Fall is my favorite time of year. The cooler weather, the colorful leaves, the smell of decomposing leaves (seriously, I like that), and of course, pumpkin spiced everything (not a fan …)

Asa composer, Ottorino Respighi isn’t exactly a one-hit-wonder – instead, more of a three-hit-wonder. He wrote three orchestral suites, all based on Rome – The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome, and Roman Festivals. One of the festivals that he paints with music is called “The Harvest of October.” In it you can hear horn calls, signaling a festive hunt; later, a mandolin plays a folk melody, painting peasants working to bring in the last harvest; the piece ends with the exhausted festival goers slipping off into a lovely, quiet sleep.

There’s a remarkable connection between our senses and our memory. The sound of the ocean, the feeling of a soft blanket or pet, the sight of a landmark or building, the taste of certain food, or even a mere smell can trigger vivid memories – sometimes positive, sometimes traumatic.

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov was born and educated near St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating from the conservatory there, he was appointed music director of an orchestra in Tbilsi, Georgia. After seven years, he returned to Russia to be a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It was here he wrote his most famous work, the Caucasia Sketches – musical memories of the region of his first professional employment. Included in these sketches is a movement titled “In a Mosque“, in which you can hear a Muezzin‘s call to prayer at the beginning. I imagine that every time he heard this piece, Ippolitov-Ivanov was transported back to his time in Tbilsi.

It’s easy to think of a composer writing a piece as a romantic gift to a potential lover. Wow, lucky guy/girl, we think. But what about when a composer writes a masterpiece as a friendly gift to a 6 & 7 year old girl & boy? Bah, ungrateful little brats!

I’m kidding, of course. But still, we can be sure that this young pair had no idea of the honor bestowed upon them when Maurice Ravel wrote his Mother Goose Suite as a present for them. Though the original composition was for piano, within a year Ravel had expanded the work into a full ballet and orchestrated it. It has since become a beloved classic of “children’s’ music” (that is to say, music for all ages). The suite includes tells some common fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Little Ugly, and Beauty and the Beast. It ends with this gorgeous pastorale, The Fairy Garden, which doesn’t tell any specific story, but instead captures the simple rapture of children listening to a good tale.