Mac'nClassicalCheese - Feb 29, 2024

Gooood morning fellow classical listeners! This morning's set list is inspired by one piece, the first piece of the show....drumroll pleaseee....Edward Elgar's "Sospiri"! So 2 summers ago in 2022, I started listening to classical music more than I had in years and I discovered a lot of new pieces and got into a lot of (relatively) contemporary composers. The big ones were Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, Scriabin, Sibelius, and Elgar. This piece specifically, and the closing piece of today's show, "Andante Festivo," were 2 of my favorites. The other 2 favorites I had from that era of classical exploration were movement 2 from Barber's violin concerto (performed by Hilary Hahn lol), and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. But I've already played those 2 pieces on the show before:) Can't believe it took me this long to play Andante Festivo and Sospiri, but they are so so pretty. So basically, key takeaway is that today's show is all about beautiful melodies that are a *wee* bit dramatic, but on the whole kind of light and remind me of sunny, peaceful days out in nature. So I hope this playlist, like the title of the piece it revolves around, is kind of like a breath of fresh air. Let's play some tunes!