One of my favorite songs

Or pieces, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, there are a few pieces of music that I am just head over heels for. Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy, Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky, Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, Liebermann's Flute and Piccolo Concertos, the list goes on and on. I just love music so much! It's impossible for me to pick a single piece that I love the most.
But there is this one piece of music that I always feel like I'm in the mood to listen to. If I'm happy, sad, anxious, whatever, it's always something that I can listen to and fully enjoy.
Drumroll, please.
Romeo and Juliet Before Parting by Sergei Prokofiev.
Seems so random, huh? Haha, well, yeah. This little bit from Prokofiev's ballet score is one of the most magical moments of music I've ever heard. Prokofiev is often remembered for his more goofy sounds, his quirky instrumentation and mastery of rhythm and dissonance. However, those skills he used to create comedically grotesque musical scenes were also used to create some of the most tender music ever written. His instrumentation here is chamber like, with just a few instruments or groups playing at a time, until the soaring 'adagio' section towards the middle of the piece, where the whole orchestra flies under a noble brass melody. But before it gets so loud, it actually starts so incredibly intimate.
The strings play a very soft 'pitter-patter' that reminds me of how rain sounds when you hear it hitting a closed window. Then the flute starts playing a winding, rather uncertain melody that is nevertheless filled with sweetness. To me it sounds like waking up in bed just before the sun comes up, and you are waking up to a rainfall.
Later in the piece, a new theme is introduced. If you've heard or seen the whole ballet you'll recognize it as having first appeared in the balcony scene. This new theme is more 'cinematic' and romantic sounding, first being handled delicately by a viola solo, then to clarinets and other woodwinds, then to a glowing and winsome tenor sax, and finally to the strings who give the most dramatic rendition yet. Then comes the sweeping and breathless 'adagio' I mentioned before. Despite being marked adagio this part actually feels very fast, because of what the other members of the orchestra besides brass are doing. It sounds like a massive wave of sound, it's incredible.
I'm not sure why I decided to write this blog post now of all times, but I'm kinda down and I wanted to share one of my favorite pieces in case you guys are feeling down and need a sec to catch your breath with some lovely music. What's a piece that helps you out when you get really sad or anxious?
Stay frosty, friends.




Here's my favorite recording with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philarmonic. <3