RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted February 20, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) What is your favourite piece of classical music, this is mine >> Edited February 21, 2015 by PhilJ W 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Depends on my mood....... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightengine Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Beethovens Ninth for the rather banal reason of when I first watched Clockwork Orange in the 70's. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold teaky Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 Nigel Kennedy's version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Mozart's Clarinet Concerto - btw, I first came across this in the film Out of Africa, which won an Oscar for sound recordist Peter Handford, better known to RMWebbers as the man behind the Argo Transacord recordings of Britannias at Tebay, V2s on the Waverley route and Kings at Risborough. Which you could argue is another form of classic(al) music. David 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Possibly a bit corny, but it has to be Pachelbel's Canon. I ( try to) play variations on the guitar, and can listen to it for hours. Don't know which is my favourite version, but there is an LP called "Pachelbel's Greatest Hit" which I am trying to get hold of. Ed 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 As a singer in a cathedral choir, director of a top quality chamber choir adn listener to Radio 3, this is actually a very difficult question to answer. I could easily mention so many pieces of music by composers that most wouldn't have heard of, for example E J Moearan, Patrick Hadley (he described his piece "My beloved spake" as two orgasms linked by some choral singing) and others, but the pieces I would list (sorry, can't list just one!) are not church music. There is Belshazzars Feast by William Walton, a very exciting piece of music that I sang many times when in London Symphony Chorus, especially in Moscow in 1982. There is also the Dream of Gerontius by Edward Elgar and one piece that isn't choral at all, the second movement of Bruckner's 7th symphony. If you don't know any of these pieces, I would suggest trying to find them on YouTube, Spotify etc. and see what you think. There is so much fantastic music beyond the realms of Classic FM (sorry, that sounds snobbish, but it's true!) and one tip - try listening to Radio 3 Breakfast show. It's a very similar format to the Classic FM show but with a far wider ranging selection of music that is just as listenable. Well, opinionated big head now singing off! Phil 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 I'm wonderfully lowbrow, so Rach 2 (Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto) suits me as well as most, thanks. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffers Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) Have a wide number of favourites but works by Beethoven and Sibelius are near the top. As mentioned above - depends on mood. My wife is/was a talented chorus singer and sang with some of the big orchestras and conductors but her favourite was a capella and madrigal singing. Discussing Sibelius once very many years ago with a middle-aged psychiatrist friend of ours he mentioned he was looking for a piece of music that a patient of his had said ".....it always gave her an or**sm when she listened to it...." and he was trying to find out what it was! I had an idea and if anyone on here is interested try the final movement of Sibelius' Symphony no 5 when the swinging horn theme comes along (geddit!) Edited February 21, 2015 by geoffers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Mahler 4 gets played more than any thing else but I would probably not call it my favourite work. Two older versions by Britten and Horenstein. Which one depends on my mood as they are very different interpretations. Bernard 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffers Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 You are so right Bernard - a particular piece can sound so different depending on the conductor's view of tempi and dynamics. The recording quality is so important too - is it spacious, is it cramped - the playback system has a big say on how it sounds too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) Many favorites, however I like this one a lot. Many people are familiar with the main melody without being aware of the title or composer.... Faure: “Cantique de Jean Racine" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKwHiGg21KA&spfreload=10 Singalong version! Best, Pete. Edited February 21, 2015 by trisonic 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iak Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Tallis Fantasia by RVW - it calms me down... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffers Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Faure's a jolly good fellow? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) Anything NOT by Wagner or used as phone hold musak! So many great classical music to be heard that it's impossible for me to choose a favourite piece! Since starting piano lessons 6 years ago, I have discovered Einaudi: For example Oltremare, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTuIAPGJv_Y Edited February 21, 2015 by Welly 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) I'm wonderfully lowbrow, so Rach 2 (Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto) suits me as well as most, thanks. Especially when watching a certain film that has some fantastic shots of 1930's Crewe station as one of the centre pieces. This comment and others also remind me that there are so many different pieces of classical music that I adore. For example, Rachmaninov Symphony Number 3, his Midnight Vespers, Faure Requiem (and, to mind, a better piece but this is open to discussion!) the Durufle Requiem. Then there's the organ music of Louis Vierne - if you're wondering what that's all about, try this Daniel Cooke is one of the assistant organists at Westminster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral organ is one of the best in the country (also another point open to discussion!). Phil Edited February 21, 2015 by PGC 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Phil, I hit the “Agree” button for your post above. Don’t tell a cousin of mine who is the main man in front of the organ at Durham..... Music choices are very personal. Best, Pete. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 iak, on 21 Feb 2015 - 12:54, said:Tallis Fantasia by RVW RVW was a local hero in my home-town - Dorking. He founded the Leith Hill Music Festival which I think succeeds to this day. RMwebber Ashcombe and I sang in skool concerts (think Handel, Mozart, Haydn) at the Dorking Halls, outside which there is a fine statue to his memory. His association with this chap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cole_(musician) also had a connection, since William Cole's children also attended my skool, where he had himself taught. Indeed his son Nick was a classmate. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
62613 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 As a singer in a cathedral choir, director of a top quality chamber choir adn listener to Radio 3, this is actually a very difficult question to answer. I could easily mention so many pieces of music by composers that most wouldn't have heard of, for example E J Moearan, Patrick Hadley (he described his piece "My beloved spake" as two orgasms linked by some choral singing) and others, but the pieces I would list (sorry, can't list just one!) are not church music. There is Belshazzars Feast by William Walton, a very exciting piece of music that I sang many times when in London Symphony Chorus, especially in Moscow in 1982. There is also the Dream of Gerontius by Edward Elgar and one piece that isn't choral at all, the second movement of Bruckner's 7th symphony. If you don't know any of these pieces, I would suggest trying to find them on YouTube, Spotify etc. and see what you think. There is so much fantastic music beyond the realms of Classic FM (sorry, that sounds snobbish, but it's true!) and one tip - try listening to Radio 3 Breakfast show. It's a very similar format to the Classic FM show but with a far wider ranging selection of music that is just as listenable. Well, opinionated big head now singing off! Phil Well, I can certainly go along with The Dream of Gerontius; I've heard it live once, and at the end I was almost in pieces, it was so beautifully done, by an amateur choir. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 RVW was a local hero in my home-town - Dorking. He founded the Leith Hill Music Festival which I think succeeds to this day. RMwebber Ashcombe and I sang in skool concerts (think Handel, Mozart, Haydn) at the Dorking Halls, outside which there is a fine statue to his memory. His association with this chap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cole_(musician) also had a connection, since William Cole's children also attended my skool, where he had himself taught. Indeed his son Nick was a classmate. The festival still does exist and several of my singing friends have participated. RVW also wrote the Mass in G minor. Another of the pieces that I adore and haven't mentioned yet. Has anyone noticed a theme of my choices? They're all late 19th or 20th century music. I could add some Baroque pieces like the St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor of J S Bach to my list, but music before Mozart is very much in the descendancy as far as I'm concerned. As Trisonic says, music choices (especially classical) are very much a personal thing. Phil 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 As I add comments to this thread and read RMWeb I'm listening to the Durufle Requiem (prompted by my comment earlier). If you don't know the work, may I suggest you try a little bit of bravery - buy a recording somewhere, from Amazon or whichever your favourite music supplier is and try listening. I would be very surprised if you regret it and I would also guess you won't begrudge taking a punt and spending money on something you know nothing about. Phil 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2015 As others have already said it's difficult to pick one. Mine used to be the 1812 overture but I think now it would be the Hallelujah Chorus. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 It's just not possible to pick a favourite. Pushed into a corner and told 'one work only' I suspect it would have to be Beethoven's seventh; although the rational side of my nature would say 'make it a biggun then' and go for Bach's St Matthew Passion, Cosi fan tutte or Berlioz' Damnation of Faust. (A sort of good, bad and ugly selection?) Liked the story of the psychiatrist's aroused patient. She should only try Sibelius' 'The Wood Nymph' (op 15). Similar things have been said of Saint Saens Organ (hoho) Symphony. The only problem is the incompatability with railway modelling. Paintbrush air baton or tympanist is merely messy. Scalpel or soldering iron air baton is thoroughly dangerous. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted February 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2015 The Tallis Fantasia for me, but then I'm a bit of an RVW obsessive. Bax's Tintagel Shostakovich's 13th all do it for me. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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