggling with the language, I loved the melody and still do. This version by Only Boys Aloud makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck - there is not enough left to stand up on the top of my head. If I had not been brought up in a nice Jewish family in NW London, I’d have loved to have been Welsh, steeped in male voice choirs. https://youtu.be/WyUYSCzkcecz |
Tuesday June 23
The 100th day of Tonic Jukebox Guest DJ Gerry from Tonic 1 Gabriel’s Oboe, Ennio Morricone. There are so many pieces of classical music that really move me but my chosen piece with a personal connection is a relatively simple piece, Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone. Whenever I hear it it reminds me of (daughter) Anna playing her oboe and of feeling so emotional when she played it as a performance piece twice as a young student and when she played it at my mother’s funeral. I find it just haunting - and strangely for me it can evoke joy or sadness. I also love the song version, Nella Fantasia. I realised that I didn’t know what the words were in English and when I looked up a translation I thought how appropriate they are as a song of hope at the moment. When Philip and Bryan sang it in Italian I was very moved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJhax7Jmxs |
Thursday June 25
Guest DJ Judy, Tonic's first administrator The Luckiest, Ben Folds This is my favourite song at the moment, whether in the original by Ben Folds, or being played and sung to me by husband, Philip. Although life is full of problems for all of us, there is much to be thankful for both in the past and the present. For me, this is the ultimate love song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9bRmuP-kQY |
Friday June 26
Guest DJ Gillian from Tonic 4 Cheek to Cheek, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong I've chosen this piece for so many reasons. When I was young our house was always filled with the sound of jazz records playing - with the needle occasionally jumping about a bit - this particular track was my parents' favourite who loved to dance to it. It was written by the versatile composer/lyricist Irving Berlin (as family folklore has it a great uncle of my husband's!). It was recorded in 1956 & the combination of Louis' unique singing & trumpet playing together with Ella's wonderful voice and with Oscar Peterson at the piano, Buddy Rich on drums, Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown (Ella's first husband) on double bass - a privilege to listen to. https://youtu.be/ZtiF01XhkPw |
Weekend June 27/28
The return of guest DJ Paul from Tonic 1
Mahler’s 5th Symphony, 4th movement
I have no idea why friends of mine consider Mahler to be particularly high-brow, but they do take the mickey out of me because of my passion for his symphonic music. For me, he is the composer who manages to include every possible human emotion, producing the most lyrical of melodies, which often collapse into a discordant crash of horns, only to be followed by another exquisitely beautiful phrase and so on. If you have never explored the Mahler symphonies, I would urge you to do so. It is a feast of extraordinarily beautiful music.
I have chosen two versions of the Adagietto, the 4th movement, from Mahler’s 5th Symphony, just to demonstrate how different conductors can interpret the same piece of music in different ways. The first is a Bernstein recording and the second by Valeri Gergiev. I find it hard to chose between them, hence leaving the choice to you.
You may recognise this as having been used as the theme music for Death in Venice, but this in no way detracts from possibly one of the most emotional and romantic pieces of music ever written.
https://youtu.be/e6AuSs55t64 - Bernstein (12 mins)
https://youtu.be/CFQQsu6VBYA - Gergiev (10 mins)
The return of guest DJ Paul from Tonic 1
Mahler’s 5th Symphony, 4th movement
I have no idea why friends of mine consider Mahler to be particularly high-brow, but they do take the mickey out of me because of my passion for his symphonic music. For me, he is the composer who manages to include every possible human emotion, producing the most lyrical of melodies, which often collapse into a discordant crash of horns, only to be followed by another exquisitely beautiful phrase and so on. If you have never explored the Mahler symphonies, I would urge you to do so. It is a feast of extraordinarily beautiful music.
I have chosen two versions of the Adagietto, the 4th movement, from Mahler’s 5th Symphony, just to demonstrate how different conductors can interpret the same piece of music in different ways. The first is a Bernstein recording and the second by Valeri Gergiev. I find it hard to chose between them, hence leaving the choice to you.
You may recognise this as having been used as the theme music for Death in Venice, but this in no way detracts from possibly one of the most emotional and romantic pieces of music ever written.
https://youtu.be/e6AuSs55t64 - Bernstein (12 mins)
https://youtu.be/CFQQsu6VBYA - Gergiev (10 mins)