This week’s playlist features a sweet soupcon of early 20th century Viennese violin music, surrounded by bold, yet familiar, piano works. Movies and modern concert halls have made almost all of these works hummable.
Beethoven’s chromatic motif from Für Elise appears in almost a dozen movies, including Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The 18th variation in Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations is in Groundhog Day and the TV series The Good Wife. Grieg’s music from his A minor Piano Concerto first appeared in the movies in 1939. And 514 episodes of ABC’s hit TV show Peyton Place, featured excerpts from Schumann’s Piano Concerto.
As you listen, how many of these melodies can you hum along with?
The CBC Signature Series in A minor includes a Sound Cloud recording of the original radio broadcast.
This week’s Sound Theology playlist, ST#134, includes works by Beethoven, Grieg, Kreisler, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff.