The Joy of Classical Music

This week, it’s cloud music from The Land of the Long White White Cloud.

Jian Liu performs David Hamilton - Clouds Over Aoraki.

The NZ Trio perform Jenny McLeod - Clouds

Nick Nock - Land Of The Long White Cloud

Gillian Whitehead: Clouds Over Mata-au

Ross Harris - Dark Clouds

Gillian Rivers, Ciaran Wright, Hunter Craig, and Josh Meads perform John Rimmer - Clouds over Pirongia

The Florida State Percussion Ensemble perform John Psathas - Cloud Folk

This weeks exploration of Clouds is all about the ephemeral, allegorical and esoteric.

Chanticleer perform Majel Connery - I am a Cloud

Jennifer Koh, Jaime Laredo and the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble perform Anna Clyne - Prince of Clouds

Hua Wang, Ge Zhao, Yang Di, Xuemeng Wu and Chen Yao perform Chen Yao - Cloud Herding

Apollo Chamber Orchestra perform John Luther Adams - Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing.

I was recently watching Jaques Tati’s 1967 film Playtime, which features some artful shots of modernist buildings silhouetted against azure blue skies dotted with white cumulus clouds.

It’s an evocative sight and I got to thinking about clouds and the way they interact with our psyche. The result is 3 episodes of music that examine clouds from a variety of perspectives and contexts. Based on Kālidāsa’s 4th-5th century lyric poem Meghadūta, this weeks featured work is Gustav Holst’s The Cloud Messenger.

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

Anja Arko performs Florence Price - Clouds

The Malmö Opera Chorus perform Florence Price - Summer Clouds

The Berlin Philharmonic performs Debussy: Nocturnes, CD 98: I. Nuages

Sviatoslav Richter performs Liszt - Nuages gris, S.199

The London Symphony Chorus, The London Symphony Orchestra and mezzo-soprano Della Jones perform Gustav Holst - The Cloud Messenger

A series within a series, New Adventures in Music is devoted to the thrill of music discovery and the joy of listening. Each episode features a varied selection of music that culminates with a featured work. This weeks episode features selections from pianist Tiffany Poon’s new album Nature and quite a bit from a new album called Igor Stravinsky: Late Works. This weeks featured work is a cantata from that album called That is to say, the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet, otherwise known as Threni.



Tiffany Poon performs Jean-Philippe Rameau - Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin Suite in G Major, RCT 6: XII. La Poule.

Tiffany Poon performs François Couperin -Pièces de clavecin, Livre 1: Second Ordre, XXIII. Les Papillons.

Sergei Rudnev performs his own arrangement of Lipa Vekovaia.

North Netherlands Symphony and mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland perform Igor Stravinsky - Two Sacred Songs (Hugo Wolf): No. 1, Herr, was trägt der Boden hier.

North Netherlands Symphony and mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland perform Igor Stravinsky - Two Sacred Songs (Hugo Wolf): No. 2, Wunden trägst du mein Geliebter.

Tiffany Poon performs Robert Schumann - Arabeske, Op.18.

Cappella Amsterdam and North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra perform Igor Stravinsky Threni: De elegia quinta: Oratio Jeremiae Prophetae.

Threni: Incipit
Threni: De Elegia Prima
Threni: De Elegia Tertia: I. Querimonia
Threni: De Elegia Tertia: II. Sensus spei
Threni: De Elegia Tertia: III. Solacium
Threni: De Elegia Quinta: Oratio Jeremiæ Prophetæ

A series within a series, New Adventures in Music is devoted to the thrill of music discovery and the joy of listening. Each episode features a varied selection of music that culminates with a featured work. This weeks episode features three tracks from coloratura soprano Julie Roset’s wonderful new album M'a dit Amour (Love Said To Me) and from Symbiosis: A Tribute to Bill Evans, a new album by Danish jazz pianist Thomas Clausen, his Trio, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, I’m featuring the glorious Bill Evans Suite.


Julie Roset performs Claude Debussy - La romance d'Ariel, L. 54

Julie Roset performs Charles Koechlin - Sept chansons pour Gladys, Op. 151: No. 1, M'a dit Amour

Anne Akiko Meyers and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
perform Eric Whitacre - The Pacific Has No Memory

Conrad Tao performs Adam Roberts -
Book of Flowers: No. 6 - Shavasana
Book of Flowers No. 8 - Rolling Waves

Julie Roset performs Claude Debussy - La fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 15

Thomas Clausen Trio and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra perform Bill Evans and Palle Mikkelborg - The Bill Evans Suite

1 “Interlude" into Waltz for Debby
2 Time Remembered
3 My Bells
4 Interlude (Treasures)
5 Waltz for Debby (Reprise)
6. Walkin' Up