Skip to main content

BBC Ten Pieces

I find myself listening to Radio 3 more and more.  To keep in touch, I check out the world on the Today programme in the morning, but by and large Radio 3 is my favoured destination these days.  It's not just as an escape from an increasingly distressing world, but a place to learn a lot.  And I love music.  It's a very diverse radio station and I thoroughly enjoy my Radio 3 interludes (except for opera - no thanks, sorry).  

Over the past couple of weeks the BBC has been promoting its Ten Pieces initiative.  It has created a 50 minute film for primary school children, introducing them to ten outstanding, descriptive pieces of classical music.  The film is available for us all to see on BBC iPlayer (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04lyj10/ten-pieces-03102014).  They have also got Ten Pieces ambassadors and on Saturday afternoon the Welsh harpist, Catrin Finch, introduced a programme of wonderful pieces.  There was even a piece by my favourite combination of Jan Gabarek and the Hillard Ensemble.  Following that she played another blissful combination - music performed by herself together with kora player, Seckou Keita, from Mali.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  I was so blown away by the sound I instantly  found their CD, Clychau Dibon, and bought it online.  It arrived yesterday.  It's playing now, and has been ever since I unwrapped it.   You can hear a taster on Saturday Classics, which is still on iPlayer for a few more days.  It's 1 hour and 26 minutes into the programme, unless you would like to hear the Jan Gabarek track before that, in which case it's 1 hour 21 minutes in.  It's unmissable.  Just press play ….. and relax.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l2zd8

Comments

  1. I'm now playing Future Strings and Bamba after a fraught bedtime and can feel myself visibly relaxing and mellowing out again - pure bliss. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I also find a pianist called Yanni just wonderful to listen to, ignore the dodgy 80s hair and moustache combo and try this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TjpCFAocWA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've just had a little dip into Yanni's youtube clip! Thank you very much - good and relaxing too! x

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In a vase on Monday - colour

The intense colours in my vase this week come from nasturtiums, sweetpeas and a single glorious zinnia! Their beauty and love of life speak for themselves and need no further words from me! Enjoy!

Colonsay postcards - on arrival

The first thing I do, once we have unpacked our car, which has been groaning with all the stuff we need for a week's stay in the holiday cottage, is head for the outer gardens of Colonsay House. It is a place of wonder for me! I particularly love the leaves of the giant rhododendrons. There are many different varieties, all planted in the early 1930s. The outer gardens are generally overgrown, having had little tending over the decades. That makes them even more magical! The old woodmill falls apart a little more every year, but that's fine by me because I love corrugated iron and especially if it's rusted! And of course the bees. Colonsay's beekeeper, Andrew Abrahams, has one of his apiaries on the edge of the pine wood. So lovely - the hum of busy bees and the heady smell of the pines. We are here - finally! Delayed by four months by the wretched virus, but now I am on holiday! Hooray!

Found items IAVOM

I am on holiday on the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. It is my happy place. Thoughts of Colonsay rattle around in my head each and every day I am not here! I haven't got a vase to share this week but some lovely things I have found over the past few days, which are just as beautiful as a vase of flowers! I hope you agree! Here are some leaves of giant rhododendrons, growing in the outer gardens of Colonsay House. Some skeleton leaves of magnolia. The dried stem of a kelp seaweed. A couple of conkers (can never resist those!), and a branch heavily populated by a number of lichens. The air on Colonsay is so clean that lichens flourish here!