{"id":53932,"date":"2018-05-11T14:26:29","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T18:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=53932"},"modified":"2018-05-11T14:26:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T18:26:29","slug":"listen-up-cherry-blossom-season-requires-a-cherry-blossom-classical-playlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/05\/11\/listen-up-cherry-blossom-season-requires-a-cherry-blossom-classical-playlist\/","title":{"rendered":"LISTEN UP |  Cherry Blossom Season Requires A Cherry Blossom Classical Playlist"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_53934\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53934\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53934\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms.jpg\" alt=\"cherry blossoms\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms-819x1024.jpg 819w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53934\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Meri\u00e7 Da\u011fl\u0131)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s that time of year again. That time when your Instagram feed is flooded with photos of blossoms, Robarts Library\u2019s southern garden and High Park are chock-full of people gaping and taking pictures, and passersby on the streets are suddenly friendly and happy (even if they may find themselves sneezing more than usual!).<\/p>\n<p>You guessed it, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/sakurainhighpark.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sakurainhighpark.com<\/a>, it\u2019s cherry blossom (sakura) peak season in Toronto. Presented to the city of Toronto in 1959 by the Japanese Ambassador, Toru-Hagiwara, the breathtaking Somei-Yoshino Sakura trees found in High Park and other areas throughout the city were initially given as a thank you for the citizens of Toronto\u2019s support of Japanese-Canadian refugees after World War II. Little did the Japanese ambassador know just how appreciated these trees would be by our social media-driven culture more than half a century later!<\/p>\n<p>In case you just want to wander the sakura blossoms this weekend rather than photograph them (is that even possible?), here we present a classical music playlist to get you in the mood.<\/p>\n<h3>1: Sakura, Sakura &#8211; Traditional Japanese Folk Song<\/h3>\n<p>This Japanese folk song describes the delicate beauty of the sakura blossoms at the height of their season. \u201cIs it mist, or clouds?\u201d the song asks through a pentatonic scalar melody often played on the koto, a Japanese stringed instrument. Watch the virtuosic Kasumi Watanabe play the piece here:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JDTp_YQizqE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-53933\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/sakura-score.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/sakura-score.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/sakura-score-300x253.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/sakura-score-768x647.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>2: Ah! Ah! Quanto cielo! Quanto mar! (Madama Butterfly) &#8211; Giacomo Puccini<\/h3>\n<p>Somehow Puccini knew exactly how to musically depict the exquisite, fragile beauty of the Japanese sakura blossoms, even without ever having seen them. In Cio-Cio San\u2019s entrance in Act I of Puccini\u2019s Japan-set opera, Madama Butterfly, you can almost see the pink petals falling as Cio-Cio San sings a rising melody with her friends describing her overwhelming happiness. Puccini\u2019s unabashed use of the harp, soloistic employment of different strings and layering of voices only adds to the ecstatic beauty of the moment. Guarda quanti fior!<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R2QqITBDozg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>3: Printemps: Suite Symphonique &#8211; Claude Debussy<\/h3>\n<p>An early Debussy work originally begun when he was a Prix de Rome Scholar in 1887, Debussy\u2019s interest in Eastern modalities and Wagnerian harmonies are evident in this lush, romantic work. Inspired by Botticelli\u2019s famous Primavera painting, Debussy intended his piece to demonstrate \u201cla gen\u00e8se lente et souffrante des \u00eatres et des choses dans la nature, puis l&#8217;\u00e9panouissement ascendant et se terminant par une \u00e9clatante joie de rena\u00eetre \u00e0 une vie nouvelle en quelque sorte,\u201d or the slow, painful birth of living beings and things in nature, followed by their blossoming outward, ending with a burst of joy at being reborn to a new life of sorts. Keep this piece echoing through your head as you wander High Park this weekend.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nZkgyIdXt44?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>4: Cherry Duet (L\u2019amico Fritz) &#8211; Mascagni<\/h3>\n<p>Who can resist the lilting melodies of Mascagni\u2019s beautiful \u201cCherry Duet\u201d from L\u2019amico Fritz, complete with all its delicious innuendoes about those irresistible cigliegie? Listen to Suzel and Fritz fall in love as they pick cherries (the actual fruit this time) in Act II of Mascagni\u2019s lesser-known but delightful opera, L\u2019amico Fritz.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KMmra3TvT-8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>5: Zefiro torna &#8211; Claudio Monteverdi<\/h3>\n<p>A romantic ode to Zephyrus, Greek God of the west wind, it\u2019s impossible to listen to this piece without a spring in your step. This lively ciaccona describes the rapturous beauty of spring scattered by Zephyrus onto the heads of Phyllis and Chloris and throughout the fields. Sadly, the joyful ode ends with a bittersweet reminder that even the beauty of spring cannot heal a broken heart. Listen to Tafelmusik\u2019s playful arrangement for strings here:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V6XSks5usW8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You guessed it, it\u2019s peak season for cherry blossoms in Toronto, and with it, a playlist of spring inspired classical music to lead you into the weekend. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":53934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,4967,19601,63],"tags":[19602],"yst_prominent_words":[15673,19600,19579,19596,19221,13254,19584,19597,19577,7438,19580,19576,19585,19583,19598,19595,7095,11248,19578,19586],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/meric-dagli-cherry-blossoms.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-e1S","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53932"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53936,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53932\/revisions\/53936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53932"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=53932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}