5 Pieces for Summer Listening

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People frequently ask me to suggest Classical pieces for them to listen to. Here are a few you might not find on a typical guide – good for novices and old hands alike.

5 Pieces for Summer Listening

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To listen to the selections, click the arrow and you will be taken to a performance on the web.

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And if you come across this when summer is over, go ahead and listen anyway. These pieces are good year-round. Here they are:

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PetrushkaTableau One

1911

Igor Stravinsky1882-1971

Petrushka tells the story of a clown-puppet, mistreated by his master, who pines for a puppet-ballerina. He loses to a rival but his spirit triumphs at the end. Petrushka is divided into four scenes, called tableaux. Tableaux 1 & 4 are set in a swirl of color at a Russian village fair during Maslenitsa (Butter Week, the festival period before Lent).

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OrfeoToccata

1607

Claudio Monteverdi1567-1643

This is a very short piece! It’s actually a fanfare made up of brief musical phrases. Usually it’s repeated three times to build the effect. The word toccata comes from the Italian verb toccare – to play. The toccata signaled to everyone that the stage action was about to begin.

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Now Is the Month of Maying1595

Thomas Morley1507-1602

Madrigals were the most popular form of music in the Renaissance. Playing off that era’s thirst for new poetry, madrigals took poems and turned them into vocal works. Now is the Month of Maying is a good example of a five-part a capella madrigal, which means it is composed using five different vocal lines, no instrumental accompaniment. It’s based on a poem by Orazio Vecchi.

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Three Preludes for Piano 1926

George Gerswhin1898-1937

These short pieces sparkle with syncopated rhythms and touches of blues chords. They are great examples of American “classical” music influenced by jazz. Gershwin knew how to bring the piano alive with the newest trendy sounds.

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Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano Pasicaille

1914

Maurice Ravel1875-1937

Not everything needs to be bouncy. In the opening movement (to 9:49), a brief, shimmeringly beautiful melody is first played by the pianist. It passes through the instruments, building into gorgeous, even frenzied, blocks of sound. It's a real tour de force.  

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