Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Blog, Internet resources, online reading groups, articles and interviews, Illuminatus! info.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Eric Wagner's soundtrack


Eric Wagner (Facebook photo). 

If you missed it, Eric Wagner has been creating at Gregory Arnott's request a soundtrack for the reading group for The Widow's Son. I am putting up a link in the reading group links, top right of this page, for Eric's picks so far. Aside from serving as a soundtrack, these are good selections generally for getting to know classical music. This post will be updated. I've put up links to Hoopla, but you can search YouTube, Spotify, etc.

Week Three: Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20 #4 from 1772. Eric: ""For this week (chapters 5 & 6), I have selected Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20 #4 from 1772. Joseph Kerman frequently refers to the fugal finales from the Op. 20 quartets as Haydn demonstrating he had mastered Baroque counterpoint."

Week Four: Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Eric: “For this week I’ve chosen Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor with Friday the 13th in mind. As a kid I loved this piece. It made me think of Captain Nemo and the Phantom of the Opera.” 

Week Five: "Autumn" from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." Eric: "Monday marks the start of fall. Vivaldi’s Autumn from the Four Seasons provides our soundtrack this week."

Week Six: Mozart's first piano concerto. Eric: "“I’ve selected Mozart’s first piano concerto this week. I tend to prefer Mozart’s mature work, but Greta Thunberg has reminded me of how much young people have to offer.” YouTube link.  [If you use the first link, to Hoopla, the First is tracks 1-3.]

Week Seven: Eric: "“Since Sigismundo contemplates his life in Napoli in this week’s reading, I thought something by his childhood hero Domenico Scarlatti might work, Sonata L23 (of course). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOLyPqd-cc (Also on Hoopla, Kk380)

Week Eight: Mozart, Great Mass in C Minor. Eric: “This week’s prison setting made me think of the film A Man Escaped which uses the Mozart C Minor Mass to great effect. The prison drama The Shawshank Redemption also uses Mozart effectively, with words by Beaumarchais, by the way. Beaumarchais features in this week’s reading.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-UXqSKqds

Week Nine: The Skye Boat Song. Eric: "“I thought this week we would use the song Seamus thinks about on page 120.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuugoISmrmY

Week Ten: “Reading about sexism in Maria ’s world, I thought something by Francesca LeBrun might work this week.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWiz13fdnpE

Week Eleven. Eric: " A bit of “The Magic Flute” seems in order this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb1mvg4pUhY

(Contrast Papageno and Papagena’s trilling, matched dialogue with the conversation Seamus has with the fairies/himself as he experiences the bucket.)

Week Twelve. Eric: “In honor of Maria’s healing hands, I have chosen Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” for this week. I remember Rick Wakeman quoting this in the movie Yessongs. I play his version on piano in class when demonstrating plagal cadences.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usfiAsWR4qU

Gregory adds: "Personally, this is my favorite use of the Chorus":

https://youtu.be/PDnW5XxjwI8


1 comment:

Eric Wagner said...

Thank you for posting this. I suspect we will have some Mozart in October.