Hank’s playlist: “Nature II”
My “Nature” playlist is a collection of six compositions that connect me with memories of wonderful scenes in Nature.
First there is Richard Strauss’ “Alpensymphonie” is an amazing painting of hikers who travel up a mountain in the European Alps. In this music I can hear the lush forest, huge snow-covered rocks, as well as howling storms, and the emergence of the sun.
Beethoven composed his Symphony #6 as a tribute to Nature, and he wrote titles to each of the symphony’s five movements as follows:
1. Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside
2. Scene by the brook
3. Merry gathering of country folk
4. Thunder. Storm
5. Shepherd’s song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm
Grieg music is straightforward yet colorful, and it effortlessly evokes the beautiful natural world of Norway, full of fjords, lakes, and forests.
Czech composer Bedrich Smetana composed one of his best-known works to paint the picture of the river Moldau. The composition describes the course of the river starting from the two small springs up to the unification of both streams into a single current.
Austrian composer Franz Schubert is represented here with one of his most famous songs about a trout in a brook, hunted by a fisherman who seeks to catch it.
Finally, composer Gustav Mahler is included for his Symphony #4, which begins with the sounds of cowbells on the meadow in his native Austria.
Click on the Spotify playlist called “Hank’s Nature II”, and enjoy!
Tags: Nature, Playlist, Beethoven, Mahler, Grieg, Schubert, Richard Strauss, Smetana