Looking out my window at the rain: what piece should I put on, to reminisce by?

Question

Looking out my window at the rain: what piece should I put on, to reminisce by?

Answer 1

This is what I would listen to in your current mood/environment:



Overture to Tanhauser



Adagio for Srings (Barber)



There is one piece by Bach that I don't know the name of, it is on a CD I have called "Nature's Symphonies: Midnight Storm". The piece is entitled "Ricercore Cminor" but it is the wrong title. CD was only like $3. If you send me a direct email I will burn a copy of the piece and send it. I will then send $3 to the publisher of the CD.



It is a wonderful piece for strings. Melancholy and uplifting at the same time.



[e-mail]



I also like Chopin's Scherzo No. 2.



BW



EDIT:http://www.simbirsk.com/opisanie/view1.php?i=iyiysfqag



LOL here is a link to that particular CD I have. The "Grande Valse Brillante" is actually the Scherzo No 2. How crappy this CD is, they don't even deserve money for this.



EDIT #2: I found the Bach piece. It is ricercar a 16 from Musical Offering.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8eFv9BpeI&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=%22Ricercare%20c%20minor%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tabiurl=http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/tN8eFv9BpeI/hqdefault.jpg&feature=player_embedded



EDIT #3: OMG HOLY CRAP I JUST NOW REALIZED I HAVE A BADGE! LMAO and this is after I had given up and quit answering a bunch of questions on this site. I'll likely lose it by next week. LOL!

Answer 2

Oh, you're not going to like my answer. I usually reserve rainy days for some soothing Jazz: Jonathan Butler, Stanley Jordan, Chuck Mangioni, Diana Krall, etc.



... more along the classical lines, I might suggest some Adagios:

• Largo: Vivaldi -- Winter; Four Seasons

• Adagio: Vivaldi -- Guitar Concerto in D

• Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake): J.S. Bach -- Cantata 140

• Marcello -- Oboe Concerto in C minor

• Plaisir d'amour -- Jean Paul Martini

• Saraband: G. F. Handel Harpsichord suite 11

• Air on the G String: J. S. Bach -- Suite No. 3



Could be a good day to just put on some classical guitar: John Williams, Christopher Parkening, Sharon Isban, Segovia, etc.

Answer 3

I am filled with envy.

May we please swap locations Alberich?

There's usually something amiss if we don't get a torrential deluge once a week without fail over here in Manchester.

Damnit! I think I already detect the patter of raindrops on the street outside.

Ah only jesting I don't mind the rain at all.



Anyway in answer to your question absolutely.

After all Aristotle teaches that the best life is the contemplative one.



As regards music:

Well the one I've been listening to a lot is Faure's Requiem.

It's absolute bliss and one of the most deeply devotional and spiritually uplifting works I've experienced.

Though I wouldn't class myself as particularly religious in any way of course, just to clear that up.

Answer 4

Yes I do, when given the time and silence. Or I may go out and dance in the rain with my kids. So much music, so little time, and no working cd player. lol =(



Happy indulgence, dear Alberich!

Answer 5

Why put legs on a snake? Listen to the rain, as much as possible. As much as I like music, I think the greatest music is the sound of the rain, the wind in the trees, or the rhythym of the ocean. While you have the chance, why not?

Answer 6

If you can stand it, In Darkness Let Me Dwell_Dowland

cantique de Jean Racine_Faure

Moricke Lieder_Wagner

Eclogues_Finzi

Queen Mary funeral Music_Purcell

Piano Sonata no.32_Beethoven

The Wise virgins_Walton

Symphonie Liturgique_Honneger

Op23 Schoenberg



Does nowt but rain here on the Wild Welsh Coast

Answer 7

I don't know why, but I'm definitely in the same ball park with Malcolm D on this one. Rain, unless it is an angry storm, always invokes impressionist music for me. As to why...I have absolutely no idea.



Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte immediately popped into my head. The orchestrated version, not the piano solo.



EDIT: Congrats Boy Wonder! It is well deserved.

Answer 8

my favorite rain music is the last movement of 'harmonielehre' by john adams, but it's more like a storm. some good contemplative music is rusalka's song to the moon, wagner's liebestode, the moonlight sonata, gorecki's third symphony, air on a g string, and any of the famous adagios. if i want to veg out and escape in my thoughts, i usually put on an opera; any of mozart's big 5, rusalka, la boheme, die frau ohne schatten, dialogs of the carmelites...



today, i'm using 'don giovanni'. it's on 'la ci darem' right now.

Answer 9

Debussy is perfect for such occasions. Images - Book One... starts with "Reflets dans l'eau." You can go all the way through to the end of Book 2... Poissons d'Or."

Impressionistic and contemplative music I'd say.



Edit: I put this music on myself... and I must say I like my own choice! [Hommage a Rameau playing right now] - give it a try.

Answer 10

My dear Alberich the perfect piece for your rainy morning quiet time is Wagner's "A Siegfried Idyll." It is one of my favorite pieces and is ideal for a quiet, contemplative sit in a nice easy chair while listening to the rain fall.



Enjoy!!



Musician, composer, teacher.

Answer 11

Rain is a rare treat here in South Australia, too, so I can appreciate your sentiments, Alberich...fingers crossed you get some more healthy showers there in Nevada!



Yesterday, we had our first proper rain here in many months - it was the most delicious, refreshing thing - but also a little melancholy - not sure why, maybe it had something to do with the unfamiliar sad, grey skies...and the sound of rain on the roof always makes me feel a bit introspective.



But yesterday, I decided to accompany my rain-induced contemplative mood with a CD of viola da gamba music by Marin Marais - "Pieces de viole du second livre."



There are a number of slow, ponderous works on this album - including a set of variations on "La Folia," and a tragic Tombeau, which is somewhat dark and depressing music (did you ever see the film "Tous les Matins du Monde?") But incredibly beautiful and satisfying, in a spiritual sense.



Today, alas, the rain has not returned, as promised...so I've put the Marais CD on again, hoping the skies will be moved enough to weep some more onto this dry, dusty city!



Cheers,

Hafwen.

Answer 12

Some kind of classical piano, depending. Maybe some Monk or even, as Kali mentioned, Floyd, but I'd go for the weirder, more instrumental stuff like Atom Heat Mother or Meddle.

Maybe some Moody Blues or some early Jefferson Airplane as well.

Answer 13

Well, "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups" used to be my favorite type of candy... I would get outside, pick them all up. First I would clear a location and gather a bunch of wood and "burning material." After setting up the fire, I would collect the cups up in fart sacks (which are sheets that accept mattress's). I would throw all that on top of my, "fireplace." ---I would wait about 15 hours so that all the ants could make their way to the pile.---- And then I would set it ablaze! Despite the local city laws... just let it burn! --Rob USMC But, technically, Reese's would go out of business.. And I really don't think that would be good for the recession.

Answer 14

This may sound really dumb to some of you but I simply can't put on any favorite classical music and 'reminisce' about anything while the music is playing because I become fully absorbed in the music itself. Be it Beethoven's 9th, Mahler's 5th., Verdi's Requiem, etc. the music gets my attention and everything else gets shut out.



Reflecting, reminiscing music only works for me when the music is on a slightly lower level: music I like but don't feel the need to become emotionally absorbed in. In other words, music that works as 'background' music.



'Background music to me can range from Beethoven's two Violin Romances to Pink Floyd to soundtracks. Actually, just about everything by Eyna works perfectly as background, mood music.

Answer 15

Wow, how odd, it is raining here too... and it never rains, I mean I live in Australia... and it is summer!



I looking out of my window now, and the tree in the yard is swaying just a little, and raindrops are collecting on the window. It's strange to see all this rain, when the grass is dying from lack of it... Don't you just hate yellow grass?



And I am listening to the Largo from Vivaldi's Concerto for Lute in D Major... The Largo section is so beautiful, and the sound of the lute reminds me oddly of rain now that I think about it.

Answer 16

Like you, I think I would like to live in an area that gets a little more rain. It rains to seldom Orange County, California. One of my favorite things to do is to play the piano and look out on the rain. I prefer warm rains instead of severe winter cold rains. I do not like cold feet.



If you don't have a piano, may I suggest Debussy "Afternoon to a Faun" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7loz-HWUM

It will entertain you for about ten or eleven minutes. After that maybe

John Williams playing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1WgoSfV_Kg&feature=related



Enjoy your rain

Answer 17

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (1961)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwNrmYRiX_o

Answer 18

Reminiscences de Don Juan by Franz Liszt is a perfect piece. Get the performance by Lang Lang at Carnegie hall, and you will have a perfect morning.

Answer 19

Yes and sometimes I watch the Moon also. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon.

Answer 20

Yes. The kind of music I listen to varies a lot, I guess a song I've been listening to recently is "gone wih the sin" by HIM.