An evening of light classical pieces. What would you choose?

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

A bit of a flight of fancy for the Easter weekend inspired by a hawk in London (I kid you not).

If you were putting on an evening of 'light' or 'popular' orchestral music what would you choose and which orchestra would play your carefully selected programme?

I'd probably have one of the BBC orchestras playing all these. I can't conduct but wouldn't it be wonderful to have a go?


I was reminded of how much I loved the following tune when it was used on BBC Radio this morning as incidental music on a feature about George, the Harris hawk who keeps The Mall free of pigeons whose droppings corrode the buildings (I told you I wasn't joking about this idea being inspired by a bird).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAG11eworFU"]YouTube - 633 Squadron Theme[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

One of my very favourite tunes.
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0aVMrsodbc[/ame]

Some more Eric Coates
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnhWxDhAk0Y[/ame]



I've loved this since I was a child.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX-gR-zzZgc"]YouTube - Glinka - Ruslan and Ludmilla - Overture[/ame]

I learned this for playing on a tenor recorder when I was about 12
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzyi3C4gNnE[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

...and this is just a wonderful piece. I defy anyone not to like it. It has such brio.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ_w_ZLmqAU"]YouTube - Danse Macabre[/ame]



Now, of course, this concert hall has a huge and wonderful organ....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2bN-l7tbqA"]YouTube - Hohman plays Mulet in Methuen Organ Concert[/ame]


My favourite planet from Holst's Planets Suite
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6NopU9K_8M"]YouTube - Gustav Holst - The Planets Op.32 Jupiter[/ame]

Nothing like a jaunty bit of Vaughn Williams.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF9r6JPqa7Q"]YouTube - Sea Songs by Ralph Vaughn-Williams[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

...and here's a very short piece in honour of my place of birth and where I continue to live. The greatest city in the world!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BavY7KjIUqc"]YouTube - Elgar, Cockaigne (In London Town) op.40[/ame]


Percy Grainger. He was an eccentric of the first water.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZOuhXJINlo"]YouTube - Handel in the Strand[/ame]


A lovely bit of baroque written for a trip down the Thames, a river that has always been part of my life including playing in one of its tributaries on many a happy summer's day

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYLBN_Y6Olo[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

...and away from London to the streets of Buenos Aires.
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=59YGuqaWJDQ[/ame]



Sibelius. This tune was on an EP in the records we children were allowed to play unsupervised so I'm very fond of it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtIw5AkUEsE"]YouTube - Sibelius: Karelia suite - Intermezzo[/ame]

I have of course to slip in a composer who doesn't usually feature in concert programmes of this type and is my very favourite composer..
I'd probably have a few of the Trocks doing a little dance across the stage.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tThUyERubP8"]YouTube - Shostakovich, Polka for String Orchestra by Spivakov[/ame]

...and finally (this is a bit like a newscast with the odd but funny story at the end). I couldn't have Kathleen Ferrier because she's been dead for years, but I found this when looking for one of her sea-shanties.

On a big screen behind the orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&h...&v=4BOrvn5MT9E

[Philidor]

Great thread! I'd want a whole evening devoted to 1970s TV themes, performed by the VPO, e.g.


[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Animal-Magic.mp3"]Animal Magic[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Rockford-Files.mp3"]Rockford Files[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Hawaii-Five-O.mp3"]Hawaii Five O[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Cannon.mp3"]Cannon[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Robinson-Crusoe.mp3"]Robinson Crusoe[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Captain-Pugwash.mp3"]Captain Pugwash[/ame]

[ame="http://www.classicalmusicforum.net/music/Alias-Smith-and-Jones.mp3"]Alias-Smith and Jones[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

Land of The Giants and Ironside!
(I'd have those as encores I think)

[Mischa]

In Phil's vain a program consisting entirely of film music (not the classics):

Starting with Korngolds "Kings Row"
http://rapidshare.com/files/22000669...kings.mp3.html

then followed by "Das Leben der Anderen", pure Kitsch-music, but compelling (anybody watched the movie?)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkf4RpC_YXo"]YouTube - The Lives Of Others Soundtrack - Main Theme (Das Leben Der Anderen)[/ame]

and some Bernhard Herrmanns like "Marnie"
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oar-fxD5D00&feature=related"]YouTube - Bernard Herrmann - Prelude from Marnie[/ame]

or "The man who knew too much" (including the shot!)[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-SkOBfy6U&feature=related"]YouTube - My favorite scene from "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956)[/ame]

And to include Wagner, the Walküre-Vorspiel, just to demonstrate, what Wagner can make out of ladies coming from oversea:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn8dy2wlXwk"]YouTube - Wagner - Die Walküre - Inicio primer acto.[/ame]

(Plus the main theme of "Das Boot" for Philidor as an encore...)

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by Dame Hilda Tablet

Land of The Giants and Ironside!
(I'd have those as encores I think)

Yes! And the theme from High Noon played live in the bar during the interval...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA"]YouTube - High Noon Intro[/ame]

[Dame Hilda Tablet]

The Radio 4 news feature that inspired this thread now has a video on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/7993544.stm