25 Personal Pieces of Music

OK . I was tagged to do 25 random things when I have already done so. So instead I have a list of 25 pieces of music that have been important in my life for one reason and another.

1.The Laughing Policeman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI1nPd7hezM. From Forces Family Favourites, a big part of my childhood.

2.Spectrum, Gilbert Vinter - a brass band test piece that I just LOVE

3.The Padstow Lifeboat, Malcolm Arnold - a brass band concert piece that is brilliant

4.La chi darem la mano, Mozart - I sang it really badly at school. Sorry Janice !

5.Wellington's Victory, Beethoven - I bought it cheaply and discovered orchestral music !

6.The myths and legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, Rick Wakeman - I went through a "clever rock" period in my mid-teens

7.This town ain't big enough for the both of us, Sparks - some of the rock wasn't quite so clever...

8.Cam ye o'er frae France, Steeleye Span - and some was folk-rock

9.Sweete birdes deprive us never, Emma Kirkby - a teacher told me of a free early music concert in Cardiff Museum and I will ever be in his debt. It was Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley !

10.Immortal honours, Gadsby - my all time favourite hymn / worship song

11.Matthaüs Passion, Bach - I borrowed this from the library in Aberystwyth and it brought me to tears

12.Beatus Vir, Monteverdi - sang this with the excellent Aberystwyth Bach Society

13.Symphonie Fantastique, Berlioz - very privileged to play percussion for this - it was WONDERFUL !

14.Fürchte dich nichte, ich bin bei dir, Bach - sang this, too. It's great.

15.Flute Sonata, Poulenc - Exam piece

16.Mi glywaf dyner lais - Welsh-learner in Cardiff. It was either this or Ar lân y môr

17.Flute Sonatine, Milhaud - wonderful flute piece I used to play with Steve the pianist

18.Chaconne, Bach/Busoni - heard in a free concert in Cardiff (music paradise) and immediately found my happy place

19.Appalachian Spring, Copland - also heard in Cardiff

20.Dumbarton Oaks, Stravinsky - Cardiff, too. Brilliant chamber music

21.Fantasia d-moll, Telemann - Also flute exam piece. I was glad to have likeable pieces to play !

22.Akhnaten, Philip Glass - all the operas seem to start the same way - ascending arpeggios in the bass instruments, but I like 'em anyway

23.Messe H-moll, Bach - the Credo in unum deum is surely the pinnacle of civilisation

24.Belshazzar's Feast, Walton - sang this. All bang and slash. Great fun. SLAIN ! This choice could have been the Berlioz Requiem, which we also sang in Chester Cathedral. Deafening ! I switched from bass to tenor, turned the page and had to hit high b-flat.

25.Turangalîla Symphony, Messaien - Not easy to listen to but very rewarding.

This is one of those Facebook taggy things, but I thought I'd pop it on here for all those wiser than I who eschew the delights of the volume of countenances.

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