# Your favourite "ear candy"?



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

In the visual arts, "eye candy" refers to work that might not exactly be great art, but that the viewer finds beguiling because, well, it is simply too lushly beautiful to resist (even if it doesn't "say" anything particularly deep). 

I don't know if music lovers use the term I used here, but what would your musical (classical or otherwise) equivalent?

In my case, some New Agey bits comes across as aural candy (and little else, I fear!), as well as some of those long, colorful ribbons of melody that Ravi Shankar used to weave on his sitar. And more in purely classical vein, some of the Romantic do this - Bruch comes to mind. 

What say you?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Debussy Preludes for Piano, sonically beguiling, but for me, not very deep as music. "Musical perfume" is how I would describe them.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Any number of the Rachmaninoff Preludes and Études Tableaux fill that description for me. Very good candy indeed!


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

A lot of Russian music is "ear candy" for me because of the colorful orchestration. This is particularly true of Russian exoticism--for example, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, and his Polovetsian dances (I probably misspelled that because its title is so exotic!)


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

as a guitarist, I would say that description fits about 90% of the repertoire for my instrument

but I enjoy the music of Mauro Giuliani quite a bit. both playing and listening


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

_The Lark Ascending_ by Vaughan Williams
_The Dharma at Big Sur_ by John Adams
_Os justi meditabitur_ by Bruckner
any Rachmaninoff


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Nate Miller said:


> as a guitarist, I would say that description fits about 90% of the repertoire for my instrument
> 
> but I enjoy the music of Mauro Giuliani quite a bit. both playing and listening


I believe I have already described (in other threads) Parkening Plays Bach as my musical equivalent of comfort food.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Binge, Elizabethan Serenade.


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## Francis Poulenc (Nov 6, 2016)

If it produces a strong emotional reaction, wouldn't it be, by definition, "great art"?


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> I believe I have already described (in other threads) Parkening Plays Bach as my musical equivalent of comfort food.


yes, Christopher Parkening plays Bach very well. I remember when he was young, he was a good looking young fella and played Bach so well a lot of guitar players I knew hated him for it

..and when I said 90% of my instrument's repertoire was ear candy, the Bach works are all in that other 10%

we're so lucky he spend those 6 years working for Prince Leopold in Cothen.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Bettina said:


> A lot of Russian music is "ear candy" for me because of the colorful orchestration. This is particularly true of Russian exoticism--for example, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, and his *Polovetsian dances* (I probably misspelled that because its title is so exotic!)


It's a transliteration from the Russian and can be spelled correctly that way. Often, it is spelled Polovtsian. Either way, you're good.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Francis Poulenc said:


> If it produces a strong emotional reaction, wouldn't it be, by definition, "great art"?


Depends on the nature of the emotional reaction. Something deeply disgusting is possibly not great art.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I actually don't think I have anything in the classical realm that I consider 'ear candy'.

Almost all the classical music I listen to, almost exclusively 20th century and contemporary, is pretty heavy and intense.

Anything that I may listen to that may be considered 'ear candy' falls within other genres.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I don't feel like answering because anything posted here is already put down by the opening post.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

I administer Liszt's Années de pèlerinage every now and then, works like a charm! :tiphat:


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## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

Fragoso's nocturne


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## Rhinotop (Jul 8, 2016)

Saint-Saëns: Allegro appassionato for cello and orchestra/piano, op. 43
Delicious :cheers:


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

The Strauss family.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Francis Poulenc said:


> If it produces a strong emotional reaction, wouldn't it be, by definition, "great art"?


Perhaps. This thread is in light vein, so we need not delve too deeply into which works are "truly great" and which ones "mere aural candy."

When I'm in the right kind of mood, Enya produces a strong emotional reaction in me. Is Enya on the same level as Mozart? I suppose not, but boy, is it enjoyable stuff to relax with.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The whole repertoire from *Renée Fleming. *
_Glorious _


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> A lot of Russian music is "ear candy" for me because of the colorful orchestration. This is particularly true of Russian exoticism--for example, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, and his Polovetsian dances (I probably misspelled that because its title is so exotic!)


Ha! Ha! I will remember that. The "exotic" potential misspelling excuse!


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Stravinsky: Petrushka
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Beethoven: Piano concerto No. 4


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bruckner Anton said:


> The Strauss family.


Finally someone who admits it, no highbrow baloney, just straight forward confession.


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## Ignatius Holland (Nov 14, 2016)

Probably Brangane's warning from act II of Tristan und Isolde. It's a beautiful piece of music, though not quite as complex or interesting as the rest of the love duet.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Brahms, Hungarian Dances
Tchaikovsky, dances from Nutcracker
Khachaturian: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Janowitz singing 'Ach ice fuji's' from Zauberflote


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

*Cosi fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, Vier letzte Lieder* so far it's like that. candy, my candy, chocolate glaze 

and if I like without chocolate glaze then it must be something of JS Bach, some chorales or similar


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Debussy Images for piano.

Such ravishing, sensual music!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Lucia Popp - "Vier letzte Lieder", Richard Strauss (1982)


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Vronsky said:


> Debussy: Three Nocturnes


Now we're talking. And I see someone else also mentioned Debussy's Images for piano. Debussy was of course one of the great masters of velvet smooth, rich sound. It's noteworthy that a lot of composers of New Age and Ambient music mentions his work as an influence.


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## Francis Poulenc (Nov 6, 2016)

Many despise it from their conservatory years, but there is great beauty in this, it is the sound of innocence:


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Never really thought about this before but perhaps
Canteloube's Chants D'Auvergne would fit this description of ear candy for me


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Hard to get this out of your ears.
Greta choice Hayden Man


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Haydn man said:


> Never really thought about this before but perhaps
> Canteloube's Chants D'Auvergne would fit this description of ear candy for me


Oh yes! I see someone else mentioned it just after you did. It's like Debussy with more singable melodies.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Haydn man said:


> Never really thought about this before but perhaps
> Canteloube's Chants D'Auvergne would fit this description of ear candy for me


Good choice. Likewise most Respighi and Mendelssohn. Can't agree Debussy is ear candy, however. Too engaging.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Mozart piano sonatas. They serve 2 purposes. Can be played for serious listening and can be appreciated as "ear candies".


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

brianvds said:


> In the visual arts, "eye candy" refers to work that might not exactly be great art, but that the viewer finds beguiling because, well, it is simply too lushly beautiful to resist (even if it doesn't "say" anything particularly deep).
> 
> I don't know if music lovers use the term I used here, but what would your musical (classical or otherwise) equivalent?
> 
> ...


Debussy's piano work... all of it. And this comes from the biggest fan of Bach.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Gouldanian said:


> Debussy's piano work... all of it. And this comes from the biggest fan of Bach.


I seem to remember reading once that apparently Debussy himself admired only two composers, namely Bach and Debussy.


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