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Some Music to Calm the Savage Beast

While Dance is freaking out, half out of his head on toxins, Barret puts on music. Familiar, soothing things. Things he knows that Dance will have to follow in his memory, reminding Dance of the bowing and fingering motions so well known in his muscle memory. These are things he’s sure that Dance will have some kind of long-term emotional associations with, even if maybe they aren’t all nice ones.

Heavens, they may remind him of screaming sessions with temperamental divas and soloists–but it will remind him of work, or the symphony, of mundane real life.

Canon and Gigue for 3 violins & continuo in D major: Canon, Johann Pachelbel

Suite for orchestra No 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air, Johann Sebastian Bach

Oboe Concerto in D minor, BWV 1059r: Excerpt, Johann Sebastian Bach

Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622: Adagio, Mozart

Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, K. 447: 2nd movement, Mozart

Concerto for oboe in D minor, Op.9/2: Adagio, Tomaso Albinoni

Orfeo ed Euridice, opera, Wq 41: Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Christoph Willibald Gluck

Symphony No. 9 in E minor (‘From the New World,’ first published as No. 5), B. 178 (Op. 95): 2nd movement, Antonin Dvorák (this is the soft, intimate string section that reminds Dance of being at home with Emma)

String Quintet in E major, Op. 11/5, G275: Minuet, Luigi Boccherini

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (‘Pathétique’) Op. 13: 2nd movement, Ludwig van Beethoven

Ellens Gesang III (‘Ave Maria’), song for voice & piano, D. 839 (Op. 52/6), Franz Schubert (the classic Maria music…bane of many soloists…)

And certainly he will be putting on many more things, scrambling around among the available music cds.

2 thoughts on “Some Music to Calm the Savage Beast”

  1. This is an excellent list!  It’s inspired me to revisit some old favorites.  I used to adore Bach, but haven’t listened to him in a long time…

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