Nature inspired composition?

I'm planning for a concert. As environment is a major issue today, I would like to perform nature inspired compositions. I have a mixed force of mixed choir, children choir, and off course, a classical orchestra.

So far I have seen Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and John Rutter's "For The Beauty of the Earth".

Any suggestion?

I'm planning for a concert. As environment is a major issue today, I would like to perform nature inspired compositions. I have a mixed force of mixed choir, children choir, and off course, a classical orchestra.

So far I have seen Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and John Rutter's "For The Beauty of the Earth".

Any suggestion?

do it in the forest near some big flowing river surrounded by mountains :D

How about something by Oliver Messiaen. He was inspired by birdsong, and included it in a lot of his works.

Feldman's "Nature piano pieces" :P

Feldman's "Nature piano pieces" :P

Ahh, good one! I'm still looking for a good recording of them.

Try some of the Romantics like Schubert, Schumann, etc. I can only think of Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin which has some nature inspired songs, like the song for the brook and the song about wandering in the woods.

I did a piece called Winter if you want to use it.

haha.

Anyway, ummm Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre is about a rain storm....

Schubert the Trout quintet??

hope this helps

Hmmm. I was going to suggest lots of things, but then I read that the childrens' choir needed to be incorporated. The first things that springs to mind for are hymns. A vast number are about nature, and usually easy to sing.

In terms of orchestral fare, how about Dvorak's 'Restful Woods'? The 'New World' Symphony also evokes expansive countryside, but wouldn't sound as appropriate in the programme.

Vivaldi's four seasons might work very nicely, since most people already know it.

EDIT: forgot to mention Haydn's Seasons

What about Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf? It's...related to nature, in a way. Or perhaps Richard Strauss' Don Quixote? Man vs. Windmill? A struggle for nature? No?

I give up.

The Passing of the Year (Any of the songs in the cycle... especially "Ring out... Wild bells!") by Johnathon Dove.

I think Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus, a concerto for orchestra and recorded songs of Arctic birds, would be most suitable for the occasion. It's a beautiful work and the element of nature is most evident. If you could somehow find the taped material, it would be great. There is also Messiaen's "Oiseaux Exotiques" if there is a pianist available. I don't know the exact instrumentation of the above works so I can't tell whether the classical orchestra you have available can play these or not. Jules Massenet "Meditation" from his opera "Thaϊs" or "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughan Williams would also be suitable pieces, but you need a violinist...

Alexandros

Mahler--"Das Lied Von der Erde" (Song to the earth)

Sibelius, Brahms, and Mahler all composed very nature-inspired music. Their symphonies I would especially recommend.

Hmmm. I was going to suggest lots of things, but then I read that the childrens' choir needed to be incorporated.

It doesn't need to. But they are available.

So could you elaborate on "lots of things" ? :)

Mahler "Das Lied Von der Erde". I just listened to it. Wonderful, I love it!

Vivaldi "Four seasons" is great, but I think it is TOO popular, and there is no way I can match the recorded performance that people here are used to listen on CD

I wonder where can I find Cantus Arcticus

Any suggestion for an organ work?

Messiaen would be an obvious choice for gorgeous organ works with strong references to nature (bird calls etc.)

Look into Sue Hopkins.

She has written a couple of pieces which have been arranged for dozens of different settings.

She did a recording with the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Monks where they chanted their sacred chant and she had didgeridoo and cello accompanying.

She loves the Harmonic Series - Virtually obsessed with them.

Interesting music. For what you want, this is possibly THE best place to start.

Chris :-)

Sorry... Mental slip. SARAH Hopkins. Not sue.

Mahler "Das Lied Von der Erde". I just listened to it. Wonderful, I love it!

Glad you liked it fauzie :thumbsup: :)

Debussy La mer, L'apres midi d'un faune,

Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes,

Bax The Happy Forest - any of Bax' tone poems are about nature.

Debussy La mer, L'apres midi d'un faune,

But interestingly, both of these were more directly influenced by other pieces of art than nature itself. "La mer" is to a great degree based on impressions by paintings of Turner and especially Katsushika Hokusai's painting "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".

And L'Apr

Delius, On hearing the first cuckoo in spring, summer evening, walk to the paradise garden

Butterworth, On the banks of green willow

Any piece that incorporates the Fibonacci Sequence or the golden ratio, technically.

Hmm, but both of these were long known in theory and used in the arts before they were discovered in nature. So pieces incorporating them probably aren't directly inspired by nature, just correlate with aspects of it (as does any music, of course).

But of course, even before they were directly observed in nature those concepts were regarded as "natural principles", so you got a point.