favorite Classical Masterpiece

[pres2032]

Poll question: favorite Classical Masterpiece

tell us what your favorite is, if you chose other :-)

[Shadowen]

1. Gotta be the Ninth.

The grand, glorious ninth, the greatest achievement in that great composer's life.

Hell, my dad's not much into the classical, and he still stops when he sees a live performance of the Ninth on TV.

[pagerbear]

22. Nope. Tiresome and overrated.

[Radio_Lady]

51. I Love Beethoven's Seventh (Dance) Symphony...

In fact, I'm playing it right now!

[MuseRider]

2. Impossible,

simply impossible. However, I love Beethoven's 9th and Dvorak always is wonderful. IF I had to choose those would most likely be my choices from your list.

[Dinger]

3. Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto # 1 in B Flat Minor

Totally takes me away. A stunning piece of art.

[signmike]

14. Johnny in blue? *Gasp*

[Dinger]

66. In His Last Interview With larry King, He Said

that he didn't always wear black, but if he wasn't, it'd probably be black.
God, I miss Johnny Cash.:cry:

[jdots]

4. Brandenberg pieces by Bach

and now the bad jokes (sorry)
Hair on the G string Bach
i will spare you the others for now, anything by Bach cooks as in R & B , he was the great great grandfather of soul music

[Flaxbee]

23. Bach's "A Musical Offering" is beautiful, too.

Bach makes me weak in the knees, but I love Beethoven, too. The 9th is amazing, but I also really really like the 7th. Sigh.

[immoderate]

37. Bach's Brandenberg are jazz!

Especially the wonderful 3rd.

--IMM

[RevolutionaryActs]

5. Moonlight sonata, William Tell Overture, Ride of the Valkyries....

Shall I go on? hehe :D

[pres2032]

7. haha, sure

so many masterpieces, so few spots on the poll

[Left Is Write]

30. I'll second you on Ride Of The Valkyries.

[motely36]

6. Hook on Classics!

:P

No, actually it would be close between Elijah and The Messiah. I really like Choral pieces.

[cry baby]

26. I cry to "The Messiah"

[cry baby]

27. Oh, and Ravel's "Bolero"

[Chomskyite]

8. No chamber works

For my money the first half of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor is the greatest sequence of music ever written.

[Reverend_Smitty]

9. Bach's Mass in B Minor

Probably my all time favorite

[FuzzySlippers]

17. One of my faves,too.

[politicat]

10. Elgar's Enigma Variations.

I can listen to those for hours....

Pcat

[FuzzySlippers]

18. Another one of my faves.

[libbygurl]

11. Lots of J S Bach's works are great masterpieces, so tough to choose...

...but the Goldbergs (especially the 1981 version by Glenn Gould) could be among the greatest. The Brandenburgs have been played a bit too much, cutting some of the gloss off them, but they ARE brilliant works.

Other contenders:

Brahms violin concerto.
Tchaikovsky violin concerto.
Rachmaninov 3rd piano concerto.

[FuzzySlippers]

15. Doesn't Gould's humming bother you at all, though?

It drives me absolutely batshit.

[Seabiscuit]

44. Gould hummed in his first recording of the Goldberg Variations

in the early '60's. He doesn't hum on the second recording (1981) I believe.

[FuzzySlippers]

45. Well, I've got the one where he's humming.

Drives me crazy. I also have some Mozart Sonatas where he's humming.

[Seabiscuit]

46. Do you have it on LP? I haven't found a CD of the original recording.

[FuzzySlippers]

52. No, it was a CD. Actually, the copy I have I burned

off of my brother's computer files, but I bought him the original CD.

[Seabiscuit]

60. Well, I'll have to find it then. My original LP isn't in mint condition.

Thanks for the tip!

[Seabiscuit]

61. BTW, Gould's second recording of the Goldberg Variations

was done some 20 years later, in 1982 on CBS Records Masterworks MK37779 on CD. You should be able to find it in Tower Records. No humming to distract you. And the rendition is classic Glenn Gould - as good as the original, although there are certain phrasings in the original 1961-1962 LP recording I still prefer.

I play most of them on piano and harpsichord, BTW. That and Bach's Italian Concerto and several Partitas and Tocatas are some of my favorite Bach that I play.

[libbygurl]

63. His humming kept me from appreciating his recordings for the longest...

...time, but when I really got into the 1981 recording, his humming ceased to bother me (this was reissued together with the 1955 version on a triple CD release a few years ago, to coincide what would have been his 75th birthday, I believe).

There's still an audible humming in the opening aria and a few other spots on the 1981 recording, but it doesn't last too long--much more tolerable than usual!

Gould's '81 version of the Goldbergs is never dull, and he forces you to see the structural beauty of Bach's work. Absolutely mesmerizing!

[HawkerHurricane]

12. Wellington's Victory

Got to love a piece of music that takes a full orchastra, two marching bands, 100 muskets, three cannons and a large church bell to do right.

[pres2032]

21. that's awesome

who wrote it and where can i find a recording of it?

[HawkerHurricane]

59. Beethoven

The L.A. Philharmonic did it with the USC and UCLA marching bands plus a bunch of civil war reenactors...
And it's often paired with the 1812 overture, which uses cannons and church bells, also.

[Cuban_Liberal]

13. Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons'

:)

[Radio_Lady]

54. I remember the man who introduced me to Vivaldi...

... wow, those are some great memories.

And then he told me about the opera "Norma" by Bellini, which I listened to but didn't like. Then we split up. That was a long time ago!

My favorite operas are "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini and "Carmen" by Bizet. I have loved them both since childhood.

[Queen Jane]

16. Beethoven's 7th...

the opening of the 2nd movement is the 2nd most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The most beautiful? Gabriel Faure's Requiem.

[WMliberal]

35. have you ever heard what Sarah Brightman did with it?

BEAUTIFUL!

Someone transposed a Goethe poem into Italian and then set it to the tune of Beethoven's 2nd Allegretto movement. It's titled "figlio perduto."

[signmike]

19. Castor Oil

We had a music teacher around 4th grade who would play a record of a different type of music each session. At the end of the year she asked us which was our favorite type or piece out of all she'd played for us. One kid in front of the class said, with a beatific look on his face "Castor Oil".
Nobody knew WTF he was talking about - but I remembered a really pretty piece by Beethoven from months before. Turns out it was "Pastoral"
Only one of many of my favorites.

[KDLarsen]

20. A variety..

.. first of all, I'm a real sucker for the traditional part of the 'Last Night of the Proms' ie. all the British sea songs (Rule Britannia, Land of Hope & Glory, Jerusalem). I suppose that comes along when you're an anglofile as I am.

Other than that, Händels Messias is veyr good, my local cathedral has a show each year, where a new choir/orchestra is brought in to perform it.

I'm also overly thrilled about Beethoven's Ode an der Freude - most likely because of it being the official EU hymn.

[fortyfeetunder]

24. Saint-Saens Symphony #3 (Organ)

I just love the organ entrance in the second movement.

[Chipper Chat]

49. Ditto

The ending with the descending 8-note scale takes my top prize for excitement. Gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.

[cry baby]

25. Beethoven's 5th piano concerto "The Emperor"

Simply incredible!!

[no name no slogan]

28. "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky (solo piano)

Okay, so it's not actually "classical" (from the romantic period) but still my favorite. I prefer it played as the original was, on a piano by one pianist, but the full orchestral arrangements are alright, too. Ravel's orchestral arrangement is probably the best-known, but there are others.

Oh, and the Emerson Lake and Palmer version is a very sick joke. Ew...

[brentspeak]

29. Debussy - "Claire De Lune" , Satie - "Gymnopadie"

Not part of the Classical period, or even Romantic period, but great pieces nonetheless.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

31. other...

II. Largo from Guitar Concerto in D Major by Antonio Vivaldi

The most heavenly music I have ever heard.

[WMliberal]

32. oh man... flame war ensues...

other... it'd take me weeks to decide on one.

[Mobius]

33. Rach 3

geez people...

[Elidor]

47. I will second the Rach 3

I don't approve of these mainstream choices. If I had to pick a small piece of classical nirvana, it would be Christian Sinding's "Rustle of Spring" for pianoforte. Virtuoso!

[Chipper Chat]

50. Wasn't that in "The Music Man?"

The ladies dance - "two Grecian urns" with the mayor's wife?

[realisticphish]

34. Holst's The Planets

specifically Mars, God of War...which John Williams totally ripped off for star wars

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[pres2032]

36. ah yes

I personally love Jupiter

[realisticphish]

39. i love all of them

but.... baaaaaaaaaah.......bum...baahhhhhhh

i love trying to type music w/o notes lol

:hippie: The Incorrigbile Democrat

[immoderate]

38. Rodrigo's Concierto d'Aranuez

Almost all Spanish-sounding music is based on this, including Chick Corea's "Spain" and the soundtrack to the Disney "Zorro" series.

--IMM

[Seabiscuit]

40. Sibelius' violin concerto

[Seabiscuit]

41. Mozart's Requiem

[Seabiscuit]

42. Carol Orff's Carmina Burana

[libbygurl]

65. Played by whom? I've got the Mutter one, love it, too!

[CalebHayes]

43. Nirvana's Smells like Teen spirt -- for sure!

[Cats Against Frist]

48. The Rite of Spring -- Stravinsky, hands down

Second -- Berlioz, "Symphonie Fantastique"
Third -- "The Carmina Burana" -- Carl Orff and a buncha monks.

****edit: yeah -- I have no idea which ones of these are actually "classical," -- I'd say that the Stravinsky borders on modern -- but the rest, I have no clue. The only composers that I KNOW their period/methods is Schoenberg and Satie, and only because of my pomo literary studies.

[Az]

53. Wagner's Sigfried's Funeral Musique

Though many others vie for top position including Grieg and Bach.

[sir_captain]

55. Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 2

Particularly the second movement

[Radio_Lady]

56. "La Boutique Fantasque" -- The Fantastic Toyshop

This ballet will be performed in Portland, Oregon, on December 17, 18, 19, 2004 at PCC Sylvania and I can't wait to take my husband and two young grandchildren, ages 6 and 4. I have never seen it danced on stage and hope these young ballet stars in training do a good job.

[bloodyjack]

57. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rachmaninov's 2nd concerto
Brahms' 2nd symphony

So, is this restricted to instrumentals, or what?

I submit Georges Bizet's 'Carmen'

[Radio_Lady]

58. Hello, bloodyjack... another lover of the sexy Carmen!

The 1984 movie with Placido Domingo as Don Jose and Julia Migenes as Carmen -- is one of my favorites.

This is the IMDB (International Movie Data Base) link for more information:

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0087034/combined

[Seabiscuit]

62. Adagio from Prokofiev's Violin Concerto

[Endangered Specie]

64. Theme to Masterpiece Theatre...

Mouret's "Rondeau" ;)