Some classical pieces I have selected after inspiration from another #ttt post

Its time for another #ttt post - a great weekly event instigated by @ablaze. Last week I was really taken with the #ttt post made by @coquicoin and the classical guitar backed music of Madredeus (the post was called Lisbon Memories). It really made me think of a piece of classical music I love:

This is the first movement of the Concerto de Aranjuez by the Spanish composer Rodrigo. I like all types of music, including classical and guitar music - so this is right up my street. I've nevern known much about the composer or any of his other works, but I've liked this for a heck of a long time (maybe 20+ years). I'd like to confirm that it is John Williams that is playing the guitar in the video above, and not the ex-England football Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (but jeez does it look like him) !

Latterly I actually started working with a company from the town of Aranjuez in Spain, and their premises is on C de Joaquin Rodrigo ! I was quite surprised about that, and have spoken to some of the colleagues there about how much I like this concerto ! The composers wiki page makes for some great reading: he had the title "1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez", and went blind at the age of three from diptheria - wow !

Sticking with classical music, but without guitars this time - next up is 'The Lark Ascending' by Ralph Vaugh Williams (an English composer). For some reason this tune popped into my head while I was at work today, and I was enjoying whistling it as I was walking around the corridors !

This is actually the first time I've heard the Nigel Kennedy version, and its fair to say that the boy can play - say what you like about him !

The violin part in this is just incredible, which leads my to my selection for the next tune.

And onto another fantastic violin piece with the 3rd movement of Brahms Violin Concerto played by non-other than Yehudi Menuhin. As far as violin solos go, this is epic. Brahms was a German composer from Hamburg. I have a copy of this that came free with the BBC classical music magazine, and it was actually him playing it during world war 2 to entertain the troops in Malta ! You can find that on youtube, although the recording quality is not so great there. The version I had must have been digitally cleaned-up somewhat. Its incredible to watch him playing it - it looks effortless to him, but its about as technical as it gets.

And I'm going to add in one more. This is Sunday Morning from The Four Seas Interlude by Benjamin Britten. There was a recent threads music challenge about saying what your fav piece of classical music was, and I picked this. Its hard for me to pick fav songs as I like so much, but this is probably the most memorable piece of music I've ever heard. I can distinctly remember hearing it for the first time back in the Summer of 1996. I was completely stunned when I heard it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was completely foxed by how Britten had managed to dream up that brass intro - it just sounds like nothing else I'd ever heard before. Moonlight is also worth checking out from the Four Seas Interlude - the way it builds up to a crescendo from about the 2nd minute onwards is a master class in how to write music.

I know classical is not everyone's thing, but I thought I'd share these for a change. And if you do like em and want some more suggestions, then let me know (dont even get me started on Mozart !). Anyways, thats my suggestions for this week !