What's your favorite piece of classical music?

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:44pm

Mine...
Offenbach - Orpheus in the Underworld Overture

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:54pm

I'm partial to Pachelbel's Canon.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:30pm

I like Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:51pm

Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet. All three acts and Prologue (that counts, right?)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:52pm

I can't listen to Pachelbel's Canon the same way ever since I realized it was the basis for Village People/Pet Shop Boys' Go West.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:13pm

Siébel's aria in Gounod's Faust is a particular favorite.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:26pm

J.S.Bach-The Goldberg Variations

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 1:24am

I don't know how someone can answer this question. It's not like picking your favorite child or something insignificant like that.

But, my favorite piece of classical music... today is:
Samuel Barber's Symphony No 1.

I wish it was performed more often. It's an absolute stunner.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 1:45am

I like the one that goes Dah, duh duh duh duh dah; duh duh duh daaah duh, duh duh duh duh duh dah duh, and so on.

Mostly I like songs with words.

[kec]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 3:17am

Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini (used in the film SOMEWHERE IN TIME)

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 3:40am

I suppose from the previous responses that we're taking the term "classical" to mean "non-contemporary instrumental music" rather than music of the classical period. If that is the case, I will have to offer this Schubert piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM2IrxXPfMQ

Of course, having studied piano since I was five years old, I'm extremely partial to piano pieces.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 5:27am

Horsey said:
"Samuel Barber's Symphony No 1. "

When I still played violin and was in a youth orchestra, this was one of the works we had to play the most. It is stunning. I was surprised when it became such a big club hit just around the time I started going to clubs and bars (1999/2000) thanks to the remixes of William Orbit's version.

If we are picking semi-standards and I'm not being obnoxious and picking a full ballet, I love Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from his Romeo and Juliet ballet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBsKplb2E6Q

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 05:27 AM

[jv92]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 11:26am

Ooh! Someone else likes Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, too! That's probably my favorite. Also partial to Debussy's Images, Copland's Billy the Kid ballet, Poulenc's Sextet for Winds and Piano, and um...I have to keep thinking. I have two or three others.

[dtzumbrunnen]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 12:16pm

Love Gliere's Horn Concerto, being a horn player I'm partial to pieces that feature them, and it really shows off the variety of the instrument well.

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 12:37pm

Opera

Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

I am obsessed with this version performed by Margaret Price

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wYzSx5QaiY

Or something by Elgar

A snippet of his Cello Concerto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH0jUQTCCQI

Thanks to Eric I am off to listen to Pachelbel's Canon.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 2:10pm

Eric said:
"When I still played violin and was in a youth orchestra, this was one of the works we had to play the most. It is stunning. I was surprised when it became such a big club hit just around the time I started going to clubs and bars (1999/2000) thanks to the remixes of William Orbit's version."

Eric, I think you're referring to Barber's Adagio for Strings. Which, of course, is one of the most popular and enduring pieces of 20th C. classical music. And, naturally, I have a heart and soul so I love it as well. But, I was referring to his Symphony No. 1 which might not be as emotionally resonant as first for some people, but to my ears is one of the greatest 20th c. compositions. I saw the San Diego Symphony give a stunning performance of the symphony 5 of 6 years ago. I wish it was performed as often as the Adagio.

Here's the first movement. It's from a St. Louis Symphony/Leonard Slatkin recording of Barber works that is unmatched.

[javero]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 2:22pm

J.S. Bach's Six suites for unaccompanied cello. Cello music is my personal fave though I don't play the instrument. Mstislav Rostropovich's take on the work is in heavy rotation on my iPad mini.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 2:30pm

If I had my back against a wall and a gun to my head, I'd probably have to say Russian Easter Overture by Rimsky-Korsakov. But I love so many pieces for so many different reasons. Those I simply love to hear and those I fondly recall playing cello or percussion as part of a large group or small ensemble.

Of course, having studied piano since I was five years old, I'm extremely partial to piano pieces.

Ha! I hate piano pieces for the same reason! But put me in front of a marimba with a pair of number 20 Stevens mallets and I'll be a happy camper ALL DAY.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 2:54pm

In the Hall of the Mountain King

[jnb9872]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 7:51pm

Classical is a whole world unto itself, to just try and pick only one piece...

I'm partial to a wide range. Here's a brief sample.

Adams' Two Fanfares: Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Tromba Lontana
Beethoven's 6th and 9th Symphonies
Elgar's Enigma Variation: Nimrod
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A
Muhly's The Only Tune
Nyman's In Re Don Giovanni
Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel
Reich's Music for 18 Musicians
Rodrígo's Concierto de Aranjuez
Smetana's Má vlast: Vltava
Vaughan Williams' A Lark Ascending

And I still feel I've only scratched the surface of classical music, with entire eras and composers I've yet to even listen to ahead of me.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 07:51 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 8:48pm

Satie's Gymnopedies (don't know which #'s)
Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
Debussy's Clair de Lune
Grieg's Pier Gynt
Stravinsky's Firebird
Holst's The Planets

As you can see, I have a definite preference for works of the first quarter of the 20th century.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 11:05pm

I'm with you on that one, Someone! There's something truly magical about late 19th/early 20th C music.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 11:26pm

I read a Philip Glass article that introduced me to the compositions of Junichi Masuda and Koji Kondo, two Japanese composers of early video game music that Glass said were doing wonderful things with the built-in limitations of the early technology. Both of them eschewed the beeps and boops and simple jingles most common in video games of the era, but each went in a different direction.

Kondo, who is most famous for the music to the "Legend of Zelda" series, combined the styles of movie scores and 19th and early 20th century impressionist composers. There is a heavy Debussy and Satie influence to his work.

Masuda, on the other hand, worked in a more minimalist fashion, especially on the original Pokemon: Red and Blue soundtracks, crafting a score that blended Glass-like atonality and repetition with early 20th century Americana. Evocation of Copland, ragtime, folk tunes and Tin Pan Alley sit right up against eerie electronica that could be from an 8-bit version of "Koyaanisqatsi."

[Hulmeman]

Posted: 7/25/14 at 1:45am

Like all music, mine changes with mood. Yesterday for example, I spent time in the lovely countryside which borders England and Wales, with immediately evoked Ralph Vaughn Williams "The Lark Ascending". However, I'm generally always happy to listen to "Rhapsody in Blue" which couldn't be more different.

Updated On: 7/25/14 at 01:45 AM

[dreaming]

Posted: 7/25/14 at 1:33pm

I love the infamous Rachmaninoff "The Rach" (featured prominently in "Shine")
I also enjoy baroque music...

does opera count as classical? because if so, then "Maria Stuarda's Prayer" would be my pick. It's gorgeous.