"The flower,” writes French author Jean Giraudoux, “is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life."'
Perhaps that’s why so many composers have found inspiration in blooms and blossoms.
As a case in point, in this hour, examples by Monteverdi, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Puccini, Prokofiev, and more.
RECORDINGS USED
|
CD Title |
Group/Artist |
Catalog # |
UPC |
|
Arie e Duette [for instrumental ‘O Rosetta’] |
Lautten Compagney |
Capriccio C10470 |
4006408104704 |
|
Rapture [for Lakme Flower Duet] |
Sutherland & Berbie, Orchestra of the Monte Carlo Opera, Bonynge |
Deutsche Grammophon 289 471 717-2 |
028947171720 |
|
Viva Rey Ferrando, [for “Dindiridin”] |
Hèsperion XX |
Virgin Classics A61222 |
724356122222 |
|
American Orchestral Song [for Griffes’ “So-Fei Gathering Flowers”]
|
Patrick Mason ; Odense Symphony, Paul Mann |
Bridge 9254 |
090404925429 |
|
Quartet Movements [for Puccini’s “Crisantemi”] |
Signum Quartet |
Capriccio C5064 |
845221050645 |
|
Musical Fantasies of Charles Griffes & Deems Taylor [for Taylor’s “Garden of Live Flowers”]
|
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz |
Delos DE 3099 |
013491309927 |
|
The Nutcracker [for “Waltz Of The Flowers”] |
Saint Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin |
RCA Red Seal RCD2-7005 |
078635700527 |
|
Aria [for instrumental Lakme Flower Duet] |
Eugenia Zukerman, Dennis Helmrich, Allan Vogel |
Delos DE3209 |
013491320922 |
|
Mahler Symphony 3 |
London Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein
|
Unicorn-Kanchana UKCD2006/07 |
5016908200621 |
|
Johann, Josef & Eduard Strauss: Valses & Polkas [for Roses from the South] |
Johann Strauss Orchestra of Vienna, Willi Boskovsky |
EMI Classics 5 74528 2 |
724357452823 |
|
Monteverdi: Scherzi Musicali [for “O Rosetta”] |
Hugues Cuenod, Charles Bressler, and Louis-Jacques Rondeleux |
Project 3 PR7001SD [vinyl] |
[none] |
|
Metcalf: In Time of Daffodils |
Jeremy Huw Williams; BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn |
Signum SIGCD103 |
635212010327 |
|
Prokofiev: The Stone Flower |
Gianandrea Noseda led BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda |
Chandos 10058(2) |
095115105825 |