Highfield Music and the BBC Ten Pieces

The BBC’s Ten Pieces is an ambitious, nationwide initiative for school pupils, which aims to open up the world of classical music to a generation of children. Listen and appraise by clicking on the hyperlink title of each piece.

At Highfield Community Primary School, we have chosen ten pieces that represent a wide range of styles and eras. There are many more pieces to listen to by clicking on the BBC Ten Pieces logo below.

Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 contains one of the most famous motifs in musical history. Beethoven wrote this symphony when he was beginning to lose his hearing.

Anna Clyne - Night Ferry (extract)

When Anna Clyne settled on the idea of creating a piece about crossing a stormy ocean, she picked up a paint brush instead of writing music notes on paper and created a graphic score, laying out how she wanted her piece to sound by using swirls and sweeps of dark, violent colours.

Hildegard of Bingen - O Euchari in leta via

The inspirational visions and soaring melodies of 'O Euchari in leta via' and other plainsong made Hildegard of Bingen an exceptional character in Medieval Germany.

Gustav Holst -The Planets - Mars, the Bringer of War

Holst composed this piece in anticipation of the outbreak of World War One. It’s a march but an unusual one. Normally a march has 4 beats in a bar but Mars has 5 beats in a bar; tricky to march to!

Anna Meredith - Connect It

Anna Meredith's body percussion piece 'Connect It' uses variety of rhythmic sounds and movements that are passed between the performers to create a canon.

Modest Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bare Mountain

Night On The Bare Mountain describes a wild and terrifying witches' Sabbath on the Bald Mountain near Kiev in the old Russian Empire.

Benjamin Britten - ‘Storm’ Interlude from ‘Peter Grimes’

'Storm' is an orchestral interlude from Benjamin Britten's opera 'Peter Grimes' about a community struggling to make their living by the sea.

George Frideric Handel - Zadok the Priest

Handel wrote 'Zadok the Priest' for the coronation of King George II in 1727. Amazingly the piece has been performed at the coronation service of every British monarch ever since.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)

Discover one of the 4 horn concertos written by one of the most famous composers of all time.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker - Trepak (Russian Dance); Waltz of the Flowers

The story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was transformed into a magical ballet in 1892 – and is now a Christmas favourite.

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