[Closed] Recommend me your favourite piece of classical music.

Nimrod, from Elgar's Enigma
Appalachian Spring, Copeland
The lark ascending, Vaughn Williams
and so on

Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber
Lots of Elgar and Debussy.

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2

Spiegel Im Spiegel is nice in a solo piano kind of way

Hah! depends on mood - Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Debussy Cello Sonata, Shostakovich Symphony No. 10, Stravinsky Do Concertant is lovely as well. Janacek Sinfonietta, Schubert late piano sonatas..

Can I also add - not so much a particular piece of music as a composer - J S Bach - Wachet Auf would be a good start for a cantata but basically would be quite happy if Bach was on the radio 25% of the time - engaging and reassuring at the same time.

I think it will always be the lark ascending for me

Gorekis symphony for sorrowful songs was wonderful until they started playing as mood music it every time anything sad happened on telly and spoiled it.

I think Serj Tankian has been doing some fantastically exciting and challenging contemporary work with classical music, well worth a listen.

Saint Saens Organ Symphony No3 in C Major. Saw a live performance on our town hall organ and it does need to be played on some massive organ (ooo errr missus)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, but I'd suggest watching Shine to give it some context

We used to have a classical open air proms near us that finished with a grand firework finale, last time it was Tchakovsky's 1812, Awesome with fireworks.

In fact Fantasia is a pretty amazing film for it's time. Still worth a watch
Look around and keep an eye open for a chance to go an see a full orchestra, regardless of what they're playing. An orchestra in full flight really is an amazing noise

Thank you everyone so far. I am working my way through the lists as I type. I have to say i am really enjoying Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2.

I will try The Lark Ascending when I return from this morning's spin.

Ian

+1 for Lark Ascending.

Crown Imperial is always good.

Talk about a bygone era 😯

Oh and...

"And what do you know my brothers and only friends, it was the 9th, the glorious 9th of Ludwig van."

Not really possible to choose just one, yet a common favourite is Sibelius' Symphony No 5 in E Flat Major. The finale is for me impossible to describe. It has a profound effect on my being!

Dvorak's Cello Concerto

Another very English sound, Delius - The Walk to the Paradise Garden - I particularly like the fact that the Paradise Garden is a dilapidated pub.

You might want to have a gander at this recent thread:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/must-have-classical-records

My personal favourites are:

Tabula Rasa/Frates - Arvo Part
Misere - Allegri (link in above thread)
Six Marimbas - Steve Reich
Dido's Lament - Purcell (I really need to explore Purcell more....)
Weather - Micheal Gordon

Beethoven's 9th Symphony - 2nd movement

I have to say i am really enjoying Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2.

Wow! Thanks everyone. I had no idea that I would get so many suggestions. The ones that I have listened to so far have been great.

Moving on slightly; what do you listen to if you want to lift your mood? You know, when you're feeling a bit low, you put on your favourite piece, play it through, and by the end your world seems a slightly better place.

Anyone?

Ian

The BeGees - Jive talkin'

I love the way it builds, each part in comes in playing the same part as previously, and then one by one they drop back out.

And you'll know the chord progression because it's been copied so many times. All Together Now, for example.

mood lift - Mozart Horn Concertos. Beethoven 8th symphony.Some Tallis or Byrd is more contemplative. Don't for heaven's sake listen to Dowland 🙂

Bartok romanian dances. Grieg Holburg Suite.
Some Monteverdi or - even better - Gabrielli - in full venetian brass flow. That or Herb Albert 🙂

Moving on slightly; what do you listen to if you want to lift your mood?

Shostakovitch 7th Symphony.

Or if it's really serious, then the Brandenburg Concertos, or anything by Vaughan Williams, obviously.

You know, when you're feeling a bit low, you put on your favourite piece, play it through, and by the end your world seems a slightly better place.

This sends a shiver down my spine

Gustav Mahler 5th Symphony
Beethoven 9th Symphony
John Williams Star Wars Episode IV OST

[Another] Lark Ascending.

Very favorite would be Karl Orff s carmina biranah . probably spelt wrong also love Eroica .

Very favorite would be[s] Karl[/s] Carl Orff s carmina [s]biranah[/s] Buranah

Misery me!
Now black
and roasting fiercely!

The servant is turning me on the spit;
I am burning fiercely on the pyre:
the steward now serves me up.[/i]

Were diu werlt alle min (Were all the world mine)
[i]Were all the world mine
from the sea to the Rhine,
I would starve myself of it
so that the queen of England
might lie in my arms.[/i]

Chramer, gip die varwe mir (Shopkeeper, give me colour)
[i]Shopkeeper, give me colour
to make my cheeks red,
so that I can make the young men
love me, against their will.
Look at me,
young men!
Let me please you![/i]

In taberna quando sumus (When we are in the tavern)
[i]When we are in the tavern,
we do not think how we will go to dust,
but we hurry to gamble,
which always makes us sweat.
What happens in the tavern,
where money is host,
you may well ask,
and hear what I say.
Some gamble, some drink,
some behave loosely.[/i]

Orff had some questionable associations with the Nazis, if that affects your views at all - really it shouldn't, at all, I think he was more seduced by the recognition and naive about it all..

The words are 13th Century Gregorian chants, Orff's contribution was to arrange the verses musically.
Ford Motor Company had more questionable associations with the Nazis, would that affect your car buying decision?

Very good album this. I like.

Very favorite would be Karl Carl Orff s carmina [s]biranah Buranah[/s] burana

Agree with Sibelius 5 - utterly stunning, as is the 2nd.

Shos 7 is well... I wouldn't use it as a mood lifter.

This morning I've been playing in Mozart's Symphony 40. Highly recommend the late Mozart symphonies - 38-41 and any Beethoven (3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 generally the most approachable).

Khatchaturian - Toccata in Eb minor

Grimethorpe Colliery - Abide With Me (Eventide)

Classical snobs will probably turn their nose up, but if you're looking for a wonderful album, I would definitely suggest you have a look at Ludovico Einaudi In a Time Lapse 🙂

CBIL - no, and I didn't say it did. I was giving some peripheral information. Music, like sport, and politics shouldn't be mixed. But they are, and that's unavoidable in some ways. Should a composer take a stand against what's happening round him? Or not?

Late Mozart symphonies are excellent - though I find the last - 41 - quite bittersweet / poignant :/

Might be a bit too modern, solo cello (and a fancy delay of some sort):

Just remembered this. Opening to Marriage of Figarro by Mozart, as seen in the opening credits of the classic Trading Place.

If you can cope with solo piano then try some John Field Nocturnes -

Was sure I would see these, but on a quick scan don't think they've been mentioned:

Greig - Peer Gynt

Sain Saens - Carnival of the Animals

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

...and another vote for Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Heard Elizabeth Leonskaja playing both Brahms piano concertos in Edinburgh last Autumn. Not felt so involved listening to a concert for years! I love the subtle way JB develops his tunes; always quirky, always memorable, never cheesy.

Moving on slightly; what do you listen to if you want to lift your mood?

Karelia Suite works for me every time.

If you ever have the chance of hearing Vidor's organ symphony played live, take it.

It's been mentioned before but this is my favourite section.

Philip Glass, Violin COncerto.

or tune into Classic FM, for a Radio2 middle-of-the-road approach to classic music.

There was a quintet I heard last year which made me weep, but there's no recording of that piece, however Bernard Kane also wrote:

[url=

Vernal River[/url]

Brandenburgs are my favourites, Four Seasons also wonderful. Albinoni's Adagio (G Minor I think), Pachelbel's Canon...

This is sublime:

Note: Andreas Scholl was completey self-taught so was shunned by the German "establishment" until they heard him sing and were blown away by his voice.

This makes me well up:

I listened to it about 10 times while watching the sun set over the river Congo so whenever I hear it I think of Africa. Scroll through to 2.45 if you have a short attention span.

Note: Andreas Scholl was completey self-taught so was shunned by the German "establishment" until they heard him sing and were blown away by his voice.

I like an "outsider" story as much as the next man but that's overegging the pudding somewhat...

Scholl was born on 10 November 1967 in Eltville, Germany, and grew up in neighbouring Kiedrich.[1][2] His entire family were singers, and he was enrolled at the age of seven into the boys choir Kiedricher Chorbuben, first documented in 1333 as "a schola of men assisting the priests on all Sundays, singing the Gregorian chant". Aged 13, Scholl performed the role of the "second boy" in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, while his sister Elisabeth sang the first boy. That same year he was one of 20,000 choristers from all over the world gathered in Rome for a festival, and was chosen to sing solo at Mass on 4 January 1981, where he met Pope John Paul II. Along with his fellow choristers of the Kiedricher Chorbuben, Scholl was an extra in the film The Name of the Rose, playing a young monk standing alongside Sean Connery in scenes shot at Eberbach Abbey, near Kiedrich.

Musical education[edit]
Scholl was 17 when the extent of his ability was recognised by the voice coach of the Chorbuben from the Darmstadt Music Academy.[2] Scholl then sang for the tenor/countertenor Herbert Klein, who advised him that there were only two places he should study: in London or at the early music conservatoire in Basel, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since an uncle had introduced Scholl to the voices of Paul Esswood and James Bowman, the leading European countertenors of the day, Scholl chose Bowman as a role model. Scholl sent a demo tape to René Jacobs to evaluate his talent. This resulted in Jacobs inviting Scholl to visit the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Although the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis only offered post-graduate courses, and Scholl had no first degree, he was offered a place on the strength and quality of his voice after singing a Schubert song for the admissions board, which included René Jacobs.

At the Schola, Andreas Scholl's teacher was Richard Levitt, followed by Jacobs in his second year.[3] Violinist Chiara Banchini and soprano Emma Kirkby were major influences, as Scholl began to specialise in the music of the Baroque. Scholl additionally studied with soprano Evelyn Tubb and lutenist Anthony Rooley. In addition to the Diploma of Ancient Music, for which his external examiner was James Bowman, Andreas Scholl garnered prizes from the Council of Europe and the Claude Nicolas Ledoux Foundation, and awards from Switzerland's Association Migros and Ernst Göhner Foundation.

Andreas Scholl has been teaching interpretation in the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, succeeding his own teacher, Richard Levitt, and is in much demand for master classes.

Beethoven's 6th

Nimrod, everytime.

Currently listening to Karl Jenkins Stabat Mater. Wow. Just wow.

My own favourite. Claud Debussy's "Prelude to the afternoon of a faun"