Dumbing Up

Here it is, another post where people are going to accuse me of “dumbing up” the blog…

*sigh*

Was listening to Eileen Dunne on Lyric yesterday when she played one of my favourite classical pieces and I stopped, and lay down and listened, and for a few minutes at least all was right with the world.

I probably listen to Lyric more than any other station, it’s detox from a long day at the office, I even leave it on overnight when I’m sleeping; a habit I got into long ago.

Frequently I hear Eileen, Gay, JK, The Blue Of The Night, Eamonn and the brilliant George HamiltonMovies And Musicals is one of my favourite things on the radio… I have to confess I pass by Aedín Gormley fairly often in the coffee bar, her desk is about a 15 second walk from mine… but I haven’t quite gotten up the gumption to say hello just yet…

I fell into classical fairly early on. My dad, in another lifetime, was the warehouse manager for Polydor in Ireland and so there was always stuff from Deutsche Grammophon around the house. I thought I’d put a few up here, share my passion and see if anyone gives a flying fig or if this is just another one of those things that I like that I have in common with the over 60s 😉

There are a few I couldn’t live without (very poppy and mainstream for classical but I’m no expert).

The one Eileen was playing was the second movement of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto…

There’s Debussy’s Clair De Lune from the Suite Bergamesque…

This must be the third appearance here recently for George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue…

Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz…

Mars from Holst’s Planets Suite…

Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2…

And the overture to Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro…

There are dozens more but it’s late and I’m being lulled to sleep just listening…

9 thoughts on “Dumbing Up

  1. You are dumbing UP this blog O Shea!!

    I like it 🙂

    Blue Danube is one of my favourite pieces. Andre Rieu’s recent version is just magnificent. Definitely one of my wedding tunes.

    You should check out a guy called Victor Borge. You’d like his comedy. Very very old school and music-geeky but funny.

  2. You are most definitely not alone on your Lyric/Classical buzz my dear. Three of the first albums uploaded to the new Sony HDD Jukebox in my sitting room were…Strauss, Vivaldi and Mozart 🙂 One of the lovliest city breaks I’ve ever had was to Vienna. Magical performances everywhere you look.

    Plus, when you’re not on 2fm what’s a girl to listen to?! Lyric, that’s what.

  3. Ha-definitely not dumbing up! I do the same on occasion for some head cleansing music- listen to so many tunes from new bands that its refreshing to sit back and listen to different composers. Some old favs are Vivaldi’s cello concertos and Saint-Saëns symphonies. Recently came across some of Telemann’s Oboe concertos that are just sublime and really good on the ear. When I was still in Maryland I saw the Takács Quartet and if you ever come across their recordings snap them up since they have a great sound no matter which composer they playing.

  4. Beautiful stuff. I like my classical. My happiest days in work are when I have to source this kind of thing for music CDs. Yay for over 60s pursuits.

  5. Movies and Musicals is a great great show, particularly after Uncle Gaybo gives out for a few hours. I do great cooking every Sunday when they’re on.

    As you know the Rachmaninov ditty (ditty!?) was used to great effect in ‘Brief Encounter’… anyway it’s really just a rip off of ‘All By Myself’ by Eric Carmen. See I dumbed its ass right-back-down again.

  6. Nothing wrong with “dumbing things up”. I only wish i knew enough about classical music to know what stuff i’d be likely to enjoy.
    I did pick up a few of those 3 for 15 euro classical cd’s a few years ago and loved them. Got a Richard Struass one (for the tune from 2001), The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, and my favourite, Gorecki’s “A symphony of Sorrowful Songs” which is incredibly morose but really beautiful. And i only chose that cos i knew a song called Gorecki by the drum’n’bass band, LAMB. Wonderful serendipity.
    Best use of classical in a film though has to be the “Duettino Sull Aria” from The Shawshank Redemption. Made me go and search out the track.
    Anyway, If this is dumbing it up, keep going.

  7. Look at you dark horse never telling me about your classical fixations knowing I’d love to talk about it. I’m newly in love with Clare de Lune, having first come across it in the early 80s in a Japanese synthesiser version. Strauss will always be brilliant because he’s the heart of Romance. I’ve had my day with Chopin 9-2 but I’m kind of over it. But where’s the maestro from your list. You have to have a bit of Beethoven in there. He is God after all.

    You know I’ve always fantasised about having my own show on lyric where I could bring down the age and class to somewhere nearer my own level, it might be something I could do on the web. Hmmmm. With all the carefully selected 3 syllable words and Joyce quotes and talk of golf and gardening, Lyric just doesn’t do it for me.

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