CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF OUR FIRST MUSIC

Hello, Music Lover!

Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev. This was my introduction to the orchestra, albeit an incomplete one. It must have been for my siblings too; my brother plays the clarinet, by sister plays the flute; I have a niece who plays the violin, and my dad loved the French horn. Whenever I hear a bassoon I think of Peter’s grandfather lumbering out of the forest to save him. And an oboe is always reminiscent of a duck singing mournfully from the stomach of the wolf. It’s a great story, and I still remember visualizing the animals playing their instruments. But a wolf playing a curled up horn? I had to grow up to invent how he could do that! With a nod to that childhood enjoyment, I decided to paint the animals as realistically as possible. This one is for my grandson Max, thanks to Sophie’s sponsorship.

“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!” Get a gang together, put your best foot forward, start singing this song, and you can't help feeling brave! This square has been sponsored by Maureen, for another, grown-up Max, who has been recovering for several weeks in an ICU, after an operation gone wrong. But he gets better daily, and he’ll be out soon. Take courage, Max, and know that there is a gang rooting for you out here!

May all your music remind you of good times!

Happy listening,

Susan

FEELING GERSHWIN?

Hello, Music Lover!

Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin, with thanks to Joan Hug-Valeriote, who attended our first workshop, and who had decided before she came that this was the square she wanted to do. She knew we had to include at least one of our two 35^th anniversary colours, and she just managed it in this beautiful square. Thanks, Joan!

Are you missing the lazy, hazy days of summer? Me too. But they were forever immortalized in Summertime, composed by Gershwin for his 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Here, Kathy has  done a take on her favourite lake-side retreat, with two boys lost in a reverie, oblivious of the fish jumping beside them.

Happy Listening, All! 

Susan

WHAT PEOPLE NEED

Hello, Music Lover!

The Broadway musical Funny Girl made Barbra Streisand into a singing star; the movie made her a movie star; and People Who Need People, by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, became her signature song. The story is full of ironies and bitter sweet truths, and this song is so poignant just because it is a good example of this. The singer (and who has ever done it better than Barbra Streisand?) is lonely and supposedly wishing she was one of those people who need people, as if she isn't one of those people. And yet she so clearly does need people, or rather one very special person, and yet she isn’t feeling lucky at all because she is emotionally cut off from them. It’s also a wonderful match of melody and text, and once Merrill heard the melody Styne had composed, the song apparently “wrote itself” in half an hour.

What’s important is people connecting with people, says Barb, who commissioned this square. So I have painted Streisand against her name up in lights, in the way she does that best. Everyone needs people, represented by the city skyline, especially singing stars, who even if they can’t make personal relationships last, still need people to buy tickets to watch them perform.

From one kind of sublime to another: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, from Bach’s Cantata BWV 147. This square is also sponsored by Barb, who recalls her husband singing it when they were in their first choir together.

I have always loved the text that goes with this. It is so mysterious and comforting at the same time; the melody that runs against the tune always makes me think of both a journey and a safe home. I began by doodling the letter “J” (for Jesu, Joy – and Johann) in an Old English type script, and it turned into a kind of tree and I realized that it was as if all of nature should be involved – hence  the four elements of earth, air, fire and water. The door is an invitation to soar to uncreated light. It was pointed out that the design was beginning to resemble an illuminated letter from an old manuscript, so I further embellished with metallic yarn.

May all your music today, and any other day, be sublime! Happy listening.

Susan