Mark D Lew wrote:
I want to tap the collective knowledge of the List for a personal
project. As a few of you know, I'm getting married in two weeks. In
spite of my usual advocacy of live music, from the days when I too was a
professional musician, we're going with recorded music. One thing we
haven't found yet is the right piece for processional music.
Ericka loves the well-known Pachelbel canon in D. Objectively, I too
think it's a great piece, and it suits our needs in almost every
respect. The one problem is that I've heard it so many times that for me
it carries of a connotation of generic wedding ritual, which is (1) not
a really positive feeling for me and (2) something I would never be able
to personally connect to and think of as really "ours".
So in brief, we're looking something that has the essential qualities of
the Pachelbel canon but which is obscure enough that thousands of other
couples haven't already discovered it. If you have some favorite piece
that you've always felt would be a perfect wedding processional, I'm
inviting you to recommend it.
It can't, however, be *too* obscure. The chosen piece has to be
something we can get on a digital recording, and it needs to be
something we can listen to before buying. My standard strategy is to
borrow CDs from the public library for auditioning, but for those out
there who like to send clips, I promise not to complain if you fill up
my email inbox with binaries for this purpose.
Other possibly pertinent information:
* Aside from basic structural features (tempo, etc), what most appeals
about the Pachelbel canon is the sense of quiet joy that wells up in it.
As a counter-example, one of the also-ran candidates, Bach's Air on a G
String, had the right pace and general mood but was deemed to be too
solemn and introspective and not celebratory enough.
* I'm basically thinking in terms of the 1650-1750 era, with some sort
of standard chamber music instrumentation, but I'm not stuck on that, if
some other era or style can accomplish the same goals.
* The wedding will be outside, in a lovely garden-like setting. There
will be about 70 guests, including lots of young children. Our
procession will be non-standard, with bride and groom entering
simultaneously from different directions and meeting in the middle.
The chorale section from Holst's Jupiter.
The slow solemn section of the Dam Busters March by Eric Coates (just
don't tell people the name or you'll get lots of obscene jokes.)
Bach's Bouree from the Suite in B minor for flute and strings.
Too bad you're going with canned music -- probably best, though.
Wouldn't want any wrong notes or any extra expenses. ;-)
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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