Spring can really hang you up the most, ya know? But that doesn’t stop me from loving this season of growth, rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, re-everything, and crazy, crazy weather. Oh how I love spring.
Spring is the time of year when you never really know what to expect from Mother Nature. You might wake up to sunshine streaming through the windows and birds singing their come hither melodies, experience a torrential downpour with lightning and thunder accompaniment during the lunch hour, and find yourself seduced outside in the afternoon by a double rainbow that quickly fades when the hail starts falling. And then the fog rolls in.
Spring. A good time to dress in layers.
After a long, dreary winter, along with fresh sprouts and longer days, spring has a way of bringing with it a renewal of hope. An understanding that there are sunnier days ahead, both actual and metaphorical. When spring has sprung, it’s the release of a tightly wound coil. Suddenly, I can breathe. (And then the pollen stuffs me up again, but let’s just pretend it doesn’t for a moment.) Because it’s also like a Vitamin B-12 shot for creative individuals.
Spring has been inspiring artists for eons. Poets, painters, and musicians. I don’t know a lick about poetry or watercolor, but I’ve been a fan of music that pertains to the changing of the seasons for about as long as I can remember, and not an equinox nor a solstice is allowed to pass by without at least a small dedication to the changing of the season on JPR’s Siskiyou Music Hall. Usually it’s more likely a rather large dedication.
By the time you read this, the first official day of spring will have already come and gone (this year it was March 20th). No matter, I’m celebrating spring a little late this year, dedicating today’s column to all the glorious music that’s been written in its honor. And there’s a lot. In fact, below you’ll find two playlists of music inspired by all things a la primavera, fruhling et printemps; one that’s for classical music lovers, the other for the rest of you.
Additionally, listeners are invited to tune in to JPR’s Classics & News Service on Monday, April 8th, when I’ll share a number of selections from the classical playlist during a special edition of Siskiyou Music Hall. Listeners in Shasta County can tune their radios to 90.9 FM. If you’re anywhere else in between Roseburg, Oregon and Mendocino, California, you can either find the appropriate spot on the dial using our handy online map, or stream directly from the JPR website.
Vals de Primavera
– Agustin Barrios
Last Spring
– Edvard Grieg
Appalachian Spring
– Aaron Copland
Spring
from The Seasons – Mark O’Connor
Spring
from The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi
Rondes de Printemps
– Claude Debussy
Spring Morning
– Frederic Delius
Spring Blossom
(Sakura) – Traditional Japanese Melody
Symphony No. 1, Spring – Robert
Schumann
Song – Jean Sibelius
from The Seasons – Alexander Glazunov
Sonata No. 5, Spring – Ludwig Van Beethoven
In Springtime (Haru No Umi) – Michio Miyagi
of Spring – Johann Strauss, Jr
Porteno – Astor Piazzola
de Printemps – Django Reinhardt
Song – Felix Mendelssohn
Fruhling from The Seasons – Franz Joseph Haydn
Quartet No. 14, Spring – W.A. Mozart
– Franz Schubert
Waters – Sergei Rachmaninov
Rite of Spring – Igor Stravinsky
March (A Prelude to Spring) – Jon
Foreman
Spring Wind – Jack Johnson
Spring – Heidi Happy
Printemps – Coeur de Pirate
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
– Norah Jones & Marian McPartland
Spring Blossom – Oi Va Voi
They Say It’s Spring – Blossom Dearie
Spring – The Innocence Mission
Spring – Saint Etienne
Will Be A Little Late This Year – Ella Fitzgerald
Love Paris In The Springtime – Frank Sinatra
Pas De Printemps – Edith Piaf
Primavera – Manu Chao
Rain – The Go-Betweens
Thaw – Bela Fleck
Buds – Keller Williams
Spring – Joe Henderson
– Donald Fagen
– Dori Caymmi
Spring – Clifford Brown & Max Roach
Haze – Tori Amos
– Tracy Chapman
She’s often spotted driving around town singing at the top of her lungs to new wave hits from the 80’s, but at work Valerie hosts the afternoon classical show Siskiyou Music Hall (at 90.9 FM in Shasta County or streaming at ijpr.org).
