William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

Op.129; Year: ~1795; Genre: Classical Period/classical I always love music like this, it shows that "the greats" were not stodgy old folks bereft of humour. In actuality with those who are still widely-known to history it was quite the opposite. Anyway, this is a classical music lover's favourite; it is a show piece that gets played when musicians do expositions on Beethoven. Op.129 is a virtuoso piano piece with some hallmarks of the late Classical Period, but also with rumblings of the Romantic Period that had already begun to take hold, like his louder, more bombastic style.   Hear the piece on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Dokken - Into the Fire     My song pick 2 years ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - So Supernatural     My song pick 3 years ago today: The Zombies - Tell Her No   My song pick 4 years ago today: Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony - The Hustle   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Kinks - A Lo...

From: Op.130 ; Year: 1825; Genre: Romantic Period/classical Today is another "odometer rollover pick" and I was feeling like picking another one from Beethoven and I thought it would also be great to celebrate my 2500th song picked. Cavatina is the 5th movement of String Quartet No.13 and is another one of his more popular compositions, which was also one of the songs included on the Voyager space probe's Golden Record . Hear a performance by the Kodály Quartet of " Cavatina " on YouTube. Anyway, it was interesting today when I realized that if this was still a "Top 10,000 Songs," like I originally had intended, instead of a "Song a Day" blog like it is now I would be 1/4 of the way to that goal of 10,000 songs. I'm actually glad that I dropped that limitation about a year after I started this endevour. I didn't like the idea of having a definite "end" to my list and I didn't want to feel like I had to ke...

Op.125 ; Year: 1824; Genre: classical/Romantic Period It has been quite busy lately, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any less busy for the time being; especially on the weekends, but at least I am still able to get my picks in. Anyway, I noticed that song pick number is 1824, which is the year that Beethoven published and first performed this remarkable and quite historic piece of music. While it's not my absolute favourite piece of music from the master composer, it's right up there. Hear the entire 9th Symphony on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Stormwarrior - Heading Northe My song pick two years ago today: Cab Calloway - The Jumpin' Jive (Hep-Hep!) My song pick three years ago today: The Police - Synchronicity II My song pick four years ago today: Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight +

Op.13 ; Year: 1799; Genre: classical/Classical Period I noticed that 1799 happened to be the year that this piece, one of my favourite sonatas from Beethoven, was first published. So, since I've yet to pick it, I thought I would go ahead and make it my pick for today; besides it's a more than perfect piece to close out the 1700's with. Hear the first movement: "Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio" performed by Dubravka Tomsic on YouTube. Hear the second movement: " Adagio cantabile " performed by Dubravka Tomsic on YouTube. Hear the third movement: " Rondo: Allegro " performed by Dubravka Tomsic on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Chet Atkins - Tears My song pick two years ago today: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk My song pick three years ago today: Fairport Convention - Tam Lin My song pick four years ago today: Cream - Tales of Brave Ulysses +

Op. 67; Year: 1808; Genre: Classical Period/classical My song pick number today, 1770, is the same as the year that legendary composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born. He is by far one of my favourite composers and I thought I would go ahead and pick one of his pieces for today. He was one of the main composers that broke out of the "absolutes" of the Classical Period and helped to usher in the more expressive and art driven Romantic Period . I realized that I have yet to pick any of his symphonies, so I figured I would pick one of his most famous. This symphony is best known for its four-note "fate knock" theme or "riff" that the entire piece is written around. Here is the entire symphony conducted by Grant Llewellyn: Here is the first movement on YouTube. Here is the second movement on YouTube. Here is the third movement on YouTube. Here is the fourth movement on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Al Di Meola - Bianca's Midnight...

1619 Ludwig Van Beethoven - Op. 31 No. 2 - Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor "Tempest" Opus 31 No. 2, Year: 1802-1803 Genre: Classical Period/classical Being that it's a crazy day out there on the interweb, I decided I would pick a nice piece of Classic music instead of the stuff from the last 80 or so years like I normally would. Just like his other piano music, this one is a truly beautiful piece of music. If no one noticed a great deal of popular websites have put up a self-imposed blackout here in the U.S. in protest of two bills that are currently going through the process in congress. You can find out the particulars of the SOPA and PIPA laws for yourself on Wikipedia . I almost joined them in their protest by blacking out my blog, but really, only a few regular readers would miss it, so I figured if I did it, it would just seem overtly pretentious. That being said, I do fully support the actions of those sites in their opposition of these two poorly written and pot...

1491 The Walter Murphy Band - A Fifth of Beethoven From: A Fifth of Beethoven , Year: 1976 Genre: Disco/Funk I've had this song running through my mind for the last few days, so I'm kind of making a 'Funky Friday' pick today with it. This song is Walter Murphy's renowned Disco/Funk arrangement of the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I remember many years ago my dad would play one of his Super Hit records that had this song on it; my siblings and I would make him play it over and oven again. Hear A Fifth of Beethoven on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Béla Fleck & the Flecktones - A Celtic Medley: Meridian/Traveling Light/Salamander's Reel My song pick two years ago today: Finntroll - Trollhammeren My song pick three years ago today: Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly My song pick four years ago today: Fire Bomber (Humming Bird) - Remember 16 +

This is without a doubt one of my favorite pieces of music from Ludwig Van Beethoven. There is so many contrasting emotions in the song that will take the listener from the feelings of happiness, to sadness, to elation, despair and everything in between. The dynamics used in this song are simply incredible, which is a trademark of Beethoven's genius. Here is a recording on YouTube. +

I realized that I had not chosen any song written by Beethoven yet, and that needed to be taken care of. Anyway, Beethoven is one of my favourite composers/musicians of all time. One of my favorite aspects about him was how he broke the "absolutes" of the Classical Period and helped usher in the Romantic Period. This song is an excellent piece of chamber music that is still in the style of the Classical Period. Here is a recording of the song on YouTube. Here is another recording of the song performed by Ivo Pogorelich on YouTube. +