[Martin Elster]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the link to the Pink Floyd. I enjoyed it.

I found a few other songs played on the theremin:

Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy - Randy George, theremin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXuB62SMFvA

I’ve already heard this one many times before in different arrangements (and saw the movie).

KATICA ILLÉNYI - Once Upon a Time in the West - Theremin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY7sXKGZl2w

(I also found "Over the Rainbow" played on the theremin.)

Here’s another Messiaen piece for orchestra. He also made a different version for the organ a year later.

Messiaen: L'Ascension ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Hugh Wolff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiYhHupPPFg

Here is a marverlously lively piece by 20th century Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo. It’s one of my favorite short orchestral pieces.

Moncayo - Huapango (Alondra de la Parra, Orchestre de Paris)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbgAHpD4W_8

Two other orchestral works I love:

Paul Hindemith: Symphonie Mathis der Maler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szLSnRb5wp8

Alan Hovhaness. Symphony No. 2 "Mysterious Mountain"
Gerard Schwarz & Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbOIe1GuhI&t=941s

All-Star Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz, Music Director & Conductor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PANOQ9MXFXU

Reiner · Chicago Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQZBrJmzsrc

[Joe Crocker]

Martin. Thanks for the links. I'll explore them. I was introduced to Messiaen during a sixth form class on "Music appreciation" in another world. It was quite a revelation. It is stlll on the edge of my comfort zone but I dip my toes every now and them.

[Martin Elster]

Hi Joe,

Messiaen is at the edge of my comfort zone as well. I once read somewhere that he had synesthesia: tones and harmonies produced different colors in his mind's eye.

I just found this article about Messiaen's color hearing.

https://www.musicandpractice.org/vol...iaens-colours/

His music is also replete with bird calls (as you likely know).

Catalogue d'Oiseaux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ANOcLhuXM&t=3s

Oiseaux Exotiques - Exotic Birds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7Ub_krJTJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbnTlCJ2Cow

[Jayne Osborn]

I started this thread just under two months ago, after hearing that a family member was terminally ill. We couldn't believe that she might not see Christmas, but I'm sad to report that she died yesterday, aged 44 (not from Covid).

Also yesterday, I heard this song for the first time ever. It's SO moving...

You might like to listen to the radio programme about the song here:

"...It has become an anthem of love and a celebration of life."

This song is going to be one of my favourites from now on.

Jayne

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Make sure you see the film too, Jayne. I saw it in a cinema in St. Andrews with my sister and my 12-year-old nephew in 2013 when I was spending a week with my dad shortly before he died. When I show it to my students, I always tell them what my nephew said to me afterwards: "Wasn't it a bit cheesy, Uncle Duncan?"

My mate from school is the twins' accountant. He took me to Glasgow to hear them play five days before and introduced me to them afterwards.

My current favourite number by them is this one.

Duncan

PS Before that my favourite number was this elegy.

[Julie Steiner]

My new favorite version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Reena Esmail's arrangement for solo violin, played by Vijay Gupta.

I've never seen anyone do pizzicato stuff with some of the fingers of the left hand while making chords with the rest. Wow.

[Jim Moonan]

.
I never thought I'd say it, but I have gotten sick of hearing "Hallelujah". But what I like about this one, Julie, is that it is instrumental. The lyrics to the song sometimes overpower the music composition so it is nice to hear it unencumbered... I still do love his original version here, sung alone on stage with a choir in the background. Stunning.

Btw, thank you for the video clip in its entirety. It is a moving and beautiful expression of support for the people of India during this time of great sorrow. I'm sharing it with a few friends.

For some reason as I watched the clip I suddenly remembered this version of “Let It Be” that was a part of the soundtrack of the movie Across The Universe directed by Julie Taymor (she also directed/produced the stage version of Lion King). It is an astoundingly beautiful, soulful version, even when taken out of the context of the movie.(I highly recommend the movie). Here it is. For me, it speaks to so much of what the world is in the throes of these days...

.

[James Brancheau]

I was pretty sure I'd say it, Jim. I've been sick of that song I think since I first heard it.

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Here's mine.. "Ocotillo", by Loma. Introduced to me by another poet-colleague in a different space. Thank-you!

Sarah-Jane

[John Riley]

I don't watch the tv music competition shows but my daughter sent me this clip and now I will admit to searching out this young lady's recordings wherever I can find them. To my ears, in the world of popular and jazz vocalists, she is the best I know and the wild part is she is thirteen years old in this recording. There are touches of Billie and Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone but just touches. In the end, it's all her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0JV28vgLw