Freegal and the Movies: “The William Tell Overture” from The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) with his trusty horse Silver at Pleasure Island in Massachusetts.  image credit

Yesterday we went to the movies and saw all the previews for new ones coming out.
Disney is coming out with The Lone Ranger, and I drank up the scenery, since some of it was shot in Creede, Colorado, a bare 50 miles from my hometown. A childhood friend lives there now & says the crew was very nice. I don’t think he made a Depp sighting, though.

Creede, Old mine on Bachelor Loop tour image credit

You can’t think of The Lone Ranger without thinking of “The William Tell Overture.” It wasn’t written for the TV show, but pulled from a Rossini opera about a Swiss patriot.

So how did it come to be the theme song for the Wild West? First, it’s a rousing piece of music that certainly conjures up a horse galloping across the desert.

Second, and probably most importantly, it was in the public domain, which meant the studio wouldn’t have to pay the rights for it.

Freegal has dozens of versions of “The William Tell Overture” available for free download.  You can find Arthur Fiedler, Leonard Bernstein, the London Symphony Orchestra, and lots of others.

Word in the blogosphere is that Hans Zimmer will be the musical director (Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom called it “The best thing of 2013.)

And, according to HuffPost Jack White (whose other music you can download from Freegal) was hired to write & perform the score.

I’m looking forward to seeing a Colorado/Depp/Zimmer/White collaboration. It’s been a long time since a Western has come along.

Music for Your Silent Monks: “The Hallelujah Chorus” by George Frideric Handel

This video makes me smile every time I see it.

 Handel’s masterpiece was originally written for Easter, but it’s become a Christmas staple, and there are dozens of versions on Freegal.

If you want the traditional orchestra and choir version, you can look for the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Fiedler, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

If you’d like to hear it in another language, you can give a listen to the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.

If you like hearing just one person interpret it, you can pull up Johnny Mathis or Neil Diamond.

And if you’re in the mood for something really different, then you’ll want to search for Philharmonic 2000’s version. It’s called “Hallelujah Hustle.”

Bring in the Glass Harp: “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Tchaikovsky

I love this rendition that my cousin found and sent to me.

Tchaikovsky brought in an entirely new instrument called the celesta that lent the song its unique celestial bell sound.

The glass harp is equally entrancing.

Sadly, I couldn’t find any glass harp rendition on Freegal. But I found dozens of others:

·         Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Fiedler for traditionalists.

·         Yule-a-Go Go for a rough-hewn jazz version,

·         Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra for a classic jazz version

·         Angels of Venice for a somewhat syncopated version

·         Spongetones for a bizarre version

·         Woody Phillips in an even more bizarre “toolbox” version. Seems to include ratchets and power saws