Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student assistant Alexandra (class of 2026) featuring some classical music.
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Amy (class of 2025) and features spring-themed classical music.
Spring-Themed Classical Music That Isn’t Vivaldi
When many think of spring, Vivaldi’s Spring movement of his Four Seasons violin concerto is often what comes to mind. However, there is a plethora of spring-themed compositions from other artists across music eras, including Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist features a selection of music for a Music Library study session curated by Music Library student assistant Amy (class of 2025).
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
One of the big names in classical music, Claude Debussy, has greatly influenced the movement of music and art even past his years. His work is a great way to have a study session and or even to play on a rainy evening to unwind.
There is something so calming about his music. I love to play it when I’m studying and when I’m falling asleep, especially the song “Claire de Lune”. It has been in my playlist since I can remember and has always made me feel like I am part of some Disney movie.
Debussy has been a source of inspiration for many artists. Art is the inspiration of other art, we gather things we like and make them our own. Because of this, we see that Debussy is a very important aspect of the art community. Painters use his music to inspire a story in their artwork, theaters use his music to add emotion to a play, pianists use his music as inspiration for their own pieces. Because art is a cycle of borrow, transform, repeat, we can understand how influential a big musician was to an artist even in the 21st century.
Sometimes when studying, you don’t want to sit in total silence but you also don’t want to listen to Drake’s new album, Certified Lover Boy. Debussy’s music is a great balance of both, it gives you some background noise but will not distract you with lyrics.
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia is a feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
Erik Satie has long been one of my favorite composers for his ability to blend together subtlety and expressiveness to create an ambiance unlike any other artist. In his day, Satie struggled greatly to find support for his music, but his friendship with composer Claude Debussy proved valuable when Debussy offered to orchestrate two of Satie’s three “Gymnopédies”. Among Satie’s earlier works, Debussy saw great potential in “Trois Gymnopédies” and his orchestrations are still performed today, although Debussy disliked the second of the three and never orchestrated it. In this CD recording by the New London Orchestra, conductor Ronald Corp attempts to elucidate the same subtleties Debussy loved so much in Satie’s work with his orchestrations of Gymnopédie no. 2 as well as “Trois Gnossiennes”. This CD also features recordings of some of Satie’s ballets: Parade, Mercure, and Relâche. Each was met with mixed reviews at their debuts, but are now considered to be some of his finest works.
Erik Satie in 1920
I love to listen to Satie, especially the Gymnopédies, while I read or do work. Music historians often credit Satie as being one of the precursors to modern “ambient music”, and it’s easy to see why. Satie’s music lends itself equally well to thoughtful listening as it does to background enjoyment. If you’re looking for a CD to help you relax after a long week or accompany a good book, I highly recommend the New London Orchestra’s collection of recordings.
