Mark Pentleton » aflat-maj

359/365 Songs (2): Have yourself a merry little Christmas

admin — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:10:19 +0000

Here’s the second song for today – probably my all-time favourite Christmas song. I hope you enjoy this song and I hope you enjoy your Christmas day wherever you are!

353/365 Songs: Silent Night

admin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:54:34 +0000

Today’s 365song is the beautiful Christmas carol which dates from 1818 when Franz Gruber famously composed this piece of music with a guitar accompaniment based on the words by Father Joseph Mohr because the church organ was not working and Midnight Mass in the village of Oberndorf was fast approaching. I hope you enjoy my version!

351/365 Songs: Oh Holy Night

admin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:00:55 +0000

This is one of my favourite pieces of Christmas music. The original version was composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 as a musical accompaniment to Placide Cappeau’s Christmas poem, Minuit Chrétiens (”Midnight, Christians”). I remember hearing the French version on the soundtrack of the film La Neige et le Feu which I saw at Christmas in 1991 when I was doing my year abroad in France, so it’s always conjured up images associated with the film for me. More recent versions have included Mariah Carey’s soulful recording and Lea Michele’s recording on the new Glee Christmas album. One interesting fact about this piece of music is that it was the second piece of music ever to be broadcast on radio. On 24 December 1906, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden broadcast the first AM radio programme and after playing a phonograph recording of Handel’s Ombra Mai Fu, he played Minuit Chrétiens on the violin and sang the third verse.

341/365 Songs: O Come All Ye Faithful

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:01:08 +0000

Today’s Christmas 365song is Adeste Fideles, or O Come All Ye Faithful. It apparently dates from the 13th century and has been translated into many languages from the original Latin. One of my favourite performances of this carol is by Lisa Fischer on the soundtrack of Home Alone 2.

332/365 Songs: Adagio Cantabile from Sonata No.8 – Beethoven

admin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:43:34 +0000

I’m running a bit late with this today. I got back from Strasbourg yesterday (just 2 hours late because of the snow) and my pre-recorded run of tunes ran out with Michael Bublé yesterday! I decided to play something classical today. This second movement of Beethoven’s piano sonata no.8 in C minor is probably one of the most famous pieces of classical piano music. The sonata is more commonly known as the Pathétique, and was written in 1798 and was dedicated to the composer’s friend, Prince Karl von Lichnowsky.

324/365 Songs: All the things you are – Jerome Kern

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:18:44 +0000

This song was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1939 for the musical Very warm for May. Musically this song is very interesting, and there’s an in-depth analysis of the chord patterns on Wikipedia. Apparently the chord patterns and modulations “present challenges for the improviser”. I’d agree! The song has been recorded by many artists, from Frank Sinatra to Will Young!

323/365 Songs: I write the songs – Barry Manilow

admin — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:13:59 +0000

Today’s song was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys in 1975 and was made famous by Barry Manilow, winning a Grammy Award in 1976. It is often thought that the “I” of the song refers to the songwriter, but according to Johnston the “I” is music itself. I write the songs has been covered by various artists including David Cassidy, Tom Jones and Johnny Mathis.

313/365 Songs: Move on – Abba

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:27:22 +0000

This song was recorded in 1977 and the various working titles for the song included Yippee Yay, Joanne, Love for me is love forever and the rather cryptic Big John. I’m glad it ended up as Move on, not Big John!

283/365 Songs: Man in the mirror – Michael Jackson

admin — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:37:28 +0000

This Michael Jackson dates from 1988 and was nominated for record of the year in the Grammy Awards of that year. It maybe lacks something without his vocals, the gospel choir and Quincy Jones’ keyboard arrangements, but I hope you enjoy today’s performance anyway!

261/365 Songs: Young at heart – Frank Sinatra

admin — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:02:07 +0000

This song was popularised by Frank Sinatra in 1953 and sold over a million copies, so much so that it was decided that the film that Sinatra was working on at the time should also be called Young at Heart.

242/365 Songs: The very thought of you

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:32:10 +0000

Another jazz standard today: first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1934, this song has been covered by many artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and the famous Ella Fitzgerald version with the Nelson Riddle orchestra. Hope you enjoy today’s song!

199/365 Songs: Easy (like a Sunday morning) – The Commodores

admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 09:29:08 +0000

A good song for a Sunday morning! This 1977 classic was written by Lionel Richie and was also covered by Faith No More in 1992. Hope you enjoy today’s song. I’ll need to think of something appropriate for tomorrow – it’s song number 200!

187/365 Songs: Panis Angelicus – César Franck

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:41:31 +0000

This is a complete change from the type of music I’ve been playing recently, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. The Franck setting of the prayer Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels) dates from 1872 and has been recorded by many artists including Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli.

159/365 Songs: Footprints in the Sand – Leona Lewis

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:34:44 +0000

This song is dedicated to my former pupil Katie who marries Callum this weekend. I was speaking to Katie’s friend Esther recently – both Katie and Esther sang in the choir I ran at Mearns Castle – and Esther is going to be singing this Leona Lewis song at Katie and Callum’s wedding, so I thought I’d play the song on 365songs to wish the happy couple all the very best!

The song is based on a popular Christian poem which tells of a dream in which the writer is walking along the beach with God. Looking back along the beach the writer identifies various stages in his life and notes that at times the two sets of footprints become one, particularly at the lowest points of his life. He questions God about why He deserted him at these difficult times. God explains that in his lowest times He didn’t abandon the writer: instead He carried him.

The song was written by Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Richard Page and Simon Cowell and was given to 2006 X-Factor winner Leona Lewis. It was used as the 2008 Sport Relief song.

138/365 Songs: Den Ensomme Veien – Sigvart Dagsland

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:54:07 +0000

Sticking with the Norwegian theme following yesterday’s National Day celebrations, I wanted to add in one other Norwegian song. This is one of my all-time favourite songs sung by Norwegian singer Sigvart Dagsland. The song is called Den Ensomme Veien, which translates roughly as “the lonely road”. I’ve done a rough translation of the lyrics too, although I’ve struggled a bit with the Nynorsk being more of a Bokmål person myself!! There doesn’t seem to be any YouTube video of Den Ensomme Veien, but you can listen to a sample on iTunes if you’re interested.

Norwegian

Det e ein ensom vei me går
Eg ser det klart fra der eg står
Om solen skinne litt
På meg og livet mitt
Kan eg gå den ensomme veien samen med deg

Det e`kje lett
å alltid veda kor ein står
Eg ser jo veien
Men vett ikkje kor an går
Så eg kan ikkje leda deg
Men hånd i hånd kan du og eg
Kanskje verna om kverandres steg

Det e ein ensom vei me går
Eg ser det klart fra der eg står
Om solen skinne litt
På meg og livet mitt
Kan eg gå den ensomme veien samen med deg

My rough translation

It’s a lonely road we go
I see it clearly from where I stand
If the sun shines a little
on me and on my life
I can walk that lonely road with you

It is not easy
to always have known where you stand
I can see the way
But do not know how possible it is.
So I can’t lead you along it,
But hand in hand, you and I,
Can watch over each other’s steps.

It’s a lonely road we go
I see it clearly from where I stand
If the sun shines a little
on me and on my life
I can walk the lonely road with you.

131/365 Songs: Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:15:37 +0000

Yes, I was watching Glee last night! The song was first released back in 1983 and must have one of the strangest videos ever (which was expertly recreated in a literal version a few years back). I hope you enjoy my version of this classic “rock ballad”!

127/365 Songs: The Power of love – Jennifer Rush

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:26:27 +0000

I haven’t included many big ‘power ballads’ in my collection so far, so I thought I’d play this song from 1984 by Jennifer Rush. It was covered by Laura Branigan in 1987 and then by Céline Dion in 1993. Hope you enjoy today’s song!

105/365 Songs: Three times a lady – Lionel Ritchie

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:47:35 +0000

I’ve spent the last five days in Cheltenham at the Apple Teacher Institute and last night, after the Showcase of the work produced by teachers in the workshops, we kept the tradition going with a night of karaoke and general silliness. Eddie, one of our teacher-performers, sang Three times a lady (and an unforgettable Purple Rain), so I thought I’d record this song and play it today on 365songs.

95/365 Songs: Maria Elena

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:16:07 +0000

Today’s song is a bit of a rarity. I don’t think it’s particularly well-known in the UK or the US – although I may be wrong! It was written by Lorenzo Barcelata in 1932 and was dedicated to the wife of the Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil. It has been used in a few films, and has been recorded a number of times in Spanish and English, and in instrumental versions. This was one of the many songs my grandmother enjoyed listening to, so this is dedicated to her!

82/365 Songs: Stormy Weather

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:17:59 +0000

Recorded by such famous names as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, this song came to mind last night as I was getting petrol on my way home from a meeting at the school. I got completely soaked in torrential rain and howling wind and I since I was returning home to record today’s song I couldn’t think of a better choice!

78/365 Songs: I have a dream – Abba

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:51:28 +0000

Thanks for the nice comments this week on the songs I’ve been playing – it’s great to know that people are enjoying my music! Back to Abba today with the song I have a dream. It first appeared on the 1979 Voulez-vous album and is one of the Abba songs which everyone knows. I’ve decided to play this in A flat rather than B flat. I’m not quite sure why – just to be different probably!

64/365 Songs: When you believe – Prince of Egypt

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:42:29 +0000

This is my version of the original song taken from the film The Prince of Egypt. The song was later reworked by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston without the “Hebrew chorus”, but it was the full version which we used to do back in the Mearns Castle Senior Choir (= “Glee Club” before Glee Clubs became cool!)

62/365 Songs: Santa Lucia

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:03:20 +0000

If it’s Wednesday it must be Italy! (No, this has nothing to do with a certain coach trip…) I thought I’d play something Italian today – it’s been a long time coming! I hope you enjoy my version of Santa Lucia.

60/365 Songs: Llwyn Onn / Cwm Rhondda

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:46:36 +0000

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St David’s Day to everyone. I thought I’d do a wee medley of two of the most famous Welsh songs I know for St David’s day today. The songs are Llwyn Onn – also known as Ash Grove in English, and the rousing Cwm Rhondda. It’s a bit different from usual, but hope you enjoy it nonetheless, and it’s dedicated to all my Welsh friends and listeners.

365 Songs – The Dark Island

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:59:54 +0000

It had to happen sooner or later… today marks the debut of my accordion on 365 Songs! I bought myself an accordion last April and have been enjoying teaching myself to play it. When I was recording some Scottish songs for this week I decided that it may be nice to do an arrangement of The Dark Island and record myself playing the piano part and then overdub the accordion. Because there’s so much rubato in a song like this it’s a bit difficult to get the timing perfect, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless!

The Dark Island is often thought of as a traditional Scottish song, but it was in fact written for the BBC series of the same name in 1963 filmed in South Uist about the discovery of a torpedo on the shores of Benbecula.

365 Songs: Guldet Blev till Sand – Kristina från Duvemåla

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:20:36 +0000

Sticking with the musicals theme from yesterday, Guldet Blev till Sand is one of many beautiful songs from the Swedish musical Kristina från Duvemåla, written by (my musical hero) Benny Andersson and with lyrics by Björn Ulvæus. The musical is based on the novels of Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg which tell of a Swedish family’s migration to America in the 19th century.

The musical was premiered in Malmö in 1995 and received a 10-minute standing ovation. Since then it’s been staged in Gothenburg, Stockholm and in Minneapolis. Last year an English version was staged in Carnegie Hall and a this version will be performed in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 April this year. Unfortunately I won’t be there (I’ll be Apple Teacher Instituting in Cheltenham…) but the English-language soundtrack apparently comes out a couple of days before the concert.

The song Guldet Blev till Sand (”The gold turned into sand”) is taken from the second act of the show. The family has moved to the New World and the character Robert has set out in search for gold with his friend Arvid. They end up lost in the desert and after drinking poisoned water, Arvid dies. Robert returns and explains to his sister-in-law Kristina what has happened. There’s a version on YouTube with English subtitles sung by Peter Jöback if you’re interested.

I better think of something a bit cheerier for tomorrow!