what is your favourite classical music work?

[Edward Hanna]

Try Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #3

This has it all...structure, dissonance, tempo, virtuosity, pathos...it's easily my most favorite piano concerto and since I'm still not very well-read in symphonies and other instrumental concertos I'd have to say it's my favorite classical piece as well.

 

[acciaccatura]

When comparing musical compositions, keep in mind that it is impossible to compare apples with oranges. A Mahler Symphony just cannot be compared with a Bach Cantata - they are too different in style and scope, even though they can both be said to be complete masterworks.

Still, I think it would be possible for most people who listen to music regularly, to come up with a shortlist of works that are pleasant for them to listen to. Just one work, however, would not make sense for most serious music listeners. For me, there could be a list like this:

Dufay: Missa Ave Regina Coelorum
Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua
Monteverdi: Vespero Della Beata Vergine
Bach: Cantata BWV1, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
Haydn: Symphony #104
Mozart: Piano Concerto D minor K 466
Beethoven: String Quartet op. 131
Schubert: String Quintet in C major
Schumann: Kreisleriana
Bruckner, Symphony #8
Brahms: Violin Concerto
R. Strauss: Salome
Mahler: Symphony #6
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Debussy: Images
Stravinsky: Ebony concerto
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Bartok: Piano Concerto #3
Britten: Turn of the Screw
Shostakovich: Symphony #4
Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge
Messiaen: Turangalila
Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King
Nørgård: Symphony #3

All these are works that I really like, and which give me an incentive to explore music of their composers, and then other composers further, though it would be impossible to rank them 1,2,3 etc. This does not mean that they are better works than so much other music, just that I like them.

 

[rojo]

acciaccatura- Well, I don`t think anyone here is comparing one work to another, nor saying one work is better than another. Just which work/s you enjoy the most. As to 'favourite' or 'favourites' (=works that one really likes), I think you may be missing the humour in the original question...

What exactly is the definition of a 'serious music listener'? :grin:

Edward- I`m not familiar with the Prokofiev; must check it out...

Izabella- That aria from Turandot is so thrilling- it`s another one of those works that is almost always great, no matter who performs it, the music is that good...Puccini is a master...

And the Rachmaninov- could the opening be any more dramatic- I think I read somewhere that he didn`t like it after a while because everyone always asked him to play that one work! :grin:

Hi Gareth- I know I`ve heard the Von Suppe, but I`ve forgotten how it goes! :crazy:

 

[Gareth]

You can't explain music in words, it will be a mess of "dee's" and "dums" and "daa's". But I can say that it is military as you can probably tell from the Title

Cheers
Gareth.

 

[acciaccatura]

What exactly is the definition of a 'serious music listener'? :grin:

Someone who takes music seriously when listening.

 

[rojo]

Hmm...guess I`m not a serious music listener then... when I can, I listen to music for enjoyment, pure and simple. Although I can`t say I take music lightly either; music is a huge part of my life; I even made it my profession. When I`m playing or teaching, for example, then I have no choice but to listen to music seriously...

I`m assuming there must be many different ways to listen to music; some of us have one favourite work (probably fewer of us), some a short list of favourites, some of us have long lists, some can rank their favourites 1,2,3, some can`t, and there`s nothing wrong with any of these ways.

 

[Torsten Brandes]

When comparing musical compositions, keep in mind that it is impossible to compare apples with oranges. A Mahler Symphony just cannot be compared with a Bach Cantata - they are too different in style and scope, even though they can both be said to be complete masterworks.

Still, I think it would be possible for most people who listen to music regularly, to come up with a shortlist of works that are pleasant for them to listen to. Just one work, however, would not make sense for most serious music listeners. For me, there could be a list like this:

All these are works that I really like, and which give me an incentive to explore music of their composers, and then other composers further, though it would be impossible to rank them 1,2,3 etc. This does not mean that they are better works than so much other music, just that I like them.

I think so as well. Isn´t it that music just speaks out of itself? Doesn´t music just touch us because of it´s expression? Music touches and talks to us because of the dialog in itself and attracts us because of it`s dramatic art and plot and therefore it doesn´t matter who wrote it and when it was composed. In one way for sure it is a matter of Ouality but on the other hand it will be always also a matter of taste.

 

[Gareth]

I might add on to what you said...music also tells a story, the mood and emotions that it displays is what triggers the theme.

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

Tough one this... really is.... to single out one piece out of hundreds of thousands composed................

I couldn't....
However....
I have soft spots for

Beethovens 7th Symphony....
Intermezzo- Carelli (???) (spelling?! - I'm a drummer, forgive me.... lol)
Polovetsian Dances
Rite of Spring
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Anything by John Williams......

 

[rojo]

Hi Naomi,

Beethoven`s 7th- interesting choice- I think most ppl go for his 3rd, 5th, 6th or 9th. But then who really knows...they`re all pretty great anyway, lol...

Maybe you mean Corelli?

Borodin`s 'Polovetsian Dances' are very nice, and I like his 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' also.

Stravinsky`s 'Rite of Spring' is indeed a spectacular work...

Not familiar with 'Short Ride in a Fast Machine'- I`m wondering who wrote that, and what is it from?

 

[corno]

Hi rojo,

Wikipedia to the rescue... John Adams wrote "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" - read (a little more) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Ride_in_a_Fast_Machine

 

[Gareth]

I heard this song the other day off a CD that I had bought.

The composer is Satie--Trois Gymnopedies movements 1 and 2.

The song is moving if you would call it that??

Cheers
Gareth.

 

[rojo]

Hi corno,

Good old wikipedia...interesting, I don`t know this work at all (it is pretty new after all, relatively speaking)...thanks for posting the link.

Hi Gareth,

I`ve played at least one of these (Satie Gymnopedies), although I don`t recall which one/s. Very nice stuff. You could always get the sheet music for these if you like them; they`re probably available at numerous places...

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

lol, yes all of Beethovens are great.... theres something about the 7th, the slow movement particulary, that does it for me........ i hope it's the 7th anyway! lol... (I get easily confused with these things; titles so similar n all! lol)

Yes, Corelli! lol....

I dont know "In the steppes of Central Asia", but will look it up

As already pointed out, John Adams wrote Short Ride.... it's a great piece, and the first piece of Adams' that I was introduced to by my composition tutor at university.... Fell in love with it straight away

Hi Naomi,

Beethoven`s 7th- interesting choice- I think most ppl go for his 3rd, 5th, 6th or 9th. But then who really knows...they`re all pretty great anyway, lol...

Maybe you mean Corelli?

Borodin`s 'Polovetsian Dances' are very nice, and I like his 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' also.

Stravinsky`s 'Rite of Spring' is indeed a spectacular work...

Not familiar with 'Short Ride in a Fast Machine'- I`m wondering who wrote that, and what is it from?

 

[Gareth]

The symphonies that I like out of beethoven is 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th; of which no9 is my favourite, it just intrigues me on how he composed the 9th when we was just about deaf, a real passion for music.

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

Absolutly.... guess he had the advantage of not being deaf from birth though.... I guess sawing off the legs off his piano and hammering the keys with his ears pressed on the floor was worth it

 

[Lee Maddeford]

Schubert's Impromtus

 

[Gareth]

Yeah Schuberts inpromtus are really good as well, I love them to bits.

 

[Brad Stark]

It’s a very hard question for me to answer. I’d feel like I was neglecting other pieces by just choosing one…

If I was forced to choose a single piece it would probably be by JS Bach, and of his music, (among many possible choices) it would probably be his Art of Fugue--one of his very last creations.

Brad

 

[mrdudemanx2]

That's an easy one. Without a doubt, my favorite classical piece is St. John's Night on the Bare Mountain from Modest Mussorgsky. I love that piece, but I wish I had a .mp3 file or something of it.