Ai: Believe

1. how you come across to it:
In the NDS game Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (燃えろ!熱血リズム魂 押忍!闘え!応援団2)

2. why this piece?
Simply lovely and moving. It suddenly pops up recently out of nowhere. AI possesses a unique and charming voice.

Walton: Henry V - A Musical Scenario after Shakespeare (complied by Christopher Palmer)

1. how you come across to it:
It was performed in the HKPO concert last night.
It is originally from the music for the film directed by Laurence Olivier in 1944.

2. why this piece?
Splendid orchestral painting, and modern rendition of English Renaissance melodies which Walton quoted.

3. (and...)
"Both Sir Malcolm Sargent (in 1945) and the man who originally conducted the music on the film’s sound track, Muir Mathieson (in 1963), made concert suites from Walton’s complete score. However, in 1988 the Canadian music scholar, Christopher Palmer, one of the leading authorities on British music during the 20th century and a close friend of Walton, went one step further and, as he put it, “restructured the Henry V score as a piece for speaker, orchestra and chorus”. He incorporated “about 90 percent of the complete music. A few small or fragmentary sections refused to fit in, and some cuts had to be made in the battle music”. - notes by HKPO

Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2

1. how you come across to it:
From a sampler CD…

2. why this piece?
Famous for its opening 12-note tune, it has a tonal outskirt, and forever exciting.

3. (and...)
Why seldom anybody perform this here?

Bach: Passcaglia in C minor, BWV582

1. how you come across to it:
A disc in office.

2. why this piece?
Not every piece of Bach attracts wandering attention. This passcaglia is always a killer. The subject is epic, emotion steadily unfolds with constant counterpoint activity.

3. (and...)
Ton Koopman isn't a secret, right?

The Heart Sutra (as sung by Plum Village sangha)

1. how you come across to it:
In a retreat organized by Plum Village.

Apart from the mantras, Plum Village sangha often chant in English during the retreat. The tunes they use in chanting are different from those in Tibetan, Chinese or Japanese tradition. I'm not sure if those tunes are Vietnamese in origin, or written by their own.

2. why this piece?
Their chanting is consolatory. Despite the understanding that the disastrous situation will subside eventually, tears often swelling up last week.

3. (and...)
Morning chant sung by Plum Village sangha:
http://www.spokanebuddhisttemple.org/Audio/MorningChant.wma
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra in English(with Annotation):
http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enHeartSutraWithAnnotations.htm

Messiaen: Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine

1. how you come across to it:
from a radio broadcast on Radio 4. don't know why - I like it from the first hearing.

2. why this piece?
one can't imagine it's a religious piece, with such a strong primitvistic flavour in the 3rd movement.

3. (and...)
I like de leeuw's recording in the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble edition. Do not buy the Wand recording on Profil.

Janáček: Taras Bulba

1. how you come across to it:
Preparing upcoming HKPO concert.

2. why this piece?
This is mysteriously splendid. Amazed by the use of organ, trumpets and snare drum.

3. (and...)
The Decca 5-disc anthology is quite a good start if you got no Janáček. Orchestral works played by Charles Mackerras.

Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4 & 5

1. how you come across to it:
Sight-reading them.

2. why this piece?
Lots of challenges: for both sonatas, they are more like orchestral reduction than piano writing. The chords are very colorful. The sudden changes of tempo / mood are quite fascinating.

John Adams: Violin Concerto

1. how you come across to it:
finally borrowed the score which i've suggested CU lib to buy some years before
and 1st time to listen the music with score already.

2. why this piece?
a landmark piece by John Adams, "it is commonly accepted as more sophisticated than conventional minimalist works".



3. (and...)
Kremer+Nagano+LSO

Brahms: "O Tod, wie bitter bist Du?" from Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121/3

1. how you come across to it:
It keeps running in my head. "O Tod, O Tod."

2. why this piece?
This is what you see when you switch on the television recently.

3. (and...)
Youtube.com has a version sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau running with the score.

Poulenc: Quatre motets pour le temps de Noel

1. how you come across to it:
Partly intentional, partly by chance - I'm trying to learn more about sacred music by the French composers.

2. why this piece?
The 1st movement, O magnum mysterium (Oh great mystery) is most appealing to me among 4, for its aura of mystery and tenderness.

3. (and...)
The lyrics for the 2nd movement Quem vidistis pastores dicite (Whom did you see, shepherds? Tell us.) are actaully question and answer. The music is beautifully incorporated into the intonation of question and answer.

Dies Irae (the plainchant)

1. how you come across to it:
In history lesson, perhaps?
The music is quoted in Berlioz, in Liszt, in Rachmaninov, in Sondheim. The text is used in most requiem.

2. why this piece?
I were teaching some music students yesterday, and this seems to be a must-listen-to example.

3. (and...)
I've been overwhelmed by news which make me too angry these days. The words "Dies Irae" just keep hanging in my head.

Respighi: Pines of Rome

1. how you come across to it:
Testing of the reinstalled hi-fi system.

2. why this piece?
It's one of the piece in Walt Disney's Fantasia 2000.

3. (and...)
After playing it repeatedly on the hi-fi, this piece still fails to impress me.

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Battalia

1. how you come across to it:
Another conductor of my orchestra pick it and I have to conduct it in a coming concert.

2. why this piece?
It has certain special effect by strings instruments.

3. (and...)
What a cool piece! Feel like Tan Dun. (ok, ok, I still remember Biber is a composer BEFORE Bach)