{"id":46873,"date":"2024-08-23T13:41:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T11:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a6c6cf85-2461-44ee-b391-658c6cbd7808"},"modified":"2024-08-23T14:07:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T12:07:17","slug":"one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"‘One of music’s most thrilling experiences’: 16 captivating evocations of weather, storms, and the drama of nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 23 August 2024 at 11:41 AM<\/p>

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Music is music, and a storm is a storm. This being so, how can the two phenomena meaningfully be made to connect? Artistic genius can come up with a response so impressive in its own terms that the issue doesn\u2019t seem to matter. Here, we present some of the best pieces of classical music inspired by storms, violent winds and the most dramatic weather patterns. <\/p>

Classical music inspired by storms and dramatic weather<\/h2>

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’<\/strong><\/h3>
Music\u2019s most famous storm of all is the fourth of the five movements of Beethoven<\/a>\u2019s Symphony No. 6, the \u2018Pastoral\u2019<\/a><\/strong>. The idea is simple enough: the happily dancing peasantry in the Scherzo<\/i> third movement are sent scurrying for cover by a thunderstorm in the fourth, and then emerge into rain-washed sunlit fields for the finale.<\/p>
Yet these three continuous movements, and the storm in particular, remain one of music\u2019s most thrilling experiences. Beethoven was writing for only a modestly sized orchestra, and the music\u2019s immense power is more of an emotional kind than about actual depiction: the score is headed by Beethoven with the words \u2018mehr Ausdruck der Empfindung als Malerei<\/i>\u2019 (\u2018more the expression of feeling than painting\u2019). <\/p>
The best recordings of Beethoven’s Sixth ‘Pastoral’ Symphony<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul>
<\/div><\/figure><p>The \u2018storm\u2019 movement itself lasts less than four minutes, yet it has the impact of one much larger. And while the orchestration (intentionally, as Beethoven says) doesn\u2019t sound too much like an actual physical storm, it is exceptionally imaginative nonetheless.<\/p><p>Timpani (kettledrums) here occur only to suggest thunder in the \u2018storm\u2019 itself not, as in Beethoven\u2019s other symphonies, in some or all of the other movements. The music\u2019s furious climax is reinforced by a pair of trombones, entering here for the first time; and the insistent use of rapidly repeated, scale-like figures in the low cellos and double basses, another way of suggesting thunder, is as effective at full<i> fortissimo<\/i> as when the storm is quietly petering out in its closing stages. <\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-richard-strauss-an-alpine-symphony\"><strong>Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony<\/strong><\/h3><p>So how does another composer follow that? Beethoven\u2019s example, while setting the bar of musical achievement very high, also established a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-romantic-composers\">Romantic<\/a><\/strong>-age tradition which his successors extended with enthusiasm. Just over a century after the \u2018Pastoral\u2019 was first heard (in Vienna in 1808), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/richard-strauss\"><strong>Richard Strauss<\/strong><\/a> began the orchestral work which took the idea of a musical storm to a pinnacle of descriptive brilliance. Completed in 1919, <strong><i>An Alpine Symphony<\/i><\/strong> uses an enormous orchestra to describe the experience of climbing and then descending a mountain, in a continuous dawn-to-dusk sequence. <\/p><p>The storm occurs on the way down, preceded by a passage of ominous stillness before suddenly breaking out in full force \u2013 with loud <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-pizzicato\">pizzicato<\/a><\/em><\/strong> string notes for the isolated big raindrops preceding and then lingering after the downpour, rampant thunder and lightning effects from the percussion section (rumbling drums, clashing cymbals and thunder and wind machines), wailing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/woodwind-instruments\">woodwind<\/a><\/strong>, blaring brass and rushing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/string-instruments\">string<\/a><\/strong> passagework to suggest the sheeting rain. <\/p><p>Strauss is, of course, a superb orchestrator, and writes beautifully for instruments right across the orchestra. No wonder that, when we asked orchestral musicians for their <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/musicians-favourite-pieces\">favourite pieces to perform<\/a><\/strong>, his name came up a lot.<\/p><p>The composer placed his exercise in near-photographic orchestral vividness as a virtuoso interlude between the deeper musical imaginings elsewhere in the work \u2013 as in the subsequent \u2018<i>Ausklang<\/i>\u2019 section, conjuring the Alpine day\u2019s slowly extinguishing sights and sounds.<\/p><p\/><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"R. Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (Proms 2012)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eQa9mW8ygAE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-vivaldi-four-seasons\"><strong>Vivaldi: <em>Four Seasons<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>There were pre-Beethoven musical storms too \u2013 as in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/antonio-vivaldi\"><strong>Vivaldi<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s <strong><i>Four Seasons<\/i><\/strong> cycle of string <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-concerto\">concertos<\/a><\/strong>, where the finale of \u2018Summer\u2019 has an impressive thunderstorm (for the Baroque era at least) suddenly appearing from the leaden heat, complete with rushing string scales and pounding <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/cello\">cellos<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/double-bass-guide\">basses<\/a><\/strong>. For the generations after Beethoven\u2019s, the idea of the weather getting angry became a standard device for a loud, fast and exciting musical sequence. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-unusual-interpretations-vivaldis-four-seasons\"><strong>Five unusual interpretations of Vivaldi’s <em>Four Seasons<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/six-best-vivaldi-works\"><strong>Vivaldi: Six of his best works<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GRxofEmo3HA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mendelssohn-the-hebrides-overture\"><strong>Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture<\/strong><\/h3><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/felix-mendelssohn\"><strong>Mendelssohn<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s <i>The Hebrides <\/i>overture, based on the young composer\u2019s 1829 journey to the Scottish islands of Mull and Staffa, features stormy passages in the composer\u2019s trademark poetic style, masterfully executed (if a shade polite). <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/why-was-scotland-so-important-for-mendelssohn\"><strong>Why was Scotland so important for Mendelssohn?<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave) (Abbado)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zcogD-hHEYs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-berlioz-symphonie-fantastique\"><strong>Berlioz: <em>Symphonie fantastique<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/hector-berlioz\"><strong>Berlioz<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s <em>Symphonie fantastique <\/em>shows a different kind of orchestral magicianship. It shows how a not-quite-storm could be as memorable as a full-scale one. In the closing bars of the<strong><i> <\/i><\/strong><i>Fantastique<\/i>\u2019s slow movement, distant thunder is suggested by four solo timpani, beaten simultaneously by four individual players. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\"><strong>The best recordings of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/love-story-behind-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\"><strong>The love story behind Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Berlioz : Symphonie Fantastique (Philharmonique de Radio France \/ Myung-Whun Chung)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5HgqPpjIH5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-liszt-annees-de-pelerinage\"><strong>Liszt: Ann\u00e9es de p\u00e8lerinage <\/strong><\/h3><p>As the Romantic era reached its 19th-century pinnacle, a parallel musical genre developed \u2013 the idea of a storm of the mind, an \u2018altered state\u2019 induced by a mood of brooding sensibility. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/franz-liszt\"><strong>Liszt<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s music now began to show that you didn\u2019t need an orchestra to convey the full grandeur of nature\u2019s power. <\/p><p>\u2018Orage\u2019 (Storm) is the central piece in the first volume of his piano cycle <i>Ann\u00e9es de p\u00e8lerinage<\/i> (Years of Pilgrimage), set among the mountains and foothills of Switzerland. This is a Byronic, literary-style storm. We see a psychological raging that relishes its own fury in cascades of double octaves and torrential passagework. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/liszt-and-byron\">Liszt and Byron: the ultimate tale of Romantic hero worship<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/nine-best-classical-works-inspired-sun\"><strong>Nine of the best pieces of classical music inspired by the sun<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Liszt - Ann\u00e9es de p\u00e8lerinage. Premi\u00e8re ann\u00e9e: Suisse, S. 160 [Andr\u00e9 Laplante]\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Aj2gFk0FoKo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-liszt-12-transcendental-studies\"><strong>Liszt: 12 Transcendental Studies<\/strong><\/h3><p>The final item of Liszt\u2019s 12 <i>Transcendental Studies<\/i> presents a related idea in a different way. \u2018Chasse-neige\u2019 (Snowstorm) evokes the strange, disorientated sensation of being surrounded by a white-out. It’s psychological as well as actual, in uneasily shimmering <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-tremolo\">tremolo<\/a><\/em><\/strong> figuration. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/five-essential-works-liszt\"><strong>Five essential works by Liszt<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trifonov plays Liszt's Transcendental \u00c9tudes in Lyon France\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kD4T-rNklsY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-liszt-dante-symphony\">Liszt: Dante Symphony<\/h3><p>The storm also became an image of surging Romantic passion. The (true) story of Francesca da Rimini passed into legend in the early 14th century, when Dante featured it in the early stages of \u2018Hell\u2019, the first of the three books making up his vast allegorical poem <i>Commedia<\/i> (<i>The Divine Comedy<\/i>). <\/p><p>Francesca is married off to the crippled Giovanni Malatesta da Rimini. She has been formally wooed on his behalf by his handsome younger brother Paolo. They then fall truly in love, and Giovanni, discovering them together, kills them both. For their adulterous passion Dante places the lovers in one of the outer circles of the pit of Hell, where their shades are eternally swept along by howling winds.<\/p><p>But the Romantic era viewed the lovers with empathetic compassion. Among musical portrayals of their story is the swirling, storm-tossed opening movement of Liszt\u2019s <i>Dante Symphony<\/i>. Another example is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky\"><strong>Tchaikovsky<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s symphonic poem <i>Francesca da Rimini<\/i>. It frames Francesca\u2019s central narrative, as she tells her story to Dante, with two whirlwind sections of tumultuous power. <\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/sergey-rachmaninov\"><strong>Rachmaninov<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s one-act opera on the same subject conjures another bleakly ferocious storm in its opening orchestral prelude, complete with wordless choral voices depicting the wailing souls of the damned. Two great works of classical music inspired by storms.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tchaikovsky-the-storm\"><strong>Tchaikovsky: <em>The Storm<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>The young Tchaikovsky also wrote an overture for a planned but unwritten opera based on <i>The Storm<\/i>, Alexander Ostrovsky\u2019s play set in rural Russia: an affair between the married and unhappy Katya and her lover is presented as a story of human warmth crushed by a backward and repressive society, while an actual thunderstorm is also a dramatic image of their emotional situation. Although the Tchaikovsky storm here is not on the level of <i>Francesca da Rimini<\/i>, the work\u2019s best passages are already strongly characteristic of his mature and unmistakable style.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tchaikovsky - The Storm, Op. 76 (Overture in E minor)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c9Y49mIDWwA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-janacek-katya-kabanova\"><strong>Jan\u00e1\u010dek: <em>Katya Kabanova<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/leos-janacek\"><strong>Jan\u00e1\u010dek<\/strong><\/a>‘s opera <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/janacek-katya-kabanova\"><strong><i>Katya Kabanova<\/i><\/strong><\/a> was completed in 1921 and also based on Ostrovsky\u2019s work. It takes a more modern and realistic approach with its storm scene in Act III. It intercuts the lovers\u2019 disastrous situation with discussion among the locals as to the necessity, or otherwise, of installing lightning conductors.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leos Jan\u00e1\u010dek Katya Kabanova\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gti-Gqj0asY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tchaikovsky-the-tempest\"><strong>Tchaikovsky: <em>The Tempest<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>Another literary resource from the same stable was Shakespeare\u2019s play <i>The Tempest<\/i>. It has been adapted to many works of classical music \u2013 all centred around the motif of the storm. The play’s famous tempest is unleashed by the duke-magician Prospero to lure his usurping brother and colleagues to the island where they have exiled him and to wreck their ship on its shores. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/classical-music-inspired-shakespeare\">Classical music inspired by Shakespeare<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>This presented yet another opportunity to Tchaikovsky, whose symphonic poem <i>The Tempest<\/i> is far more rarely performed than it deserves. While the musical tempest itself is a spectacular but rather conventional affair, the opening and closing depiction of the sea surging around Prospero\u2019s island is spellbinding.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tchaikovsky - The Tempest (Fantasy Overture)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KyID7dxY4qo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sibelius-the-tempest\"><strong>Sibelius: <em>The Tempest<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>The 20th century showed how the musical storm, including the one that opens <strong><i>The Tempest<\/i><\/strong>, came to be reclaimed from its Romantic-era connections and to be presented as a natural force in its own right. In 1925 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/jean-sibelius\"><strong>Sibelius<\/strong><\/a> wrote a score for a production of <strong><i>The Tempest<\/i><\/strong> at Copenhagen\u2019s Royal Danish Theatre. The storm-prelude he came up with is a statement so radical that it could almost have been written by a 1950s <i>avant garde<\/i> composer. <\/p><p>There is no <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-melody\">melody<\/a><\/strong>, rhythm or <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-harmony-in-music\">harmony<\/a><\/strong> in any meaningful sense. Instead the surge of wind and water is conveyed by repetitive overlapping passagework built entirely from that depersonalised phenomenon of 20th-century music, the whole-tone scale.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/why-do-we-have-barlines\">Why do we have barlines?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sibelius: The Tempest (Suites Nos. 1 & 2), Op. 109 (Segerstam, Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D4EsO47POQw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sibelius-tapiola\"><strong>Sibelius: <em>Tapiola<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>A similar kind of dehumanised power seems to propel the climactic passage of the Sibelius work that followed \u2013 his last major statement, <i>Tapiola<\/i> portrays the kingdom of Tapio, the forest god of Finnish mythology. Again, the whole-tone scale is used, this time to depict a squall that blows up out of nowhere, and then calms almost as quickly.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sibelius : Tapiola (Full) - Neeme J\u00e4rvi (DGG)*\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Yy0_zqEOp4A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sibelius-the-oceanides\"><strong>Sibelius: <em>The Oceanides<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>In Sibelius\u2019s earlier tone poem <strong><i>The Oceanides<\/i><\/strong>, the mythological seascape was a Greek one, culminating in a storm-surge of slow-motion immensity. One of the great works in classical music inspired by storms.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sibelius \/\/ The Oceanides | Sir Antonio Pappano\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s5IbPFGPAMQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-debussy-la-mer\"><strong>Debussy: <em>La mer<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>This modern perception of musically depicted nature as a pure and untamed force, free of any link to human emotion, had a masterly forerunner. \u2018Dialogue of the wind and the sea\u2019 is the final movement of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/claude-debussy\"><strong>Debussy<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s symphonic suite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/quick-guide-debussys-la-mer\"><strong><i>La mer<\/i><\/strong><\/a>. It’s a display of illustrative virtuosity as brilliant as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-strauss\"><strong>Strauss<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s alpine storm, but presented with greater economy and finesse. A great example of how classical music inspired by storms doesn’t have to be angry or violent.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-vaughan-williams-sinfonia-antartica\"><strong>Vaughan Williams: <em>Sinfonia antartica<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>And as if underscoring how far this kind of musical conception had now travelled from Beethoven\u2019s symphonic masterpiece of nature-as-metaphysics, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/ralph-vaughan-williams\"><strong>Vaughan Williams<\/strong><\/a> in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/guide-vaughan-williamss-symphony-no-7-sinfonia-antartica\"><strong><i>Sinfonia antartica<\/i><\/strong><\/a> of 1952 came up with a musical storm that is its polar opposite in every respect. <\/p><p>The work had grown out of a film score for <i>Scott of the Antarctic<\/i>, where the explorers\u2019 journey back from the South Pole ended with their deaths in the frozen wastes. The blizzard that eventually obliterated their hopes and lives is depicted with maximum bleakness. We hear a wordlessly lamenting soprano voice and female chorus, alongside a wind machine that leads the music into silence. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antartica [Haitink] Sheila Armstrong\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mv6YBg7PLag?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p>Our friends over at BBC Wildlife Magazine have rounded up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/how-to\/watch-wildlife\/best-nature-documentaries\/\"><strong>some of the best nature documentaries available to stream online now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Friday, 23 August 2024 at 11:41 AM Music is music, and a storm is a storm. This being so, how can the two phenomena meaningfully be made to connect? Artistic genius can come up with a response so impressive in its own terms that the issue doesn\u2019t seem to matter. Here, we present […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":46874,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"9"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/one-of-musics-most-thrilling-experiences-16-captivating-evocations-of-weather-storms-and-the-drama-of-nature.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Friday, 23 August 2024 at 11:41 AM Music is music, and a storm is a storm. This being so, how can the two phenomena meaningfully be made to connect? Artistic genius can come up with a response so impressive in its own terms that the issue doesn\u2019t seem to matter. Here, we present…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/46873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}