From Light Music to Sacred Song
This Week on MusicOfTheDay.co.uk | 28 June – 4 July
This week bridges the end of June and the beginning of July with a wonderfully varied mix of music.
From British light music and orchestral storytelling to opera reform, Czech piano music and Renaissance sacred choral writing, it is a week full of contrast.
This Week’s Composers
28 June – George Lloyd
British composer known for lyrical, dramatic orchestral music and a remarkable personal story of resilience.
29 June – Leroy Anderson
Composer of witty, tuneful light orchestral pieces, including The Typewriter and Sleigh Ride.
30 June – Joby Talbot
Contemporary British composer whose work includes ballet, film, television and concert music.
1 July – Jeff Wayne
Best known for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, including the dramatic opening track The Eve of the War.
2 July – Christoph Willibald Gluck
A major opera reformer whose Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice remains beautifully serene.
3 July – Leoš Janáček
Czech composer with a distinctive musical voice, heard in the atmospheric piano work In the Mists.
4 July – William Byrd
One of England’s greatest Renaissance composers, remembered for sacred works including Ave verum corpus.
Listening Themes This Week
This week is perfect for exploring:
- Light orchestral music
- Musical storytelling
- Opera and reform
- Renaissance sacred music
- British and European musical traditions
- How composers create atmosphere
A lovely contrast this week is between Jeff Wayne’s dramatic sci-fi sound world and William Byrd’s calm, sacred choral writing.
Question of the Week
Which piece would you choose for a quiet moment?
Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits
Janáček’s In the Mists
or Byrd’s Ave verum corpus?
One composer. One piece. Every day.