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[NRaleighLiberal]

This message was self-deleted by its author (NRaleighLiberal) on Mon Jun 6, 2016, 11:00 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Itchinjim]

1. Bach's "Brandenburg concertos"

I am amazed by their complexity and simplicity. Bach was a true genius.

[housewolf]

19. Oh, that's BEAUTIFUL music!

It's been too long since I heard it.

[REP]

2. A surprisingly hard question

I think I can narrow it down to Saint-Saens at the moment, but can't be a lot more specific, though "Le Rouet d'Omphale" is up there.

I think I have too many favorites.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. It is very hard!

I could have said Shostakovich Symphony 4....or (in this season) The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky..or....or.....

[SecularMotion]

3. Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

[sibelian]

42. :) I'm going to see it performed live in May!

I'm really excited!

[SecularMotion]

43. I've never seen a live performance

I may go next weekend. This is within range.

http://fishercenter.bard.edu/aso/

I'm looking forward to the Bard Music Festival in 2013 - Stravinsky and His World

http://fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf/2012/

[sibelian]

44. Do you mean never an orchestra

or never live Stravinsky?

[SecularMotion]

45. Never live Stravinsky - Rite of Spring

[sibelian]

46. Me neither!

I don't actually go to live performances very often anyway, can count on one hand, but am so going to this. I live in a very arty city and have only recently started taking advantage of it...

[Old and In the Way]

4. "The Moldau" - Smetana

One of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. A symphonic audio journey of a river from the beginning trickles to the raging finale as it reaches the ocean.

[elleng]

33. Ditto!

Posted later in this thread!


P.S., actually heard it at symphony in Prague, by Czech or Prague Symphony Orchestra, a few years ago.

[Old and In the Way]

34. I am, of course, jealous as hell. What an incredible experience that must have been!

backatcha

[elleng]

35. It really was, and quite a surprise.

There with family, rainy evening, arguments happening, I discovered concert and walked over; sat beside gentleman from India, and tried to explain, 'Its a river, hear it?' Not sure that he understood!

[Mira]

38. A true favorite of mine. I sing it when I get

the Wanderlust for being near a river.

[Scuba]

5. Either D# or Eflat, I just can't decide.

[Gregorian]

7. I find Maurice Duruflé, Toccata (from Suite Op.5) absolutely amazing.

[canetoad]

8. The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

He wrote only one violin concerto, as did Beethoven. I've heard Mendelssohn's described as the Yin and Beethoven's the Yang.

Second movement is haunting in its plaintive beauty. All cats love the third. Try it!

[elleng]

32. Yes

Also Bruch

[Mira]

39. The Mendelssohn / I love it with my core. And did you know

http://store.finalcall.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HLFVIOLINCD

this?
(It's a secret)

[pangaia]

71. 5 years after your post but, Mendelssohn wrote 2 violin concerti

[1monster]

9. Johann Pachelbel Canon in D Major

As one commenter explained: This music is as beautiful as heaven.

[2banon]

14. a great Fiddle Tune entitled Koeller's Hornpipe appropriates the general theme..

Irish American fiddler Eileen Ivers recorded a fabulous and rollicking version of both Pachelbel's and Koeller's on her Wild Blue cd recorded sometime in the 90's. I always loved this piece until it was used in tv commercials. But now that time has passed, i think I can enjoy this piece as much as I had in my earlier life..

[housewolf]

18. I just don't know of anything as beautiful as this piece of music

It just washes out anything unlike beauty, surrounds me and fills me with beauty. it's as though though there is nothing but beauty when I listen to it.


You might like to hear the glass harp rendition I posted.

[closeupready]

21. I have a Pakistani friend who was trained in Sitar and

other traditional forms of South Asian music. He knows next to nothing about Western classical music, though I do know a bit and have a collection of classical CD's.

One day, I caught him in the middle of listening to my Pachelbel recording - he was actually so moved that he was crying.

That was very interesting to me, on a lot of levels.

[housewolf]

23. I can understand that

It moves me to tears more often than I care to say!

[regnaD kciN]

25. An interesting story about that piece...

Back when I was in college, I was a member of the Musical Heritage Society. One month, they offered as their featured selection a recording of Pachelbel and Fasch pieces performed by the Paillard Chamber Orchestra. At this point, practically nobody had heard of Pachelbel, but I knew his choral work from having performed it in choir, so bought a copy. The record arrived the day before Thanksgiving, and the Canon in D was the first track on side one. I played it...then played it again, and again...then I played it for my girlfriend, and we listened to it several times over the long weekend. On Sunday, when most people I know were returning from visiting their families, I wound up going from room to room with the record, telling them "you've got to listen to this!"

I later found out that, when that same record was played on New York radio station WQXR, their switchboard was deluged with hundreds of calls from listeners wanting to know where they could buy that record...and that was the point when the Canon went from being unknown to one of the most famous Baroque pieces of all time.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

51. Winton Marsalis's version

It's for three solo trumpets (all played by Marsalis, through overdubbing) and a small group of strings. Absolutely beautiful.

[Buzz cook]

10. It shifts from one to another.

Right now it's Barber's adagio for strings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OIUxwEJ-GXI

I remember it from a commercial back in the seventies, then heard a youth symphony play it. Latter of course it was in "Platoon".

Carmina Burana, Orff is occasionally in first place. Of course Beethoven's 9th.

[laconicsax]

11. Mahler 7 gets me every time.

Especially the Abbado/CSO recording from the 80s

I guess I should add that of the five movements, the 2nd is my favorite.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. That was my first purchase of a Mahler 7 performance. Great stuff....

So do you catch the snippet of the "Star Trek" theme song in the slower, central part of the first movement? (played on trumpet)?

The ones that put the lump in my throat (well, all Mahler does that to me) are the slow mvt of the 6th, the finale of the Bernstein Mahler 2 on DG (the DVD is incredible), and the last 5 minutes of the 8th.....

Oh yes - then there is the final movement of Rattle's first 10th by Cooke.

[laconicsax]

13. James Horner also ripped off the 2nd movement for Wrath of Khan.

[dhill926]

36. tough choice....but gotta be Mahler.......

Yep. 7th......sometimes 2nd, then there's the 5th and 6th....9th is overwhelming......gotta love the 1st. Have I forgotten the 3rd, 4th and 8th? Oh....first movement of the 10th.....devastating. And can't leave out Das Lied......

[Sancho]

15. Wow..a single piece is too tough!

Rachmaninoff 2 (piano)
Tchaikovsky 4th (symphony)
Tristan und Isolde (opera)

I think this is too hard because if you asked me at different times I'd give a different answer too.

btw...I didn't like the movie Black Swan...ruined the music for me.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. I lve Tchai's 4th - also 6th -

The youth orchestra that my daughter played in featured the 4th for their first season - listening in on the rehearsals gave me an appreciation for the complexity of the music - esp. the string parts.

[housewolf]

17. Pachelbel's Canon in D Major

Last edited Fri Dec 16, 2011, 03:23 AM - Edit history (1)

I melt every time I hear it, it just takes me somewhere else.



Here's a lovely rendition I found tonight performed by the London Symphony Orchestra

[northoftheborder]

29. Pachelbel's Canon in D always brings a special memory.....

....of Paris. We attended a chamber music concert in one of the many, many churches which regularly hold classical music events. This auditorium was small, packed, even on a week-night, and I realized it must have experienced centuries of history, as it showed many styles and repairs in it's architectural details. As they played the Pachelbel, the young woman with the cello played with particularly heart-felt emotion, completely submerged in the music and the interpretation; I couldn't help but notice, immediately behind her, one of the violinists, a handsome young man, never taking his eyes off of her during the entire piece, gazing at her with the most loving, adoring eyes I have seen a man give a woman!

Hearing that music brings it back, the emotion, the love, the quaint little church, the audience of classical music lovers.

[housewolf]

30. Oh, that's so sweet

It brings tears to my eyes.

What a wonderful memory to carry with you, truly a special gift.

Thanks for sharing it with me, now it lives a bit more as I carry a little of it in my memory too.


Happy Holidays to you!

[RZM]

20. Dvorak's always been my favorite. If I had to pick one, I would say 'Slavonic Dances'

Can't remember which ones were the best. I think the second, which is in D or E minor.

[regnaD kciN]

24. ...and I'd have to go with the "New World"

(The Kertesz/Vienna recording, in particular.) But, to be honest, naming one single work as "favorite" is an almost-impossible task.

[rdharma]

61. Dvorak's New world

I deleted my post immediately above because the video quality isn't very good. But the sound quality is not bad so I'll re-post it.

#!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

66. I also like Dvorak's New World Symphony

But for me, it's the second movement rather than the fourth.

[closeupready]

22. I really have to say I think it's Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker - and anything

by Tchaikovsky - I just love all his music.

[Le Taz Hot]

26. Lately I'm enthralled by anything

Vaughn Williams. I briefly studied him in college (along with 24,386 other composers) and remember thinking, "When I have time, I need to explore him more." Well, 20(+) years later I'm finally getting around to it.

I'll also always be fascinated with the last 4 Beethoven String Quartets (13-16). Could easily plop 'em down in the 20th century they were that forward-thinking.

[melonkali]

27. Such a beautiful thread -- thanks to all

My offering will be the 2nd Movement (the Adagio) from Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra --

This music caused me to weep:
a) The first time I ever heard it
b) When I learned the story behind its composition
c) When I read the Youtube comment board under an earlier uploaded video (same performance but time constraints forced the video to cut off at the critical ending of the Adagio and continue on Part 3) -- people from so many different, often conflicting, cultures sharing the deep universal human sorrow and beauty this piece evokes

SPOILER FOR PURISTS: THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE COMPOSITION: Rodrigo, blind since age 3, and a deeply religious man, did not speak about this Adagio for years. Many speculated it might have been inspired by the Guernica tragedy in the Spanish Civil War. Rodrigo's beloved wife Victoria finally revealed that Rodrigo wrote this Adagio hurriedly, in 1939, in Paris, after their eagerly awaited first child was stillborn, and the doctors told Rodrigo that Victoria's life was still in danger. Rodrigo offered no further interpretation except for later revealing to friend and classical guitarist Pepe Romero that the tiny harmonics at the end of the movement are his child's soul ascending to heaven.

Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranguez, 2nd Movement, Guitarist Paco de Lucia:

[FredStembottom]

47. I know it's months later...

But thanks for adding this! I listen regularly to Rodrigo. As well as De Falla and Turina. Can't ever hear this too many times.

[dmallind]

28. Boy tough one. Guess I keep coming back to Alkan's minor key Preludes, op. 39. nt

[elleng]

31. Moldau, Smetana, among others.

[freshwest]

37. River Torridge - Fantasia on a Theme

Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

That is my vision of heaven.

[FredStembottom]

40. I was going to post Vaughn-Williams myself.

When I hear the 1st movement of his third symph (pastoral), I am overcome with a feeling that I am hearing the greatest movement of music ever written. Not a decision on my part so much as a composer finding a route to the emotions very nearly too direct.

It effects me so strongly I can only listen to this movement a couple times each year - it just disolves me into bliss.

I could only find 2 versions on YouTube. One is in mono. The other is in stereo but played waaaaay too fast. Here's the mono one - which is also about 2 BPM too fast

Seek out better recordings.

[BeyondGeography]

41. Second movement of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto

I want it playing on my nightstand when I die:

Love the French....Daphnis et Chloe a close second in the dying-on-my-terms department. Love a thousand pieces and counting (don't miss Franck's piano quintet in F Minor...), but Beethoven keeps me going.

[nickinSTL]

62. Beethoven's 5th piano concerto is my fave

no question.

There are others I like a lot, Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto, Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto, Dvorak's New World Symphony...I could go on and on.

But Beethoven's 5th piano concerto is top of the list, definitely.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

48. No one has mentioned Mozart?

Last edited Sun Aug 11, 2013, 05:18 AM - Edit history (2)

My favorite piece of music is Mozart's Serenade for 13 Winds, K. 361, especially the 3rd movement:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

49. erik satie's Gnossienne

i am not sure which i like more in those pieces.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

50. Cecile Chaminade's Automne, 2nd etude, opus 35

My parents had a recording of Ms. Chaminade's beautiful composition when I was a little kid back in the 1950s and it led to my becoming a musician and my lifetime love of music. When I hear this piece, I can almost see haystacks of the harvest, leaves of trees turning brown, flocking geese in the sky, sudden wind and rainstorms, and all the glorious melancholy of autumn.

[SwissTony]

52. We've got a few Mahler fans...so one more...

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ('Songs of a Wayfarer'). I love all 4 pieces but my favourite is "Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz" (The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved). It just melts me.

[IceScar]

53. My classical

For me, this music is already a classic for everybody

[hrmjustin]

54. Welcome to DU and I hope you enjoy the site.

[defacto7]

55. Anything Benjamin Britten

But especially, the Opera Peter Grimes.

Now the Great Bear and Pleiades where earth moves are drawing up the clouds of human grief,
Breathing solemnity in the deep night.
Who can tell in storm or starlight the written character of a friendly fate,
As the sky turns the world for us to change.
But if the horoscopes bewildering, like the flashing turmoil of a shoal of Herring,
Who, who... who can turn the skys back and begin again?

... all the interludes of this opera are masterpieces.

Also, Britten's Noye's Fludde.

Oh, why not a third....

Phillip Glass - Violin Concerto.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

56. Peter Schickele tried to parody Phillip Glass

And demonstrated that Glass cannot be parodied.

Personally, the only thing of Britten's that I like -- apart from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, which is fun -- is his War Requiem.

[defacto7]

57. It's too bad you don't share my enthusiasm for Britten

I have performed many of his works and after digging deeply I am amazed at the unexpected symbolism hidden within. I guess when you study and perform any work, it takes on a different meaning. I sang one of the solos the War Requiem once and it is a tremendous work.

As far as parody, someone should try to parody John Cage.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

58. Britten is just not to my taste

Last edited Fri Apr 19, 2013, 09:19 AM - Edit history (1)

Actually, my real hatred is directed to the Second Vienna School. On Schoenberg's 100th birthday, one of the local classical radio stations played a great deal of his music. I particularly recall Perriot Lunaire, which comes close to being my all time least favorite piece, especially the section "Der kranke Mond". I thought that if Schoenberg is trying to enduce feelings of mild nausea in the listener, he is succeeding brilliantly.

The host of the program remarked that "Schoenberg has always been highly regarded among the musical cognoscenti, but has never achieved any sort of popular following" with an unspoken, but obvious, "and I've always wondered why." Well, I could have told him exactly why. The music was butt-ugly. During one piece (I forget which one) of serial music, I suddenly thought "He must have made a mistake, I could almost detect a tune there for a few moments."

I once was roped into seeing Wozzeck, and I walked out during the intermission. I had to make my own way home, but it was a cheap price to pay to avoid the rest of that horrible opera. If anyone tells me it is a great opera and they love it, I shall say that some people love sadomaschoism, a love which is far more understandable. I have also avoided Lulu, which I am told by Alban Berg fans is not as good as Wozzeck.

[rdharma]

60. Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherezade op. 35

[endesano]

63. Cencored

Rock ‘n’ roll has always been about breaking rules and pushing boundaries. see here a great list of top 10 great rock songs but censored

Top 10 Censored Rock Songs

[Rstrstx]

64. If asked today, I'd say Beethoven's Cavatina

The master himself considered it the most beautiful piece he had ever written and it's easy to understand why. It was originally to be followed by the amazing Grosse Fuge, which was so far ahead of its time it took decades to truly be appreciated.

This really is a tough question - ask me again in a few months. There are SO many candidates really.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

65. I came across a nice adaptation of Mozart's Magic Flute in three parts

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

67. Another Mozart piece, Concerto for Flute and Harp K. 299 - 2nd Movement

[sir pball]

68. Of course it always changes, but right now Toccata and Fugue in Dm "Dorian"

An intensely archaic organ piece that nonetheless utterly exemplifies counterpoint and that I also just plain adore.

[sir pball]

69. I'm so torn. Requiem or the Ninth.

The man thought he was writing it for himself. That alone wins it. But I just, as in this performance cycle, witnessed the New York Philharmonic perform the Ninth.

Requiem haunts my dreams, the Ninth just obliterates them.

If there is a God he lives in all this music. That's all I say and all I choose.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

70. I was just reminded of the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto #20, K 466

Last edited Sat Jun 21, 2014, 07:21 AM - Edit history (1)

[ManiacJoe]

72. Not sure I can reduce it to one favorite, but Mozart is most of my top five.

Three of my top five:
Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik KV 525
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto KV 622
Mozart's Horn Concerto KV 412