Classical Works to Warm Up Your Winter
Brrr! January can often feel daunting and cold, but we are embracing the winter chill by celebrating some of the best classical works for winter! Cozy up by the fire and listen up, from the perilous blizzards in Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica to the fluttering strings and icy woodwinds of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden Suite. A multitude of classical pieces are based off of this season! For example, in Chopin’s 24 Etudes, No.11 in A minor, also known as ‘Winter Wind’ is “a relentless torrent of semiquaver-tuplets in the right hand, and an ominous chordal theme in the left. Designed to be performed at high speed, Chopin’s Étude is the perfect depiction of blizzarding snow, freezing cold, howling winds, and shattering ice. You might find it difficult to warm up after this one.” Schubert’s song Winterreise (“Winter Journey”) “explores winter in its bleakest and rawest form: the singer wanders aimlessly, whilst dreaming of his love and of springtime. He wakes, however, to the cold darkness of his wintery reality.”
