Besides listening to the sounds of nature, do you have your favourite music when going hiking? Nature is the inspiration of composers, many of them created music to display the different forms of nature. For instance, trees in summer are considered as optimism and endurance is associated with trees in winter.
“Loveliest of Trees” was written by British poet Alfred Edward who praised the beauty of the English countryside and cherry trees, later composer John Woods Duke created the music to express the youthfulness and liveliness conveyed in the poem.
The British composer John Ireland also composed of the same poem. Greenways: I. The Cherry Tree is the version without lyrics but it echoes the poem depicting cherry trees in snow and the cherry blossoms later in spring.
The Almond Tree is another piece about trees by John Ireland. Almond trees are among the first fruit trees to blossom in spring and have the meaning of “watching over” in Hebrew. The tune of solo piano brings people the feeling of spring and the image of almond trees in bloom.
Rain Tree by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu elegantly depicts a rainy summer day. This music piece includes a variety of percussion instruments, begins with crotales as raindrops, vibraphone as the sounds of rain dropping on leaves and wooden marimba as the tree itself. The whole song describes how raindrops from leaves and the interaction of rain showers and trees.
In autumn when the leaves turn yellow and fall, tree branches become bare. Selim Palmgren, a Finnish composer, and pianist demonstrates the weather from autumn to winter through his work, Sun and Clouds, Op. 102: No. 11. November: Bare Trees.
Coming to winter, the evergreen pine trees and Christmas are not to be missed. Little Scherzo, “Lighting the Tree" by the well-known Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt, illustrates the festively decorated Christmas tree which gives us a warm welcome to the festival.
“Waldesrauschen” is another masterpiece by Franz Liszt, the start of this piano practice song mimics the sound of the gentle breeze blowing through the leaves. From low to high-pitch, the song develops a storm-like momentum to simulate the change of weather in the forest and returns to a calm ending.
The power of the tree can be seen and felt everywhere, trees sway in rain and wind, stand tall in the cold winter. After listening to these songs, are you inspired to compose a song to pay tribute to trees in Hong Kong?
TrailWatch now has a Spotify channel, you can listen to all the songs mentioned in this article by following our playlist.
References (More nature-inspired music): https://interlude.hk/