Iders has started something which has been on my mind just recently, and already the responses are flooding in...
A few months ago, I posted this, because the Pink Floyd classic made me get all the old LPs, cassettes etc. out, not to mention scouring the Youtube offerings!
What I want to do here is continue the quest for the RoHoBoN moments (Raising of hair on back of neck), and kick off a new series, following the first one with 'Echoes' of course, and present probably my all time favourite RoHoBoN ever...
Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony is so beautiful right from the beginning, but the few moments from 2.02, rising to 2.13 and then arriving at a gigantic soaring triumphant phrase, with a spectacularly dramatic, exhiliaratingly gorgeous high crescendo at 2.17, means I have to climb down several stairs from the ceiling, with severe palpitations and nerves all a-tremble, every time I hear it!
It really is the most emotive few seconds of music I've ever heard, and just to share the thrill with everyone, here it is...
Turn the volume up so those living three villages away can hear it!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed stirring music, Scrobs. Thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteThe music director at church is good and he played a stirring piece that sounded like it should be the sound track of a silent movie - you could imagine the drama as you sat listening. He can be a bit naughty and when he played the opening notes we all jumped :-) It was superb. I'll ask him what it is tonight. He usually plays something after the choir has gone in after the service and I thought it was him practicing the other sunday when I arrived at the end of sunday school. I thought he was playing one of my favourite hair-standing pices; Toccata and Fugue in D minor, but it wasn't him, it was a boy of about 13 or 14 he'd been teaching that was practicing. And wow! I listened to Toccata on Classic FM approaching the choir festival my babes were part of last sat and that recording was superb. I wish I could have written it down. What joy that service was. The music truly lifted the soul.
When I used to read Peter Hitchens column I always used to hear the opening of Beethoven's 5th in my head: da da da dahhhh! It was all so dramatic, such doom and drama. I think Ode to Joy has got to be one of the most rousing pieces that leaves you singing in the street after the concert.
(corrected link)
An early RoHoBoN moment for me was wandering into a rehearsal for Verdi Requiem just as the the choir broke into Dies Irae...blimey.
ReplyDeleteHere it is...I was 15 and had never heard choral music before...
ReplyDeleteThis nutter came to our school and talked to us about the making of this...more choral but with a deep groove :-) Another RoHoBoN moment. What ever happened to David Fanshaw?
ReplyDeleteEchoing around the mts of Utah as I write.
ReplyDeletePips, its an organist's warhorse, that Toccata, like Vidor's Toccata.
ReplyDeleteI love it too!
I like the idea of kids being let loose on a church organ, the decibels are much better used up there than with a squillion amps on a poorly plonked electric guitar!
Lils I love it!
ReplyDeletea character called 'Ednuttah' has written on Youtube "Can you get bored of this? 1.30 of pure adrenaline. "
Can't argue with that!
Lils I don't know what happened to him! All I know is that if they'd used that misic in 'Zulu', the film would have been over soon after it had started...
ReplyDeleteIt's marvellous, and when I first saw the title I thought it was the piece they used in "If"!
Thudders, I'm so pleased that you're bringing this superb stuff to a few more ears.
ReplyDeleteIt does bear being played like that, i.e. incredibly loud...
Killers, agree!
ReplyDeleteThey banned it one year at the cup final, and I think only eight people died in the arguments about it...
This piece Lils!
ReplyDeleteI've sung Abide With Me, along with 99,999 others at Wembley. Very fine!
ReplyDeleteWell ... where to start for hairs on the back of the neck, but when Lil mentioned this post to me, I immediately though of
Marvin Gaye - Grapevine. No brainer. Does it every time.
The Dead - tuning up before starting a show. Yeah - really - with the sacrament starting to hit, this would produce an adrenalin kick (ok - where are we going this next three hours?) and a superb crawling of the skin.
The Stones - Gimme Shelter.
The Beatles - the discordant chord that starts Hard Day's Night
All of the Matthew Passion. This is one of those "artifacts", for lack of a better word, that justifies the human race.
The fear of God bits towards the end of Mozart's Requiem. Sphincter twitching.
The start of Like A Rolling Stone, Free Trade Hall, '66, after being catcalled by the cretinous folkies in the audience, Bob turns round to the band (the Band!) and says
"Play it FUCKING loud"
And they do. One of the great Rock 'N Roll Fuck Offs!
and the same old geezer's Shelter From The Storm - simply because it always reminds me of L :-)
"Miserere" in Winchester Cathedral as a nipper. Spellbinding.
ReplyDeleteYes, Elby - the intro finishing with Keef's guitar lick on Gimme Shelter is another one.
You guys probably won't get this, but a (good) piper's lament at a funeral of a soldier.
Elbers - that's some list and your Stones item - seen as thisis a powerful contender!
ReplyDeleteNobody knew how to play that chord at the start of Hard Day's Night, but I can recall as easily as if it was yesterday, borrowing a copy and playing it with members of the band (see Scobs passim), on the music room record player and being completely blown away! "I should have known better" followed it which completed the mayhem...
Mozart has several rohobons including the signature crashing 'Don Giovanni'...
I bought the sheet music of "Like a rolling stone" and persuaded my sister (good pianist), to play the opening, and it was magical; the first few seconds is nearly iconic, and a real rohobon!
Iders - right on with the piper's lament, unfortunately there have been quite a few of late, especially with Armistice day so recent.
ReplyDeleteMiserere never fails to rohobe.
Shostakovich Piano concerto No.2 Andante.. most exquisite piece of music ever written....still don't know how to do Youtube link but just type title into search bar...and sit in a dark room and soak it up. Beyond words.
ReplyDelete@Idle,
ReplyDeleteWhilst I have never heard the pipes at a funeral, they do raise the hairs on the back of my neck for sure. No wonder the Scots went into battle with a piper.
Odd thing about the Scots; they claim the pipes, kilts and whisky as their own, but were in fact more or less last in line to come use all of them.
Useless fact number 23 in a series of 100.
Apricers - I'll listen now!
ReplyDeleteElbers - useless facts here have nothing on what I've just done now...
ReplyDeleteIf any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps was played; this brings out a new meaning of it.
ReplyDeleteHere is something Every Canadian should know. Until I read this, I didn't know, but I checked it out and it's true:
We in Canada have all heard the haunting song, 'Taps.' It's the song that gives us the lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes.
But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings.
Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the American Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia . The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.
During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.
When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.
The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.
The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted.
The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral.
The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate.
But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.
The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform.
This wish was granted.
The haunting melody, we now know as 'Taps' used at military funerals was born.
The words are:
Day is done.
Gone the sun.
From the lakes
From the hills.
From the sky.
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
Fading light.
Dims the sight.
And a star.
Gems the sky.
Gleaming bright.
From afar.
Drawing nigh.
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise.
For our days.
Neath the sun
Neath the stars.
Neath the sky
As we go.
This we know.
God is nigh
I too have felt the chills while listening to 'Taps' but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse . I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either so I thought I'd pass it along.
I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before.
Remember Those Lost and Harmed While Serving Their Country.
Also Remember Those Who Have Served And Returned; and for those presently serving in the Armed Forces.