麻豆社

A big old messy cry might be good for the soul, but during times of social distancing – when the number of available shoulders to cry upon has been severely diminished – you might well be looking for something to raise spirits instead. So here are ten feel-good classical bangers that are guaranteed to bring a few smiles into your lockdown bubbles.

1. Jupiter from Holst’s The Planets

It’s not for nothing that Jupiter from Holst’s The Planets Suite is subtitled “Bringer of Jollity”. You might know its big tune from the hymn version (I Vow To Thee, My Country) or maybe as the theme tune for the Rugby World Cup.

The composer’s daughter, Imogen Holst, wrote about ‘charwomen dancing in the aisles’ at an early performance. There’s never been a better time to give your own home a spring clean, so tie a bow in your pinny and get involved.

Here’s a clip of Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo and the 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra bringing a little jollity to the 2018 Proms. Don’t you feel better already?

2. Elgar's Nimrod

The exquisite Nimrod, from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, is one of the British composer's most popular and well-known works. Its noble, stirring tune was inspired by Elgar's long-term publisher and friend, Augustus Jaeger, who had brought Elgar back from the brink of a creative crisis with words of encouragement some years beforehand.

Here’s the fabulous Katherine Jenkins performing an arrangement of Nimrod for soprano and orchestra at the 2014 Proms in the Park. Surely she and Mr Jaeger can help bring you back from your own creative or perhaps claustrophobic crises.

3. Dreaming by Amy Beach

Child prodigy Amy Beach had memorised 40 songs by the age of 1 and was composing hymns and waltzes by the age of 4, putting the young Mozart, quite frankly, to shame.

Dreaming is an introspective yet quietly uplifting piece, composed in 1892 as part of her Four Sketches for piano. Its rapidly undulating bass line and yearning melody is the perfect companion for a spot of window gazing. If you’ve found yourself with a few more hours to spare, you could do worse than spend them with Beach.

4. Sing joyfully by William Byrd

This anthem by the Renaissance English composer William Byrd is hugely popular with choristers and audiences alike. The text, from Psalm 81 of the Bible, is bounced around the six vocal parts like an inflatable beach ball. It asks the listener to ‘make a joyful noise’, ‘bring hither the timbrel’ and ‘blow up the trumpet in the new moon’ – all things that would be equally applicable at 8pm on Thursdays evenings…

It’s an absolute zinger of a piece that that fizzes with fun and well, joy. Here’s the ever-brilliant VOCES8 giving their own account of Byrd’s late-17th-century masterpiece.

5. The final movement of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony

Look down. Are you wearing socks? Well, prepare for them to be knocked clean off by the majestic horn theme in this, the final movement of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony. Sibelius revealed the inspiration for the theme in his diary, writing: ‘Today I saw 16 swans. God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a silver ribbon.’

He went on to create one of the most rousing paeans to nature the world has even seen. This, truly, is music to climb mountains and ford fjords to – although for now you may have to settle for daily trips to the park. Plenty of swans to be found there.

Here’s a sneak preview from the Proms in 2014.

6. The third movement from Florence Price’s First Symphony

In this rambunctious middle movement African-American composer Florence Price fuses the stomping and slapping rhythms of the West-African juba dance with the full force of a Western symphony orchestra.
A cherry-topped dessert at the heart of a four-course symphonic blowout, this movement is guaranteed to get you up off the sofa and bopping about the house.

It also formed part of the 麻豆社’s Ten Pieces project from 2019. You can find out a bit more about it and Price herself over on the Ten Pieces website, as well as on 麻豆社 Radio 3’s Composer of the Week.

7. Sanctus from Mozart’s Requiem

You don’t have to be religious to enjoy this devastatingly lovely bit of Mozart’s Requiem, with its big, brassy opening that dissolves into a fugue of glittering delight.

This is the kind of music that tugs at your heartstrings while simultaneously spurring you on to greater things. It’s music that makes you want to call your mother, or drop off a goody bag by her front door.

8. The arrival of the Queen of Sheba by Handel

For lots of people, this vivacious piece conjures up thoughts of marriage, as it’s often played as the bride enters or as the happy couple depart a church wedding. For some, Handel's music will be synonymous with the second wedding scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral, where it is heard playing on the organ as the bride bears down on Rowan Atkinson’s hapless trainee priest.

With weddings somewhat off the menu this summer, perhaps the piece could be repurposed as the soundtrack to a triumphant return from the shops, toilet roll in hand.

Here’s Chineke! And Trinidadian conductor Kwamé Ryan giving the piece a whirl at last year’s Proms.

9. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, by Strauss

This ebullient, mood-enhancing tone poem by Richard Strauss illustrates the mischevious escapades of Till Eulenspiegel – a cheeky scamp from German folklore who mocks, flirts and plays ‘merry pranks’ of a particularly revolting kind on those around him. (You might have you own household prankster wreaking havoc during the lockdown, in which case, better not to play this piece within earshot).

But don’t worry if you don’t know the first thing about Till’s exploits – or if you have a terrible imagination. This may raise a complicit smile: the work’s opening horn solo has some unofficial lyrics that some members of the orchestra sing in their heads…

This French horn player,
This French horn player,
This French horn player will be lucky if (s)he doesn’t mess – this – up!

Here’s the 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra trying not to mess it up under the watchful eye of Sir Andrew Davis

10. The finale of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

The opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is one of the most recognisable moments in classical music: a solemn, minor-key “Da-da-da-DUM” motif which returns, in various guises, throughout the symphony. But the symphony’s final movement has a different feel; running straight in from the third movement in a resounding blaze of sunny, happy C major. Beethoven himself wrote of this unusual choice: ‘Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor… Nego! Joy follows sorrow, sunshine – rain.’

In fact, the movement ends with an unbelievable 29-bar run of pure, joyful C major. If you need further convincing, look no further than the utterly ecstatic reaction of three-year-old wannabe conductor Jonathan Okseniuk.

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If there was one final addition to our list, it would be another famous piece of music by Beethoven: the Ode to Joy from Symphony No 9 (AKA The Choral Symphony), which also featured in our round-up of 8 pieces to make you cry.

Incredibly, Beethoven’s Ninth has been performed in nearly every Proms season since 1897! There were plenty of smiles in the audience for each rendition, especially during the symphony's final movement, with its uplifting ‘Ode to Joy’ theme.