Saint-Saens again this time. One of my favorite pieces by this composer is Carnival of the Animals, and the Aquarium movement from this orchestral suite is perfect for invoking a spooky aura. The Fossils movement isn't bad for getting into the Halloween spirit, either, but unfortunately I didn't like any of the YouTube videos I could find for either movement.
But I can't let my last Halloween Music Monday post be so boring, so here is quite an enjoyable animation in the style of The Nightmare Before Christmas, to the tune of Funeral March of a Marionette, by Charles Gounod, a contemporary of Saint-Saens, and a fellow countryman. In the video, the music doesn't begin until almost two minutes in, just fyi. This animated short was created by Eric Fonseca, an artist from San Antonio, according to the blurb on his YouTube page.
You may know of another little ditty by Gounod with the title Ave Maria, though he composed only the melody there, and a more famous composer wrote the underlying prelude (J.S. Bach). Other of Gounod's compositions that are still performed today include his operas, Romeo & Juliet and Faust.
Happy Halloween!
Showing posts with label Saint-Saens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint-Saens. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Music Monday - Halloween Music No. 1
In honor of that most enjoyable of holidays which is fast approaching (25 days and counting), I give you this extraordinary version of Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens as performed by Vesko Eshkenazy.
This work is usually performed by a full orchestra, though arrangements for piano solo (by Franz Liszt and by Vladimir Horowitz) and for organ solo (arr. Lemare) and likely others also exist. I like this arrangement for violin and piano, which is probably the one transcribed by the composer himself.
As an aside, I first heard a snippet of this piece as the introduction of the British tv mystery series Jonathan Creek, and had to investigate to find out what larger work to which it belonged. I must have heard it before (I've been listening to classical music since I was in the womb), but it never clicked with me before that time. Tune in next week for another great violin piece from a fantastic mystery series.
This work is usually performed by a full orchestra, though arrangements for piano solo (by Franz Liszt and by Vladimir Horowitz) and for organ solo (arr. Lemare) and likely others also exist. I like this arrangement for violin and piano, which is probably the one transcribed by the composer himself.
As an aside, I first heard a snippet of this piece as the introduction of the British tv mystery series Jonathan Creek, and had to investigate to find out what larger work to which it belonged. I must have heard it before (I've been listening to classical music since I was in the womb), but it never clicked with me before that time. Tune in next week for another great violin piece from a fantastic mystery series.
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