Post your favorite Classical Music pieces, and why.

Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 3rd Movement
Beethoven's 9th Symphony, 1st Movement

To me, these movements are even better than the 1st and 4th movements of each Symphony, respectively, which are way over played. The 3rd movement of the 5th Symphony especially just has so much more power than the 1st.

Holst's The Planets

This is a very influential and excellent work, containing a movement for each planet except earth and pluto (which had not yet been discovered at the time the suite was composed). The style of each movement is based on the personality of the Roman God for which it was named. Mars, for example, was the God of War, and so that movement is very strong with powerful fainfairs. Uranus, the magician, is a movement reminiscent of Duka's Sorcerer's Apprentice.

The planets has also influenced the soundtracks of many movies. The sound track for The Right Stuff samples The Planets extensively, and Gladiator uses themes from the Mars Movement for some of the fight scenes. In addition, Mars was used recently for the X-Men 2 preview.

Anything by Brahams. It's always very dark and emotional.

Beethoven - Ninth Symphony, Second Movement
Beethoven - Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement
Purcell - Funeral Music for Queen Mary I. March

Why... well, they are very moving pieces to me. And sound awesome especially in Surround

I picked up a Rodrigo CD a couple weeks ago. It features Julian Bream playing the classical spanish guitar (very impressive) accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. I must say, my all time favourite song for classical guitar is Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo; it is absolutely beautiful. *cough*plus it's easy enough to play on my guitar so I can impress my friends*cough*
As for my other favourites, Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherezad is probably my favourite classical song evar. Why, you ask? Because it is infinitely marvelous and inspiring...each note is a wave of ideas and inspiration. I love this song.:)

I love Beethoven and Chopin, but I have special places in my heart for Bach, Mozart, Stravinksy, and Tchaikovksy.

Oh yes, and Mozart's Requiem. So great.

Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar & orchestra Adagio

The Spanish guitar in this song is just heavenly. It exudes beauty that just leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy afterward.

Barber - Adagio for Strings

It's a sad but beautiful classic. Many people recognize it as "that one song from Platoon." I do my best to correct them.

Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Just, in general, a very, very pretty song.

Hmm, I have many favorite pieces - really just depends on the day.

Composer wise, it's Bach.

Hm! I do believe it is "connoisseur."

*sniff*

:p

Yes, DSettahr, I'll definitely agree with you on The Planets... It is a very impressive piece.

Favorite: Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walkure (The Fairies). How can one not love that song?

Hands down Symphony no. 9 in E minor (or "The New World Symphony") - Dvorak

I'm a big fan of Brahms' music. Especially his Hungarian Dance no. 5, though that's more of a fun piece than serious classical music.

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
CANNONS!

Beethoven - 9th Symphony 4th movement
I will say 1st is good too. I used to have the entire 9th symphony...then my HD crashed
Freunde schoener Goettenfunken Tochter aus Elysium
Wir betreten teuen funken dimlich deine Heigltum...

Bizet - Habenera from Carmen
It has a tango sense to it. It's also in French which means I can actually understand it...most.

Mozart - Requiem
You MUST crank this when you get to "Dies Irae.."

I agree with Wolfy on Bach - Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

John Williams - Imperial Marching Song
...what?

Are we talking about the same Concierto here? I'm looking at the 23-page score right now... it's considered as the technically most difficult classical guitar piece there is (I think that's probably exaggerating a bit, but it's still an extreme challenge). I have a version of Paco de Lucia that I really like. His roots are in flamenco, and you immediately feel it through his rhythmic surges (especially in the allegro con spirito) and the dark sound he evokes in the adagio.

Apart from that, Bach is phenomenal. It's very rational, but somehow through that it becomes emotionally charged as well. Every single note is there for a reason.

If I can't get a gypsy to sing at my funeral, a Beethoven string quartet would be second choice.

Also
-Fantasia para un gentilhombre (Rodrigo)
-Concierto para una fiesta (Rodrigo)
-Vals venezolano, whole suite (Barrios)
-and endless more

I want Vivaldi's Al Santo Sepolcro played at my funeral. Sooo pretty. Other alternatives are overplayed in comparison (Barber's Adagio for strings or Albinoni's Adagio).

I like Bach's Goldberg Variations. Some day I'm going to go and buy the sheet music so I can at least plink the first movement by heart.

Gabriel Fauré's Requiem im Paradis and Pavane are nice and mellow.

Favourite work by Beethoven is the Moonlight Sonata , even if it does get overused in death-scenes in films. I've got a nice recording with just a classical guitar and a cello playing it.

Camille St.Saëns is one of my favourites too. Try The Swan , Danse Macabre , and The Aquarium for some of his more recognized works.

I feel like I'm forgetting some work that I absolutely love. Ah well. Hmh.

Okko Kamu's Finlandia. Epic, very powerful, yet a very emotional side to it. I really do love it.

Everything awesome has really already been said, so I'll highlight my favorites.



Great piece, DJ Tiesto has also sampled it in his latest song, huge club hit.



Another great song. There's a cool Rhapsody song that samples this one.

*whisper* Pssst, that'd be Jean Sibelius , not Okko Kamu. Okko Kamu is apparently *googles* a conductor though .

Damn you, I was gonna correct him.

And here's me hoping Scholars Bowl knowledge would come in handy.

I love so much classical music it's hard to decide where to start...

As far as vocal music goes, my favorites are Verdi's Reqiuem (far superior to Mozart's, imho), Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem, and any of Schubert's poetry settings.

I don't listen to much piano music (sadly), but my favorites in that vein are Beethoven's Pathetique sonata, the Rachmaninov 2nd concerto, and the Grieg concerto.

My favorite symphonies include the Saint-Saens 3rd, Beethovens 4,5,6,7,9, Dvorak 9th, Mahler 1st, Shostakovich 1st and 4th, Rachmaninov 2nd, Tchaikovsky 4th and 5th, and so on...

My favorite concertos are the Dvorak and Barber cello concertos, Copland clarinet concerto, the Beethoven, Sibelius, Brahms, and Saint-Saens (3rd) violin concertos, and many others.

Far superior to all other forms of classical music, imho, is the string quartet... the best examples of that genre are Debussy's, almost any of the 17 by Beethoven, any of the 15 by Shostakovich, Brahms 1st and 3rd, Different Trains by Steve Reich, Black Angels by George Crumb, Samuel Barber's quartet (from which the Adagio for Strings is taken), and Mendelssohn Op.44 No.1.

Debussy also has a special place in my heart, for works like La Mer and the Sacred and Profane Dances.

Like I said, I love classical music.


(P.S. -- "Wir betreten teuen funken dimlich deine Heigltum..." is "Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische dein Heiligtum")

Listening to Bach's cello suites right now (by Yo-Yo Ma).

You havent heard the 1812 Overture until you've heard it performed live, and sat right next to the cannons.

Club? As in people dance to it? How do you dance to Adagio for Strings? It's so slow and sad...



A lot of it is slow strumming or rather simple single-string plucking (listening to it right now), but, yes, the solos it has are not "simple."

It's not a recording of the original, it's a remake with synthetizers. The melody was slightly adjusted to fit a 4/4 rythm at about 135 to the black. Trust me, it just works. :p

Was it you that was looking for new music Wolfy? I'd give that song a download. It's damn good.

I have never heard a Classical Music piece remix that I liked.

If you're into strings being used in electronic music though, you should check out Brainbug's original compositions.

Even though the sound of old synths used by Wendy Carlos back in the late 60's and 70's sound crude, I still like the recreations from back then. Mm. Especially from A Clockwork Orange.

Well it doesn't help if you don't like the genre to begin with. But if you do, check out Ferry Corsten's trance adaptation of Moonlight Sonata.

I do like the electronic genre. But, imo, electronic music and classical music just doesnt mix well... They are so completely different. Electronic music is all about rythm, and keeping a steady beat. Classical music is best when there is no steady beat, with musical inflections, accelerandos and ritornandos.

Ive heard classical music + electronic music.

Personally I think it totally destroys the classical song.

On the contrary. Not counting sub-genres, there are no two genres of music more similar than trance and classical. Classical has little to no rythm, but composition of the melody is essentially the same (in other words; how and when you place the notes). This is kinda hard to explain with words, but if I had partition sheets, you'd see what I mean.

With a little creativity, any good trance melody could be converted into an orchestrated classical piece. However, not every classical piece can be converted into trance, because classical music doesn't follow a structure.

When I hear a trance track, I often envision it as if it were being played by an orchestra - and when I hear certain classical pieces, I remix them in my head.

Classical music + heavy metal = god.

This, by Bach, is a sampling of the Well-Tempered Clavier, which is one of my favorite works:

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~tas3/wtc/i02.html#movie

Contrapuntal sweetness. Ignore the obnoxious commentary comparing it to food.

Additionally, I'd like to make a special mention of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. I just recently bought a recording of it, and am elated to the extent that I feel compelled to double post.

<- Click Me.

I've got no comment to what flexor said.

it just makes me want to cry.

As much as I love Trance AND Classical music...the meeting of those two is the bastardization of beauty.

And obie--I personally like Brahms' Hungarian Rhapsodies more than Liszt's.

Same here, that's horribly wrong. No Rhythm??? WHAT? The rhythm in classical music is particularly straight forward and can also easily be complex, just because there isn't a trance beat mega-drum beating it obviously, doesn't mean there's little or no rhythm.

My favourite piece has to be Prokofiev: Montagues & Capulets (Romeo & Juliet Score). It has so much atmosphere and uses all sections of the orchestra with amazing contrasts.

I think I like so much because of the performance.