Music to Fall By

Last Friday night I felt it for the first time this year: Fall. The first familiar gust of wind beckoned me to my ITunes to get busy making a new Autumn-themed study Playlist. (True, this Wednesday October 1st I will probably move right into my Christmas playlist, but I first had to answer the call of Fall).

Autumn needs warm music: music that evokes browns, reds, trees, fireside, scarves, corduroy, cinnamon-flavored baked goods, pumpkins- you know the list. Well, from my ITunes library, that pretty much means some upbeat Baroque music, George Winston's "Autumn" album (duh), the soundtrack to "Everything is Illuminated" and just a touch of Counting Crows here and there. (I like to toss in a few pop songs to my study lists- provides little four minute mental breaks when they come up in randomization).

And of course, I wanted to add Vivaldi's Four Seasons to the Mix. It may be the "Four" Seasons, but everyone knows it just makes you feel like taking a road trip to an apple orchard.

But to my shock and disbelief, I found that I did not own a recording of the Four Seasons. How did this happen? Doesn't EVERYONE own the Four Seasons? Well, thank you ITunes store, where I could just click over and peruse some thirty different recordings and price ranges. I settled on celebrity: Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (which unbeknownst to me had just been released a week earlier). This was also my first ITunes purchase that came not only with a digital booklet, but a video of Bell playing/conducting the Summer "Presto" movement.

It's an outstanding recording: crisp and energized but full of surprising nuances. It's a great new interpretation of the classic Baroque musicalization of what it feels like to dive into a pile of leaves!

Oh, and if you didn't already know: Joshua Bell = hot