What is your all time favourite piece of classical music?

MrReaper182

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2014
189
36
18,620
Visit site
So classical music fans what is your all time favourire piece of classical music? (it can be in any style of classical music). Mine is Scottish fantasy, 1st movement by the German Max Bruch, When I listen to that piece it always seems to bring up pictures in my mind of the Scottish highlands tribes and their falied Jacobite rebellion. I also get pictures in my mind of the English soldiers coming to destory their way of life so they can never rebel against the English again (yes it is a very sad sounding piece).

Other pieces I really like are Prince Igor from the Opera Polovtsian Dances by Borodin, The four seasons, summer- 3rd movement by Verdi (but I do like all the pieces of the four seasons it is just that is my favourite), Joy of man desiring by Bach, The heart asks pleasure first by Nyman, A night on a bare mountain by Mussorgsky, Fantasia on greensleeves by Ralph Vaugham Williams, Symphony no. 5 in E minor, 2nd movement by Tchaikovsky, The young prince and princess from Schelerazade by Rimisky Korsakov, Requien for my friend- Lacrimosa by Preisner, 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky, Le onde by Einaudi, The Ashokan farewell by Ungar, Violin Concerto, 2nd movement by Philip Glass, Concerto for flute and harp in C major, 2nd movement by Mozart and Mars the bringer of war by Holst (but I do like all the pieces of the plantes it is just that is my favourite).
 

Webern

New member
Sep 23, 2012
3
0
0
Visit site
I'll take Idomeneo please - the Gardiner recording from the early 90's, with Anne-Sofie von Otter and Sylvia Mcnair on top form in the most sublime music. But hold on, I'll also want to take the Rachmaninov piano preludes by Richter, the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Schubert Death and the Maiden, Bach Concerto in D Minor for 2 violins, the Franck Violin Sonata....
 

matt49

Well-known member
Apr 7, 2013
51
1
18,540
Visit site
My first desert island choice would be Janacek's 'From the House of the Dead'. It's wild, gut wrenching, lyrical, and thoroughly unconventional. Sincerely recommended: you won't regret it!

The Mackerras recording on Decca won't be bettered in our lifetime. If your system is happy with the scale and dynamics of opera, you're in for a sonic treat.

81Q%2Bn0IHVEL._SL1200_.jpg


There's also an excellent version on DVD by Boulez. What a choice!

51LzMWjug4L.jpg


:cheers:

Matt
 

Macspur

Well-known member
May 3, 2010
843
3
18,540
Visit site

matthewpiano

Well-known member
Virtually impossible to choose one work, but I'd probably have to go for the Howard Ferguson Piano Sonata in F Minor. It is a wonderful piece of music with a huge dynamic range and a second movement of intense reflective beauty. Also, it is very special to me as it was the main work in the final recital for my undergraduate degree. It is under-represented on record but there is a good recording by Myra Hess:

APR7504s.jpg
 

James7

New member
Jun 1, 2011
7
0
0
Visit site
Some good stuff here but if I could endorse Matt's choice in particular ... I picked this up a few months ago on Matt's recommendation and it is exraordinary stuff. Check out Jenufa too.

The What would be your desert island discs? question is always fun, but when I was travelling and living abroad on and off for a few years about fifteen years ago, armed with a Sony discman, some tiny portable speakers, and a wallet of CDs, I really did have to look at my collection and decide which few to take, and I found that without really meaning to that about a third of my discs would be of Schubert's music.

I love Schubert, especially his small scale chamber stuff ... His string quintet, arpeggione sonata ... But if I had to choose one, then his Second Piano Trio in E Flat, about as close as music gets to perfection in my opinion.
 

wolf7howl

Well-known member
Feb 16, 2010
11
0
18,520
Visit site
Desert island list includes:

Bach - Chaconne from Patita in D minor for Solo violin

Tallis - "Spem in Alium" motet for 40 voices

Beethoven - Symphony No 7 in A

Schubert - String Quintet in C

Schubert - Piano Sonata in B flat

Mahler - Symphony No 8

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
 

Naxos

New member
Oct 31, 2008
31
0
0
Visit site
matt49 said:
My first desert island choice would be Janacek's 'From the House of the Dead'. It's wild, gut wrenching, lyrical, and thoroughly unconventional. Sincerely recommended: you won't regret it!

The Mackerras recording on Decca won't be bettered in our lifetime. If your system is happy with the scale and dynamics of opera, you're in for a sonic treat.

LOVE the Mackerras recording! Have you heard the Orchestral Suite by Peter Breiner on Naxos (coupled with The Cunning Little Vixen)?

Too many to choose, but if pushed, I'd opt for these:

Vaughan Williams - A London Symphony

Walton - Symphony No. 1

Britten - War Requiem

Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

Jehan Alain - Le Jardin Suspendu (an organ piece - incredible composer who was killed at the start of the second World War)

Debussy - Preludes, Book 1
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
Having given this further thought, and despite it being nearly impossible, here are 15 of the pieces of music I love the most.

Howard Ferguson - Piano Sonata in F Minor

Bartok - Bluebeard's Castle

Brahms - Piano Concerto No.1 in D Minor

Dvorak - Symphony No.9 "From The New World"

Debussy - La Mer

Chopin - Fantasy in F Minor

Berg - Piano Sonata

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

Sibelius - Symphony No.1 in E Minor

Bach-Busoni - Chaconne in D Minor

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

Schubert - Piano Sonata D.960

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.6

Verdi - La Traviata

Haydn - Nelson Mass
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts