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Winter music.


Naïve Old Fart

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Do jwfaners have any music (scores, or other music) that they prefer to be seasonal? Do you ever play "Winter music"? I say Winter, but not necessarilly Christmas music.

Some music can be played at any time of the year, and while I really do enjoy playing "Setting The Trap", or Handel's "Messiah" in July, they both have an extra resonance when played in December.

IMO, some music lends itself to being played in Winter, rather than another time of the year. It just seems "right" in Winter.

Scores such as "Batman Returns", "King Of Kings", and "Sabrina" all get wheeled-out at my gaff around the 15/12.

Other "Winter artistes"/music would include Jonanna Newsom (especially "Ys"), Tori Amos (especially "Under The Pink"), "The Soul Cages", by Sting, and works by Emily Barker, Rebekka Karijord, The Blue Nile, Peter Hamill ("Over"), and "...and then there were three...", by Genesis.

It might be just me, but these sparse works - either sonically, or thematically - lend themselves to being listened-to in Winter.

Anyone else feel this way?

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Well, I just received the JW & The Boston Pops CD "Joy To The World".

It maybe early in the season to listen to chrismtas songs, but it's started for me!

I've started the listening of all the piano concerto of Mozart (Murray Perahia, ECO). The keyboard music of Mozart is ideal to lighten this gray season...

But as we still are in november, the month of the dead, I'm planning a listening of the Mozart's Requiem (Christopher Hoogwood, AAM), maybe this week-end.

After that, for the holiday seasons... There will be a lot of Bach : The Great Mass in B Minor, the Magnificat in D (BWV 243), and the Christmas Oratorio, of course!

About Movie music... I have two classics : Batman Returns and Home Alone. :thumbup:

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Michael Torke's "December" always makes me think of winter, wet shoes and socks of walking on the rain, and arriving home and get warmer and dry again...

Funny enough, Torke's original title for the piece was "Rain Changing to Snow", which is particular fitting to the whole mood of it.

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Home Alone / Home Alone 2

Batman Returns

Arkham Origins

Selections from scores that have christmas-like music :

New Beginnings by Brian Tyler for Iron Man 3

Goldeneye Overture - Eric Serra for Goldeneye

Snow Business, Pipeline, Christmas in Turkey Remember Pleasure, & Ice Bandits - David Arnold for The World is not Enough

Christmas W/ Joker - Shirley Walker for Batman: The Animated Series

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You know, there is a ton of overtly wintery music that comes to mind, mostly in the vein of carols/hymns/sacred music, but I'll eschew that in favor of something perhaps slightly less obvious.

Jeremy Soule's score for Skyrim is probably my go-to music for this time of year. Wintery associations are owed partly to the fact that it was released around, and played relentlessly by me during, winter. But there is also something inherently chilly about this music, brilliantly crafted to fit the environment of the game. The whole score is highly recommendable, but as it reaches nearly four hours in length, here are a few specifics.

These two are very evocative pieces, conjuring up images of nighted snowscapes and auroras.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qeiLt2WSkw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOVWjb1WZI0

This is somewhat different, written as source music for taverns/inns etc., but equally suggestive of the season in its own way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4eAM7QvzUw

Something more straightforwardly melodic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6SjvpFBe3M

And the highlight of the whole score for me, with a thrilling climax that is doubly flooring when it happens to appear in-game at appropriate moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4VtM-bTXQ

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Michael Kamen, Dead Zone

Ah yes, Sibelius' second. ;)

(That's probably intentional, by the way. Great score overall - I'd like to see it getting a re-release)

Actually, Giacchino's Let Me In does the trick well - sparse, cold and still.

Karol

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Jeremy Soule's score for Skyrim is probably my go-to music for this time of year. Wintery associations are owed partly to the fact that it was released around, and played relentlessly by me during, winter. But there is also something inherently chilly about this music, brilliantly crafted to fit the environment of the game. The whole score is highly recommendable, but as it reaches nearly four hours in length, here are a few specifics.

As soon as I read the thread title Skyrim was the first thing to pop into mind. A great, immersing score. You can see the tundras without ever having played the game.

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Blizzard - Mark McKenzie

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - John Williams

For some reason, this feels wintry to me. That terrifying dissonance for the dementors, and the recorder solo for "Window to the Past" in particular.

"The Nutcracker Suite" - Tchaikovsky

A Bohemian Christmas - Early Music New York

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... ATTWT is definitely one of my least listened to Genesis albums, which is a shame because it's the easiest to find on my iPod. I'll give it some more attention later.

"...attwt..." is a great Winter listen, especially "Snowman". "Burning Rope" is epic, with a capital EP!

I am at a loss to say just how brilliant is "Down And Out"...My second fave Genesis track.

The Lion in Winter

What a deceptively obvious choice, and the action takes place on Christmas Day!

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I would have to say Christopher Young's Creation. It always conveys winter to me for some reason or the other.

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