Music for a rainy day....

[André Le Nôtre]

Yeah, yeah, Chopin raindrop prelude GTFO. 

A rarity, we are actually having some rain today in the Loss Angeles/HELL A area. I am celebrating by sitting by the window listening to some music--but not so loud that it drowns out the magnificent sounds of the rain! I enjoyed a couple short baroque violin concertos by Torelli and Marcello, played by Ricardo Odnoposoff. Now I have the Mendelssohn Songs Without Words, played by Ginette Doyen on 1950s Westminster LP.

For the 1% of you who appreciate/love the rain (we can't all be superstars), what do you like to listen to with it?

[SimonNZ]

Well, rain is one of my favorite sounds, so I'll turn OFF the music when it starts so as to enjoy it fully. But to accompany it probably some DreamPop like Beach House or Mazzy Star. Not classical because the rain would obscure some of the subtleties.

[DavidW]

For the 1% of you who appreciate/love the rain (we can't all be superstars), what do you like to listen to with it?

Where I live and in most places of the world rain is so frequent that the question doesn't make much sense!  You might as well ask what do you like listening to when the Sun is out?

[André Le Nôtre]

Well, rain is one of my favorite sounds, so I'll turn OFF the music when it starts so as to enjoy it fully. But to accompany it probably some DreamPop like Beach House or Mazzy Star. Not classical because the rain would obscure some of the subtleties.

Much of the time I agree with you about no music to obscure the sound of the rain. however, if the rain goes on for long enough, I find that the rain and the right music make a very nice combination (add a glass or two of wine or cognac maybe... or even tea).

Sometimes--e.g., the 362 days of the year we have no rain--I'll turn on some recorded rain sounds on my PC and have another app play some music to go along with. Actually one of my favorite rain-music combinations is Rain + Chet Baker/Bill Evans. 

[André Le Nôtre]

Where I live and in most places of the world rain is so frequent that the question doesn't make much sense!  You might as well ask what do you like listening to when the Sun is out?

It sounds like my kind of place (and you must have good BBQ and cheap flights to Europe). I lived in Vancouver BC for nearly four years, and I never once tired of the rain. We may retire in Ireland ( I am a citizen), and I always smile when people warn me about the rain!

[DavidW]

We may retire in Ireland ( I am a citizen), and I always smile when people warn me about the rain!

Reminds me of this-- https://youtu.be/-HLDLMzdmt4?t=136

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Nice thread. I prefer rainy days to sunny days.
Scriabin preludes, or Mississippi country blues.

[Mandryka]

Peter Ablinger has transcribed the rain, here for percussion

https://www.youtube.com/v/fqIMbT7DEaQ&ab_channel=belanna000

[André Le Nôtre]

Peter Ablinger has transcribed the rain, here for percussion

https://www.youtube.com/v/fqIMbT7DEaQ&ab_channel=belanna000

I prefer the avant-garde genre based on this that also includes recordings of Amazonian three-toed sloth farts superimposed over random tones generated by a mechanical quarter-tone augmented digeridoo. (Dwarves speaking backward is so 2020!) 

Seriously though, that's very nice, thanks! In fact, drops do have different frequencies and different rhythms as they strike different surfaces as they fall from the sky, rain gutter, roof, trees, etc. I do find it to be very musical, as with the wind and sounds of the ocean, etc.

Years ago I saw different sets of chimes made for rain that would mimic this. One version consisted of an enclosed box with chimes at the bottom, a bunch of little ball bearings, and a magnet at the other side. After you invert the box, the BBs stick (weakly) to the magnet, and then fall randomly so strike the chimes, thus mimicking rain. I have not been able to find such rain chimes for sale anywhere in many years. I am still looking.

[vers la flamme]

It's got to be Satie for me, also the Ravel Left Hand Concerto, and anything played by Samson François.

[Uhor]

Takemitsu has:

Rain Spell
Rain Coming
Rain Tree Sketch
Rain Tree Sketch II
Rain Tree
Rain Dreaming
Garden Rain

[vandermolen]

I live in England, so I have to like the rain! Also, it makes the countryside and parks nice and green.
I like 'Little April Shower' from 'Bambi'( 1942)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saa98l0yDYQ

[ritter]

Takemitsu has:

Rain Spell
Rain Coming
Rain Tree Sketch
Rain Tree Sketch II
Rain Tree
Rain Dreaming
Garden Rain

All that rain would inevitably lead to Stravinsky's The Flood 

Two pieces that come to mind regarding rain: Debussy's Jardins sous la pluie (from Estampes) and Quelques aspects de Nous n'irons plus au bois parce qu'il fait un temps insupportable (from Images oubliées)

[pjme]

All that rain would inevitably lead to Stravinsky's The Flood 

...or Saint Saëns' Le déluge.
https://youtu.be/jT8J7Uya0HY
Don't forget Eislers 14 Arten den Regen zu beschreiben, Brahms' Regenlied, Bach's cantata Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt.

OrelSan and Stromae...: https://youtu.be/37StRy0LEbI 
and this ... ..: https://youtu.be/ngZurdPM-ec

[Mirror Image]

Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch II

https://www.youtube.com/v/73hXRuRJDFQ

[Wanderer]

It's got to be Satie for me, also the Ravel Left Hand Concerto, and anything played by Samson François.

I like these suggestions. I'd add Medtner's Vergessene Weisen (Opp. 38 & 39), Sonaten-Triade, Second Improvisation and Sonate-Idylle, Scriabin's Fantaisie and Sonata No. 4, Schumman's Waldszenen, Liszt's Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. And anything by Debussy.

[springrite]

The first thing that comes to my mind is:

Vierzehn Arten den Regen zu beschreiben (Fourteen Ways to Describe the Rain) by Eisler

Nothing can be more perfect!!!

[DavidW]

Well it is raining today and I listened to Beethoven and Schubert.  So I guess that is the answer.  Late classical and early romantic.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

Raining cats and dogs here (love that expression) and many of the thoughts expressed in this thread made me think of an extraordinary French proem, Pluie, by Francis Ponge, which I hope will not be considered inappropriate here.   Original French and translation:  https://www.babelmatrix.org/works/fr/Ponge,_Francis-1899/Pluie/en/36498-Rain

[André Le Nôtre]

Another rainy day here (I love it!), and I have chosen as my first piece:

Mozart Divertimento for String Trio in E-flat, K 563--played by Heifetz, Primrose, and Feuermann on an RCA LCT (reissue from 78 rpm) LP!



Still in a Mozart mood... Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K488, played by Solomon and the Philharmonia Orch, Herbert Menges, cond.