GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => General Classical Music Discussion => Topic started by: Maestro267 on July 17, 2022, 01:12:23 AM

Title: Music for the heat
Post by: Maestro267 on July 17, 2022, 01:12:23 AM
What's the music that most evokes the heat to you?
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: Iota on July 17, 2022, 02:15:20 AM
Large swathes of Debussy's music have always seem to conjure up a heady, hazy kind of aura of heat for me, whether intended or not. He seems to capture the inherent reverie of a world bathed in warmth. Some obvious examples that spring to mind are  Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Reflets dans l'eau from Book 1 of Images, but it's a sort of across the board/in the DNA sort of thing.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: DavidW on July 17, 2022, 05:57:04 AM
Summertime and the living is easy... not classical but an honest answer.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: pjme on July 17, 2022, 08:43:55 AM
I was reminded of Frank Martin's "Les éléments", a work I only knew in an old Haitink/RCO performance.
This Swiss ensemble isn't bad at all! Go for "Le feu".

https://www.youtube.com/v/fi6w9SoEMoo

And also: Bernd alois Zimmermann: Symphony in one movement - sounds like a volcano.
https://youtu.be/oxiyVwJ92cg

and Akira Miyoshi: Concerto for orchestra - - 10 minutes of licking flames!
https://youtu.be/CUucxvYfXd0
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: Spotted Horses on July 17, 2022, 09:18:37 PM
It wouldn't occur to me to listen to music which has any reference to the weather I am experiencing. But I would associate heat with a piece like Honegger's Pastorale d'été, with it's languid themes, suggestive of heat making it too much of a bother to do anything vigorous.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: vandermolen on July 17, 2022, 11:29:04 PM
Quote from: Spotted Horses on July 17, 2022, 09:18:37 PM
It wouldn't occur to me to listen to music which has any reference to the weather I am experiencing. But I would associate heat with a piece like Honegger's Pastorale d'été, with it's languid themes, suggestive of heat making it too much of a bother to do anything vigorous.
Good choice!

Frank Bridge 'Summer' and Delius 'In a Summer Garden'.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: DaveF on July 18, 2022, 12:01:57 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on July 17, 2022, 11:29:04 PM
Delius 'In a Summer Garden'.

Oh, that is just the most gorgeous piece - especially, for me, conducted by Handley on the old Classics for Pleasure disc.  But this 40° heat that we - or at least you, our poor English neighbours - are expecting, is something else altogether, which is why my mind turned to the Act 3 Sinfonia from L'Orfeo, with Orpheus standing at the gates of Hell.  Something about the rasping sounds of cornetts and reeds on (unfortunately) Pickett's recording suggests really extreme heat.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: vandermolen on July 18, 2022, 12:42:56 AM
Quote from: DaveF on July 18, 2022, 12:01:57 AM
Oh, that is just the most gorgeous piece - especially, for me, conducted by Handley on the old Classics for Pleasure disc.  But this 40° heat that we - or at least you, our poor English neighbours - are expecting, is something else altogether, which is why my mind turned to the Act 3 Sinfonia from L'Orfeo, with Orpheus standing at the gates of Hell.  Something about the rasping sounds of cornetts and reeds on (unfortunately) Pickett's recording suggests really extreme heat.
'In a Summer Garden' is my favourite work by Delius along with his Piano Concerto.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: pjme on July 18, 2022, 01:08:53 AM
Oh dear... ;D I do not associate "heat" with gentle, bucolic or pastoral landscapes ...
I was even thinking of poor old Jeanne d'Arc at the stake or Don Giovanni being dragged into hell and other fiery horrors.

earlier, I tried here to sing the praises of Philippe Hersant's "Cantique des trois enfants dans la fournaise" (Canticle of the three children in the furnace?).
A lovely & sweet work for the same forces (and instruments) as used in M.A. Charpentier Messe à quatre choeurs...
https://youtu.be/-oiBhzKgphU
https://youtu.be/kL9WRv75qpM

and

Benjamin Brittens parable :The Burning Fiery Furnace




Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: Olias on July 18, 2022, 07:29:54 AM
The obvious one is the first movement of Vivaldi's "Summer".  I can hear the stifling humidity in every bar.
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: Szykneij on July 19, 2022, 02:54:44 PM
I think Samuel Barber captured the essence of the current heat wave weather we're experiencing here in his "Knoxville:Summer of 1915".
Title: Re: Music for the heat
Post by: vandermolen on July 19, 2022, 03:14:13 PM
Quote from: Szykneij on July 19, 2022, 02:54:44 PM
I think Samuel Barber captured the essence of the current heat wave weather we're experiencing here in his "Knoxville:Summer of 1915".
Great choice!

To get away from the heat over here I'm tempted to play Sinfonia Antartica by Vaughan Williams.