A.E. Houseman’s ode to rural England, A Shropshire Lad, includes a paean to the beauties of nature, and the cherry tree in his poem “Loveliest of Trees” and so we have Spring.
Duke: Loveliest of Trees
John Ireland’s ode to the Almond Tree also seems to be a Spring piece, but one very much in debt to the inspiration of Debussy and his outdoor pieces.
Ireland: The Almond Tree
Ireland’s setting of Housman’s The Cherry Tree, is also a setting from A Shropshire Lad, but now without words. At the head of the piece, Ireland included this text “And since to look at things in bloom | Fifty springs are little room, | About the woodland I will go | To see the cherry hung with snow,” evoking Spring and the cherry blossom season neatly.
Ireland: Greenways: I. The Cherry Tree
Moving into summer, we have Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Tree. The title comes from a 1983 semi-autobiographical novel by Kenzaburō Ōe, Atarashii hito yo mezame yo (Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age!): “It was named the ‘rain tree’, for its abundant foliage continued to let fall rain drops from the previous night’s shower until the following midday. Its hundreds of thousands of tiny, finger-like leaves store up moisture, whereas other trees dry out at once.” The crotales’ percussion at the beginning gives us the rain drops, and the vibraphone gives us the rain’s effect on the leaves, before the wooden marimba gives us the tree itself.
Rain Tree
In Autumn, the leaves fall and give us the bare sketches of tree limbs against the sky. Winter’s chill isn’t far away.
Palmgren: Sun and Clouds, Op. 102: No. 11. November: Bare Trees
Christmas, of course, gives us the evergreen and its fine dressing of ornaments.
Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum, S186/R71 (excerpts) (arr. G. Jacob and P. Lane as Christmas Tree Suite for orchestra: V. Scherzoso (Little Scherzo, “Lighting the Tree”)
Be it Spring and all the trees are in their flower finery or winter, where the strength of the trees is visible everywhere, the tree stands as our season ode to nature.
You May Also Like
- Music and Nature
Seasons: Spring Enjoy our special Spring's music selection for the season of renewal - Music and Nature
Seasons: Winter From dancing music, ballets, to calm piano classics, enjoy a musical winter! - Music and Nature
Time of Day: Evening Evening music sets us up for relaxing, slowing down the day, or does it? - Music and Nature
Time of Day: Morning Enjoy a dose of morning music with your coffee!
More Playlists
- By Popular Request
Bonus Repertoire for Piano Quartet We're exploring lesser-known works that deserve your attention! - The Other Danubes II Dive into the rich history of this river's influence on classical and folk music
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
The Instrumental Sonatas From dramatic Cello Sonata No. 1 to autumnal glow of the Clarinet Sonata - 15 Pieces of Classical Music About the Sea From Beethoven to Takemitsu