I haven't done an Evening Groove post in a while, so let's do that here. This will be different from past entries, though. Instead of just focusing on one song like I usually do, I want to focus on three. Also, instead of the usual jazz/rock/blues, I'm going to look at classical today. I'm not sure how well the term "groove" can refer to classical music 😅 but hey, we can groove out to any good music, can't we?

@galenkp wrote a post a few days ago (this post) in which he shared a tune that really inspired him and he asked what inspired us. Here's the one he suggested, btw. Go give it a listen—it has a nice feel to it. I've been listening to it all week. My youngest was getting into it the other day.

Anyway, on his post I went a little nuts in a comment and rambled on at some length about various songs that inspired me. A few days later @koto-art wrote a wonderful post sharing some of her memories of playing the piano as a child (read it here) and that again made me think of music.

So here we go, three of the classical pieces that almost always inspire me, put me in a good mood, and/or help me relax.

~Bach's Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 ~

If you've heard any of these three I'm mentioning, this will be the one. Parts of this, especially from the first part in the suite (the prelude) are common in movies and on TV. This is also one of Yo-Yo Ma's favorites so he is always playing it. The entire thing is beautiful and relaxing, in the way that the best baroque music can be.

Speaking of the maestro, here he is playing it:

I'm not a person who can use music as background music when I study. I tend to want to really listen to whatever music is on, so background music during a study session quickly becomes the main focus of my mind. Bach music is an exception. I find it is almost the perfect study music. It gets out of the way when you need to focus on something else, but it's there waiting when you want to focus on it.

If you want to listen to the entire suite, here you go.

~ Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35 ~

A friend of mine, a professional violinist, turned me on to this piece. It is a very demanding piece and only the bests violin players attempt it. Listen a little and you will see why.

This piece is amazing. There is so much energy here. Whereas the Bach piece above can work as study music, this absolutely cannot: it draws you in at every note and demands your attention.

Itzhak Perlman is known for often being the feature violinist for performances of this piece. Watch him here in a really great playing of it.

I have a recording of this by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (featuring Itzhak Perlman) that is just mind blowing. (You can buy the mp3s of it from Amazon here if interested))

If you do listen to it, I should give you a warning. Don't turn it up towards the end of the second movement when it gets quiet. The third movement starts loud! Normally I like to let people discover that themselves, but I figure a lot of you will be listening with headphones so I'd rather protect your ears.

~ Beethoven's The Archduke Trio, Op 97 ~

This is just an amazing piece! It is four movements and composed in a grand symphony-like way but for only three people: a piano, a cello, and a violin. It was composed for Beethoven's patron the Archduke Rudolf of Austria. It is generally considered one of the Beethoven's most important chamber works and by many the most beautiful piano trio he wrote. Some more trivia: It premiered on April 11, 1814 and was Beethoven's last public performance at piano because of his increasing deafness. He wasn't able to hear his own playing and as a result sometimes played too loud or too soft; the embarrassment of this forced him to never play again.

It is one of Beethoven's most popular works so if you go looking you can find many many many different performances, many of them different in some way. You can feel the emotion of the players in this piece so well. I mean, you can always feel the emotions of the lead players in a symphony, but when you only have three players you can really feel it. Every player has their own style and they bring it to The Archduke.

I like the one I linked to above performed by Daniel Barenboim, Zukerman, and Du Pre. Here's another interesting interpretation of it by The Grier Trio. And here's another performed by Camerata Pacifica. I don't like that performance as much, but it's still quite nice.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.