Your Favorite Pieces of Classical Music

I'm very partial to Carl Orff, Shostakovich, Arvo Part, John Cage, Terry Riley, and a variety of others. (I could go on and on)

Who are your favorites both old and few.. and what pieces especially move you.

Rain-Tree by Toru Takemitsu would be a specific piece for me. As well as Shostakovich's string quartets.

Beautiful.

Requim, by Mozart. I'm also a big Rachmaninoff fan.

Iannis Xenakis' pieces have a place in my heart
J.S. Bach will always rule with any of his fugues (my favorite is the plain ol' Fugue in G Minor, not the Toccata & Fugue)
Rautavaara and Berlioz never fail to interest me when I get bored
Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals never fails to give me a chuckle
And let's not forget the truly gifted Maurice Ravel with the under-appreciated Bolero. His sonatas are pretty damn difficult too

Bellini's La Sonnambula arr. by Bottesini and performed by Gary Karr is near the top of my list

I've been bad at picking favorites, yeah...

How's this for a cliched answer? Beethoven's' 9th symphony.

Also a big fan of his Apassionata sonata.

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2
Beethoven's 9th and 6th Symphonies
Vivaldi's Four Seasons
just about any Mozart
at the moment I'm listening to Orff's Carmina Burana
John Williams is far simpler, but I still like his music (especially the Imperial March)

agustin barrios - vals op. 8, no.3
jose luis merlin - suite del recuerdo
l.m. gottschalk - souvenir de la havane

rodrigo - concierto de aranjuez

gyorgy ligeti is probably my favorite 20th C. composer...


i'm not really one for the true classical composers...i dont know why, I've listened and studied their music, anymore it just seems boring to me. I appreciate it, and can see the genius in it, but it doesnt do anything for me anymore.

DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN

all of 'don giovanni'

I love the French Impressionists - Debussy, late Ravel, Satie, etc...
Of course, the Classicists as well - Beethoven and Mozart (I love Requiem too!!)

Also, my best friend is a modern classical composer and he's awesome

lieberstram(sp?) by franz lizst(sp?)

4'33'':
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[Edited on Dec 15, 2003 by hairstreak]

The Well Tempered Clavier by J.S Bach (yes the whole damn thing).
Marriage of Figaro by Mozart.

Those are my favorite pieces but in terms of styles Baroque and Classical are always welcome in my ears.Not too much into later stuff,I guess I'm not refined enough to enjoy it.

I like the one with the cannon...

Mozart's piano concerto no. 42, and The Marriage of Figaro. I LOVE Mozart.

Orff Carmina Burana THE best of all time hands down.

i love minor

Any waltz by Shostakovich makes me all tingly in the panties.

I like to put on Wagner when I'm feeling molevolent and want to frighten my roommates. I know it's horribky played out and cliched, but I also like to put on Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" at random times when I have lots of company, because it makes life feel like a pretentious art film.

Honestly though I would have to say my favorite classical piece is Glenn Branca's Symphony No.1 featuring Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore pre-Sonic Youth

the (original) Rollerball soundtrack-- Toccata in D Minor, the Waltz of Sleeping Beauty, Adagio...

Koyaanisqatsi

Chopin - Nocturne no. 8 op. 27 D flat

some of the same old stuff everyone else likes-- Bolero, Moonlight sonata

I can't stand classical music.



Give me everything from Hildegard of Bingen through J.S.Bach, skip a few decades and start with Beethoven's 4th onward, but classical...







[Edited on Dec 15, 2003 by coughee]

Without a doubt:
"The Lamentations of Jerimiah" by Thomas Tallis (circa 1545)
"Abduction from the Seralio" by Mozart (1781?)
"First Book of Songs" by John Dowland (1603)
"12 Noels" by Flemish organist Claude Daquin (circa 1740)
"A Musical Joke" by Mozart (he did a parody of earlier composers' works, and it is rather funny provided you are at least a little familiar with some of the styles of Bach, Telleman, Handel, and a few others)


I much prefer early music over romantic era stuff (there are exceptions). I think many people believe it is devoid of emotion or the "fire" that romanticism possesses. Or that many works are by anonymous composers and it is a little harder to select music based on loose standards of time and region than it is a composer of the 19th century that we know so much about.
But verily, I say unto you, that early music has not only as much emotion as much later works, but the science, intellect and foundation of western music thoery itself; it is not just a relaxing diversion from life, because so many works are very serious minded meditations... on life, on death, on love. This is not to discount any other works of music, but it is no coincidence that the bulk of what early music has survived happens to be religious in nature.
I think I could go on, but nobody would read

Vivaldi's Gloria
Bach's Tocatta and Fuge
Mozart's 25th Symphony

I second roundNround,go on lukie2p.
We'll let you know when you get to pretentious.If that's even possible on a thread dedicated to Classical music.

fuck pretentious. it's only pretentious if you don't really like it.

Gershwin - Rhapsody In Blue