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For Valentine’s Day, instead of flowers or chocolates, say it with music. And nothing sets a mood better than a romantic ballad.
Over the years, classical music has served as the fount of inspiration for romantic pop music ranging from the Great American Songbook to modern power ballads. For instance, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 spawned pop-music treatments decades apart: “Full Moon and Empty Arms” (Frank Sinatra in 1945) and “All By Myself” (Eric Carmen in 1975).
Here’s a Spotify playlist of memorable examples of this phenomenon; each classical track, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is followed by a pop-music rendition by artists as disparate as Bob Dylan and Tony Bennett.
Notes on the music:
Tchaikovsky and “Moon Love”: Inspired by the French horn solo in the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, the ballad “Moon Love” was popularized by Frank Sinatra, who recorded it twice, in 1939 with Harry James, and in 1966, on his concept album “Moonlight Sinatra," arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The song was written by Mack David, Mack Davis and Andre Kostelanetz, the reigning easy-listening king from the ’40s through the ’70s.
Brahms and “The Love of My Life”: Carlos Santana’s comeback, multi-platinum “Supernatural” (1999) consists of a series of duets with hit-making guest vocalists. Santana teamed up superstar rock singer-songwriter Dave Matthews on the track “Love of My Life,” based on the third movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3. Though the melody is clearly Brahms’, the composer is not credited on the disc. In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, however, Santana acknowledged his inspiration: “One of my very favorite classical works is Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90, the third movement, Poco allegretto. I heard this glorious piece of music shortly after my dear father passed away, and I was haunted by it."
Borodin and “Stranger in Paradise”: The Broadway musical “Kismet” (1953), with music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, borrows from works by Alexander Borodin. The musical spawned the hit “Stranger in Paradise,” based on the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor. Though many have covered the tune, it was first popularized by Tony Bennett, and his version remains the benchmark.
Rachmaninov and “All by Myself” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms”: The composer’s Second Piano Concerto has served as a virtual petri dish for pop-music writers. Singer-songwriter Eric Carmen wrested two hit singles from the concerto, “All by Myself” (1975) and “Never Fall in Love Again” (1976). Three decades earlier, tunesmiths Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman got the ball rolling with “Full Moon and Empty Arms” (1945), a smash hit for Frank Sinatra. Seventy years later, for “Shadows of the Night” (2015), his first of three collections of standards, Bob Dylan revisited the song. In an interview with AARP magazine, he said, "It is not a cover album, but a deep dive into notes and moods and words. Ask anyone who ’covers’ songs. You have to discover and uncover. ’Uncovered’ is a better word."
