Classic F.M

[Harry Bloomfield]

I was in the middle of watching 'Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World'. Again. It never gets old, and i can't understand why it bombed at the box office yet audiences lap up endless sequels to Marvel movies. Baffling. Bach, Boccherini and battles to make your hair curl. Allusions to classic poetry and a diversion into the theories of Darwin being explored sixty years before he published Origin of Species...and two weevils.
If you have not seen it i beseech you, sir, in the name of King George and the Lord Nelson, to watch it with great glee and wonder at the deeds of the Royal Navy when Britannia did indeed, Rule the Waves.

It's on the quite select list of my all-time favourites.

 

[Odds]

For this video, a new edition was prepared from the original sources, prints and manuscripts for Vivaldi's music. In preparing this performing edition, we made the musicological decision that the indication for mutes in the Allegro ("con Sordine") for the violins is misplaced in the original print (there is no indication in the Manchester part books), and the mutes should be in the Largo (and, importantly, not in the final movement).

The mutes now provide a textural fence between the violas and the soloist. Vivaldi writes that the last movement is a rustic dance to the sound of bagpipes (“Zampogna”). So we also listened to some old style Italian bagpipes and added a few notes to the drones in Vivaldi's bass part to recreate this brilliant and special sound. Here is our new version, with the muted violins in the slow movement, and the vibrant, un-muted final allegro.

Italian bagpipes?

 

[berty3000]

I discovered this on Classic FM years ago. I used to listen to that station whilst driving.

Rodrigo - Spanish guitar for the warmer weather:

^^ this track part of: