Songs of the Summer

Summer is in the air on Classical California. Bringing the heat is Classical California’s music programming team - Rik Malone, John Van Driel, and Ella Harpstead. They're sharing their three favorite pieces that give summer vibes. Explore all nine selections below, along with the reasons they think you’ll love them too.

Rik Malone

What music do I think of when I think of Summer? Well, mostly I think of the idealized Summer I grew up with, before work (and living in California!) blurred most of those old seasonal distinctions. But for me, a classical summer sounds like….

Beethoven: Symphony #6 “Pastoral”

A whole season’s worth of weather in one 40-minute piece! It’s Beethoven at his best, musically and psychologically, at one with Nature. There’s even a chance for him to rage at the elements.

Delius: By the River (from “Florida Suite”)

The gently moving melody could be the water, or it could be a soft breeze blowing by, or it could be both! Either way, it’s a special helping of “Ahhhhhh…”

Mendelssohn: Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Actually, all of Mendelssohn’s music to this play would qualify, but the Overture encapsulates all the magic that makes this one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Perfect for Shakespeare In The Park!

John Van Driel

Ernest Farrar: English Pastoral Impressions

Written in 1915, English Pastoral Impressions is the epitome of English Pastoral poetry, the peaceful beauty of the English countryside. Something of a smooth G & T on a hot summer night.

Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring

Copland uniquely captures the heart of the American spirit and is a fitting segue from his earlier ballets “Billy the Kid” and “Rodeo”.It was a celebration of the joys and hardships of frontier life with the theme of “Simple Gifts” resonating to this day.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

Originally written in 1914 and inspired the 1881 poem by English writer George Meredith, about a Lark that ascends high above the earth as the violin lifts the listener high into the heavens and becomes kind of a hopeful yearning.

Ella Harpstead

Vivaldi: Summer from The Four Seasons

Sure, it’s an obvious choice. But of all of Vivaldi’s famed seasonal works, can we take a second to really appreciate Summer for sounding exactly like languid days, simmering heat, buzzing insects, an approaching storm front, and sheets of rain?

Lithgow: Invercargill

To me, summer sounds like an evening in a park playing with a community band. And Invercargill especially has that “village fair” kind of sound. No matter which hemisphere and season you’re in (the New Zealand city of Invercargill sits in the southern hemisphere, where it’s currently the beginning of winter), this non-Sousa march will get your toe tapping.

Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor

Despite being a pretty outdoorsy kid, I think back to the summers of my childhood and see myself sprawled on the couch in the air conditioning, immersed in a book. I hear Wisconsin Public Radio playing from the kitchen, soundtracking the adventures in the pages, and Polovtsian Dances always takes me right back into that place. Summer is for fantasy, drama, and adventure, and Borodin’s music drops you right into the fray.