av8rmike

Stolen from coffeechica and dawna. There's no way I'll be able to keep this up for 30 whole days, especially because I don't listen to enough popular music or "songs" to fill out the list. Instead, I'll just pick & choose or skip where necessary.

Day 1: Your Favorite Song

There is no way I could pick out one song or piece of music as my absolute favoritest ever, but if I had to, it would almost certainly be something by Richard Strauss. I think he's viewed as something of an egotist in the classical music world, especially for writing at least two musical tributes to himself (Symfonia Domestica and Ein Heldenleben, "A Hero's Life"). Still, the man could write some beautifully lush music. This clip is taken from his orchestral suite to Der Rosenkavalier and is the instrumental version of the final trio from the end of the opera. The first time I ever heard this suite, I was transfixed through this entire section.

Also, what is mayerman doing in the oboe section? O_o


And if you're going to insist that to be part of this meme, there has to be vocals, here you go:


( All 30 Days )

Here, have another video. I was watching "Live From Lincoln Center" the other night, and violinist Gil Shaham was the soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in an almost-all-Pablo-de-Sarasate concert. They didn't perform this work, but Sarasate's Fantasy on themes from Bizet's Carmen is one of his most famous works.

Some may say that Hilary Hahn is one of the best violinists playing today, but for my money, it's all about Gil Shaham (who's not to be confused with Gil_S, A.K.A. the_cynic.