This summer, I've been involved in a community theater production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,* Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's pop/opera version of the Biblical story of Joseph. It's a fun musical, and a number of the songs are in varying styles: Disco (Go Go Joseph), Calypso (Benjamin Calypso), Elvis (Song of the King), French (Those Canaan Days) and country/western - One More Angel in Heaven:
This is the movie production starring Donny Osmond as Joseph, Maria Friedman as the Narrator, Robert Torti as the Pharaoh, Joan Collins as Potiphar's Wife, and Richard Attenborough as Jacob.
* I've written much more about the community theater production at my other blog, Moomin Light.
Leos Janáček's Sinfonietta is one of my favorite pieces of music. I love how expansive the brass fanfare is. The very fast theme (starting at 2:40) reminds us of crabs scuttling sideways at the beach. I also love all the different themes and how he weaves them together.
Interestingly, the only version that I liked which I could also embed was this video of a beautiful, 1980 performance by the Netherlands Dans Theatre, choreographed by Jiri Kylian. They look nothing like crabs, although the backdrop could be seen as seashore-ish. The opening fanfare is a bit faster than I'm used to hearing.
...It is dedicated 'To the Czechoslovak Armed Forces' and Janáček said it
was intended to express 'contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty
and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory.'
It started by Janáček listening to a brass band, becoming inspired to
write some fanfares of his own. When the organisers of the Sokol Gymnastic Festival approached him for a commission, he developed the material into the Sinfonietta. He later dropped the word 'military'...
...The idea of a brief fanfare quickly grew into the five-movement
Sinfonietta, his largest purely orchestral work. Each movement is
scored for a different--and unconventional--group of instruments; the
sound of Janáček's music is so idiosyncratic that for years
unsympathetic listeners thought it was simply poorly orchestrated. But
the raw, powerful, and often electrifying timbre is part of Janáček's
confident, utterly individual voice--matched by his unexpected choices
of harmonies and the daring cut of his melodies...
I love finding new music, and one of the best places is a small gift and CD store in Blowing Rock, NC, Pandora's Mailbox. The owner is quite happy to recommend music and play it for you. Many years ago, she recommended Dreams Come True, a blues album by Marcia Ball, Angela Strehli, and Lou Ann Barton. I've enjoyed it ever since.
I've heard a few different versions of this song, but I hadn't heard Joan Baez's until I was wandering around YouTube this evening. I love her voice - it's so strong and clear.
It's often thought of as an older folk song, but it was written by Irishman William McPeake who first recorded it in 1957. It's a variation of an 18th century song, The Braes of Ballquhidder, written by Robert Tannahill.
This is a live version, recorded in Japan in 1967. It originally appears on her CD, Farewell Angelina: