Musical Pick-Me-Up 2
Care for a dance?

In contrast with most pop music, classical music is built around exploiting contrasts - loud and soft, fast and slow, “masculine” and “feminine” themes - and hence never settles in a pattern for long. For new listeners, this is especially evident in rhythm; it often seems like there is no beat at all.

One of the exceptions is dance, where holding a steady beat is pretty important. Classical music has long influenced and been influenced by the dance. Nowhere is this more evident than in that ultimate musical dance form, for some, the ballet.

We've already encountered some gentle rhythms, but here's a more energetic set of dances to get you swingin' on your pins:

1. Debussy – Children’s Corner – 6. Golliwogg’s cake walk
2. de Falla – El sombrero de tres picos (The Three Cornered Hat) – Danza Final (Jota)
3. Delibes – Coppelia – Prelude-Mazurka (Part 1)
4. Gade – Jalousie (Tango Tsigane)
5. Granados – Goyescas – Fandango en candil (Fandango by candle-light)
6. Khachaturian – Gayenah – Sabre Dance
7. Strauss – Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, op.214 (Chit-Chat Polka)
8. Strauss – An der schöenen blauen Donau, op. 314 (The Blue Danube Waltz)
9. Waldteufel – Les patineurs, op.183 (The Skater’s Waltz)
10. Weber – Invitation to the Dance, op.65 (Orchestrated by Berlioz)