# Wintery Music



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

I pulled my 2011 winter music montage out of the vault this month.

They don't call my part of the world *the Great White North *for nothing - seems that we have six months of winter every year, and you'd better find something to like about it or you may be in for some hard times...

The montage focuses on works that find their inspiration in two things that can be both a _curse _and a _blessing_: _ice _and _snow_.

Our main representative for ice is, as you'd expect it, the _Skater's waltz_. Snow, it turns out, has inspired its fair share of composers, including the likess of *Debussy*, *Tchaikovsky *and Quebec's own *André Gagnon*. Along with skiing, sledding has evolved from a necessary way to move around into more of a form of snowtime enjoyment - and they are delightfully portrayed by *Mozart *and *Leroy Anderson*.

Avoiding the obligatory *Vivaldi *look at the season, I chose to look at two different versions: a very short snippet from *Glazounov*'s ballet _The Seasons_, and this less-played ballet on the four seasons from *Verdi*'s Sicilian Vespers.

From Tchaikovsky, in addition to the _Waltz of the Snowflakes _from the Nutcracker (TEASER: Look for a complete performance of _the Nutcracker _on my podcast later this month), I programmed the finale from his first symphony subtitled _Winter Daydreams_.

The aforementioned Gagnon also took a stab at the four seasons - this one adapted Quebec folk songs in the baroque style. One of Quebec's most beloved folk singers and poets is *Gilles Vigneault*, a colourful man who often sings of his home region, the upper North Shore of the St. Lawrence River. Gagnon used three of his songs to create the "winter" concerto of his four seasons - here is a YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD139D4CEF61010A2

The final work of today's montage is the original performance of Vigneault's most famous song "Mon Pays" (which translates into _my homeland_), viewed by many of us as an unofficial anthem of French Canada. Vigneaul;t's lyrics eloquently states (in my own translation) "My homeland isn't a land, it is winter".

Happy Listening - and stay warm!

*ITYWLTMT Podcast Montage #35 - Ice and Snow
(Originally issued on Friday, December 16, 2011)​*
*Emile WALDTEUFEL (1837-1915)*
_Les Patineurs_ (Skater's Waltz), op. 183	
Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, conducting

*Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908) *
_Snegurochka _(Snow Maiden); suite from the opera(1903)	
Bolchoi Theatre Orchestra (Moscow)
Evgeni Svetlanov, conducting

*Alexander GLAZUNOV (1865 -1936)*
"Winter Snow" from _Vremena goda_ (The Seasons), op. 67	
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ondrej Lenard, conducting

*Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) *
German dance no. 3 in C Major, K. 605, no. 3 "Die Schlittenfahrt" (Sleigh-Ride)
Symphony Nova Scotia
Georg Tintner, conducting

*Leroy ANDERSON (1908-1975)*
_Sleigh Ride _(1948)	
USAF Heritage of America Band

*Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)*
_I Vespri siciliani_ (The Sicilian Vespers) (1855)
Excerpt from the Act III ballet (L'inverno - Winter)	
Orchestre de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo 
Antonio de Almeida, conducting

*Claude DEBUSSY (1862 -1918) *
"La neige danse" (The Snow is Dancing) from _Children's Corner_, L. 113 
[orchestration by André Caplet]	
Ulster Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier, conducting

_Des pas sur la neige_ (Footsteps in the snow), extrait from Préludes I for piano, L. 117	
Sergey Schepkin, piano

*Pyotr Ilich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)*
Finale (_Andante lugubre - Allegro maestoso_) from Symphony no. 1 in G minor, "Zimniye gryozy" (Winter Daydreams ), op. 13	
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton, conducting

"Dance of the Snowflakes" from _Shchelkunchik _(The Nutcracker), op. 71	
Kirov Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, conducting

*André GAGNON (*1939)*
_Neiges _(Driven snow) (ca. 1975)	
Studio ensemble
Girls' choir from the Fine Arts Core Education school (Montréal)
André Gagnon, piano & conducting

*Gilles VIGNEAULT (*1928)*
_Mon Pays_ (My homeland), from the soundtrack of L_a neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan_ (The snow has melted on the Manicouagan river) (1965)	
Gilles Vigneault
uncredited accompaniment


Original Bilingual Commentary: http://itywltmt.blogspot.ca/2011/12/montage-35-ice-and-snow-flocons-et.html

Detailed Playlist: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/107804913/pcast035-Playlist

Podcat Link (Internet Archive): http://www.archive.org/details/IceAndSnow

Poscast Link (Pod-O-Matic): http://itywltmt.podomatic.com/entry/2013-12-03T00_00_00-08_00 (Link valid until 31 December 2013)


*December 6, 2013, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "Tchaikovsky Concertos (Part I)" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel . Read more December 6 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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