I'd be curious to see if there are any other NarniaWebbers who like classical music.

I do too! I fell in love with classical music when I was 7 years old, one day when Dad put on a tape of it in the car. (He had classical records at home, but I think he mainly used to play them after we kids had gone to bed, as I'd never taken much notice of them before.) And as the opening bars of this suddenly poured from the speakers... well, I was just enthralled. It was THE most amazing music I had ever heard and I wanted more of it!

I also love Vivaldi's Four Seasons, plus almost anything by Mozart or Beethoven or Chopin, and plenty of others... I don't have an absolute favourite composer, but since I moved to the UK, my favourite British composer has definitely been Ralph Vaughan Williams. I don't know if I'd ever heard anything by him before I came here, but I fell in love (again!) when I first heard one of his most famous pieces, The Lark Ascending. I soon found plenty of other pieces by him that I love as well — he has a very distinctive, very "English" sound to his music (he collected folk songs and traditional hymn tunes and used them a lot as the basis of his own works).

Another one I discovered just recently was this setting of Nunc Dimittis, which I heard on my car radio a few weeks ago and it just left me gaping. Actually, the version I heard was even more beautiful than the one I've linked to here, as it was an all-choral a cappella arrangement with other voices filling in the instrumental parts — real raising-the-hairs-on-the-spine stuff. I found out afterwards that the composer was Geoffrey Burgon, who also composed the theme music for the old BBC version of the Chronicles of Narnia! (A terribly hokey but lovable adaptation, and the music brings back very happy memories, as the series came on TV in Australia very soon after I first read all the books (also when I was 7!), so that's still "the" Narnia theme tune for me. )

Classical music is a wide, wide world of listening pleasure that I've always wanted to explore more deeply. Great to see people's suggestions. The Lark Ascending is very pretty, Courtenay!

Dvorak's New World Symphony became a favorite of mine when I was a teen, particularly the Largo movement. I saw a video of the cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing it making the rounds on social media a couple of weeks ago, meant to comfort the world; it is such a moving melody.

I also really liked Wagner's Tannhäuser overture around that age... still find it quite beautiful and stirring. The funny thing is I was introduced to it by the Looney Tunes short What's Opera, Doc, which is a classic, but still. Ah well, better than not at all. Fun fact: C.S. Lewis didn't like Tannhäuser, so maybe he wouldn't have minded Warner Bros. taking such creative liberty with it. He was, on the other hand, a huge fan of Wagner's Ring cycle since his boyhood, which I intend to listen to, but it's about seventeen hours long.

My favorite Beethoven symphony is the No. 6, the Pastoral Symphony. First heard this one at around age 7 or 8 playing the computer game Where In Time is Carmen Sandiego? (Could these composers have ever imagined where their music would one day end up? )

Wanderer and Glenwit, if you guys like the Star Wars soundtrack, you should check out Gustav Holst's The Planets; John Williams drew a lot of inspiration from that. And I enjoy listening to it with Michael Ward's Planet Narnia theory in mind, weighing how much each Planet's melody fits the (hypothetically) corresponding Chronicles of Narnia book.

Well, Glenwit, at least Narnia is a wonderful place to be in! I have not listened to a lot of Haydn, so thank you for the recommendation!

Courtenay, I agree The Lark Ascending is incredible. It is so ethereal... Violins are probably one of my favorite instruments. I listened to Nunc Dimmitis at your suggestion, and wow! It also has that etheral, haunting quality about it. I also enjoy finding little connections and discoveries about the music that we like so much.

Rose, I've been meaning to listen to Dvorak's New World Symphony, although at nearly an hour, it does seem intimidating. I haven't listened to much of Wagner except Ride of the Valkyries, so I need to check out more of his work. And I did not know that Lewis was a fan of Wagner! I first was introduced to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony through Disney's Fantasia series (along with other classical pieces). For that reason, I will forever associate it with Greek mythology. Has anyone else seen Disney's Fantasia series?

I've also listened to The Planets by Holst, and I think that that symphony is wonderful. I especially like Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus. Is it just me, or does anyone else hear a little bit of The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas at the beginning Uranus? I especially like the idea of listening to The Planets with Narnia and Dr. Michael Ward's theory in mind! I'd be interested to see how well you think that the music fits.

--Wanderer

I've been listening to a lot of Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake), Vivaldi (The Four Seasons), and Camille Saint-Saens (Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre) lately, along with various other pieces by other composers (Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Grieg). I'd be curious to see if there are any other NarniaWebbers who like classical music. I would also love to hear anyone else's recommendations about composers or pieces, as I am always looking for more classical music to listen to!

Oh, yes! I love to listen to classical music! You've mentioned many of my favorites already! I love Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, and Saint-Saens as well as Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, and Grieg.

I had the opportunity to go to many recitals and concerts when I was an undergraduate, and they really helped develop my appreciation and love for classical music.

Dvorak's New World Symphony became a favorite of mine when I was a teen, particularly the Largo movement.

Me, too! It always gives me the goosebumps. I also love the choral piece "Going Home," which takes it melody from Largo. It's quite beautiful. Funnily enough, many people think that "Going Home" is a spiritual.

Wanderer and Glenwit, if you guys like the Star Wars soundtrack, you should check out Gustav Holst's The Planets; John Williams drew a lot of inspiration from that.

I actually really like Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, the fourth movement from The Planets, but I liked it because the song "I Vow to Thee, My Country" takes its melody from it.

I don't have an absolute favourite composer, but since I moved to the UK, my favourite British composer has definitely been Ralph Vaughan Williams. I don't know if I'd ever heard anything by him before I came here, but I fell in love (again!) when I first heard one of his most famous pieces, The Lark Ascending. I soon found plenty of other pieces by him that I love as well — he has a very distinctive, very "English" sound to his music (he collected folk songs and traditional hymn tunes and used them a lot as the basis of his own works).

I agree! The Lark Ascending is so beautiful! Ralph Vaughan Williams also wrote a beautiful rendition of "Greensleeves" (Fantasia on "Greensleeves").

I've been trying to branch out and listen to a variety of classic music not just the ones that most people are familiar with. I recently discovered a piano version of "Sheep may safely graze," which is an aria from Bach's Hunting Cantata, BWV 208. It is so beautiful! I also love Beethoven's Waldstein sonata (Piano Sonata No. 21) and, of course, his "Moonlight" Sonata!

I'm also a huge fan of choral music. One of my favorite composer is John Rutter. I discovered his music through the many choirs and ensembles I was involved in at college. I especially love his carols. He's also done arrangements of well-known English hymns that also quite beautiful.

~Wunder

I'm also a huge fan of choral music. One of my favorite composer is John Rutter. I discovered his music through the many choirs and ensembles I was involved in at college. I especially love his carols. He's also done arrangements of well-known English hymns that also quite beautiful.

John Rutter!!! Another of my favourites. I've sung several of his pieces in choirs ever since high school — I "discovered" him when we did his beautiful setting of For the Beauty of the Earth for my school's centenary service at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne. At the same school we used to sometimes have his version of The Lord Bless You and Keep You at our end of term farewell assembly, sung as a duet by two of the students. I felt very honoured once when I was chosen to sing the alto part!

One of my favourites by him is his Requiem, which is a hugely moving piece — as an adult, I was a member of a choir in Melbourne that performed that once, and I can still get tears in my eyes when I hear it and sing along. (Especially in the Agnus Dei, when it moves from the most anguished build-up to that breath-from-heaven flute solo and then "I am the resurrection and the life... saith the Lord...")

Rutter himself quite often holds "come and sing" days with local choirs here in the UK and I think in the US too (he's very popular over there and spends a fair bit of time there). I went to one once — I wasn't a member of the choir in question, but anyone could come along for a very reasonable fee — and it was HEAPS of fun. He is just hilarious in person, making jokes all the time, jumping around and waving his arms around everywhere while conducting, and essentially encouraging everyone to just have a great time and really enjoy the music!!

I wasn't surprised to find out last year that a choir in Edinburgh, when he came to work with them, sang a parody just for him — and as you can see from the video, he loved it!

Wanderer and Glenwit, if you guys like the Star Wars soundtrack, you should check out Gustav Holst's The Planets; John Williams drew a lot of inspiration from that. And I enjoy listening to it with Michael Ward's Planet Narnia theory in mind, weighing how much each Planet's melody fits the (hypothetically) corresponding Chronicles of Narnia book.

The Planets!
I thought I heard some similarities to Star Wars in there~I haven't it in a long time though...I'm going to have to re-listen. While reading the Chronicles. To see if the Silver Chair sounds like Mars. Or something.

Go for it, Glenwit! I think you'll notice some familiar motifs.

I'm enjoying checking out those John Rutter links, Courtenay!

I also love the choral piece "Going Home," which takes it melody from Largo. It's quite beautiful. Funnily enough, many people think that "Going Home" is a spiritual.

I like "Going Home" as well. I remember several years ago Celtic Woman actually did a song partly (and puzzlingly? ) in Italian to the melody of Largo — Non C'è Più. I remember at the time I heard it, it had been quite a while since I'd last heard Dvorak and I was immediately overwhelmed with I know this song!! feelings.

I especially like the idea of listening to The Planets with Narnia and Dr. Michael Ward's theory in mind! I'd be interested to see how well you think that the music fits.

Some planets work better than others, definitely. (Especially since I can only think of Star Wars for one of them. )

Luna doesn't appear in The Planets, but I quite like Neptune for The Silver Chair. It's beautiful and eerie; I can easily visualize scenes from Underland when I listen to it. The sea and the moon are so inextricably linked, too. (Michael Ward associates SC with the heavenly body Luna, for those who aren't familiar with the theory.) I also really like Saturn for The Last Battle... the dreadful progression, bells tolling the end of the age, that suddenly gives way to peace, beauty, and wonder is very reminiscent of the book. I also think that Venus could be lovely for later scenes in The Magician's Nephew, like when Digory's mother is cured by the apple.

Just yesterday I listened to all of Dvorak's New World Symphony, and it is so incredibly epic and beautiful! I can definitely hear a lot of Star Wars and even some of the main theme of Jaws in parts. John Williams really must have loved Dvorak ! I also recently discovered Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, which is very lovely.

On a tangential note, are there any other NarniaWebbers who are fans of John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, or similar artists?

On a tangential note, are there any other NarniaWebbers who are fans of John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, or similar artists?

Yep. This is the kind of music my mom listened to when I was growing up. Scarborough Fair is generally stuck in my head this time of year because I'm out in the garden a lot...

Over the past couple of months, I have fallen in love with classical music. I find a lot of depth in it, and there are pieces that really speak to me.

Hear-hear! Isn't classical music amazing?! I can't begin to say all the pieces I enjoy, some of which have already been mentioned above. I majored in piano at university, so had the wonderful opportunity of being taught by a masterful pianist, Kenneth Hull. We concentrated mostly on classical music, which, while very challenging, was also such a joy (and a lot of work. But so worth it!

One of my favorite composer is John Rutter.

Another hear-hear! Two of my favourites of Rutter's are "For the Beauty of the Earth" (which Courtenay linked to) and "All Things Bright and Beautiful", conducted by the master, himself. When children's choirs sing some of these arrangements, well, there is nothing quite like their pure voices. ♥ I usually have to put on an extra sweater when listening, I get chilled through.

I actually have quite an eclectic taste in music: from classical to rock to pop to CCM to hymns to movie soundtracks. The only genres of music I have never acquired a taste for are country, opera, and hard metal.

Talking of choral music, I heard this one on Classic FM (which my car radio is perpetually tuned to) a couple of weeks ago and was so overawed that I just had to sit and listen to the whole of it: Lux Aurumque, by Eric Whitacre. It's been stuck in my head — I kid you not — ever since (interspersed with other music, of course, but I just keep on and on coming back to this one). There's just something breathtakingly ethereal about it, I think. I love the way he uses dissonance, too, in just the right places so that it sounds right instead of clashing.

Here are the words and the translation — it's actually a Christmas piece, as you can see, but there's something completely timeless about it:

Lux,
calida gravisque pura velut aurum
et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.

Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.

Hope no-one minds me posting again, but a church friend just sent me this link — a recording of the Jewish priestly blessing, Num. 6:24-26 ("The Lord bless you and keep you"), sung in Hebrew to what musicologists believe is its original tune, reconstructed from markings in the ancient texts. It is just awesome!

Quite sad to see that Italian composer Ennio Morricone passed away at 91 years old today. Years ago, moderator emeritus and soundtrack buff @PrinceCor004 introduced me to a slew of soundtrack composers, and Morricone was one of my favorites... his soundtrack for The Mission is especially wonderful:

Posted by: @rose

Quite sad to see that Italian composer Ennio Morricone passed away at 91 years old today. Years ago, moderator emeritus and soundtrack buff @PrinceCor004 introduced me to a slew of soundtrack composers, and Morricone was one of my favorites... his soundtrack for The Mission is especially wonderful:

I agree. He composed some truly beautiful pieces. I'm familiar with Gabriel's Oboe only because of Nella Fantasia, one of my favorite classical crossover pieces! He also collaborated on an album with Hayley Westenra. Such beautiful music!

~ Wunder

Anyone here listen to Andrew Peterson? He's got a couple of beautiful songs that I really enjoy:

Be Kind to Yourself:

Is He Worthy: