# Favourite pieces and why.



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Mozart 40

I think the melodies are very beautiful and like the contrast between the sad and passionate melody and the other more triumphante parts in the first movement


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Mahler symphonies 2 and 3. Because between them, they say everything.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Well just to throw something different out there that I'm listening to now that is fantastic, I'll say Brahms 1st Cello Sonata is a big favorite of mine. It's not necessarily at the very top of the list but it's truly brilliant and a wonderful listen.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Well I don't have a single "favorite", but I'll mention one work that has been my favorite since I first discovered the classical music world.

Chopin - Ballade in g minor op. 28
The ballades contain some of Chopin's finest music (of course the nocturnes, polonaises, and preludes are tough competition). While the fourth is considered the best, because of it's complexity and build up-climax direction, the first is my favorite. It's like an overture for piano. It emerges in octaves from the bass up the keyboard, then goes into a ghostly lyric. The next main theme, very beautiful and powerful, is then brought back with full force. Then, the pianist has a little cadenza before going back to the ghost theme. Then, the piece explodes in a rowdy dance that ends with an ambiguous coda. 

Yes, this is love.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Cosmos said:


> Well I don't have a single "favorite", but I'll mention one work that has been my favorite since I first discovered the classical music world.
> 
> Chopin - Ballade in g minor op. 28
> The ballades contain some of Chopin's finest music (of course the nocturnes, polonaises, and preludes are tough competition). While the fourth is considered the best, because of it's complexity and build up-climax direction, the first is my favorite. It's like an overture for piano. It emerges in octaves from the bass up the keyboard, then goes into a ghostly lyric. The next main theme, very beautiful and powerful, is then brought back with full force. Then, the pianist has a little cadenza before going back to the ghost theme. Then, the piece explodes in a rowdy dance that ends with an ambiguous coda.
> ...


One of the first pieces that hooked me on classical music. Really extraordinary.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Haydn's Symphony #94, "Surprise". Always puts a smile on my face.
Haydn was such an extroverted, cheerful soul and it shows in this great symphony.
You know, I've never heard a bad performance of this symphony.
I have performances conducted by Colin Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Neville Marriner and George Szell.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Prokofiev ~ Piano concerto No. 4.





All Prokofiev's piano concerti are remarkable. The fourth, for the left hand alone, (commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, who never played it and who wrote Prokofiev that "he did not understand a note of it,") is far less often played, so it is a sort of underdog semi-orphaned work.

The piece is neoclassical, snappy, 'Bach-like' at times but not really, it starts out with a Rondo, just to be contrary to form.

The piano part does sound more like a one-handed affair, while it commands a thorough and wide variety of range of touch of the player. Not sounding like an illusion of two-hands, like the remarkable writing in the Ravel concerto in D, the Prokofiev is, like all Prokofiev, technically very difficult. Perhaps because it does not sound so full and overtly virtuosic as his other piano concerti is one reason it sits too often in a corner while the others get to strut their stuff often enough.

The Andante is as lyrical as one could desire and expect of Prokofiev....

The critical comment in the link, fully describing this four-movement work, should suffice for further description.

It is a great piece; it is well worth the time it takes to get familiar with this one


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## AH music (Mar 25, 2014)

I have many favourites in the well recognised and highly regarded "greats". However, some of the pieces that mean the most to me have an element of the "undiscovered" about them. For a complete work, I have fallen completely for the Piano Trio no 3 by Woldemar Bargiel - every movement is a winner with a blend of approachability and yet real depth, and what seems to me a real integrity and eloquence of musical expression. Sadly not on spotify. (Trio Parnassus, Dabringhaus und Grimm). 

Two short pieces have captivated me and they are way above others in my iTunes listening frequency, because a short piece is sometimes just all I need. 1) Bortkiewicz - Lamentations and Consolations Op 17 - Book 1 no 4 (Stephen Coombs, Hyperion) which has several utterly haunting phrases and harmonies. 2) I am not a great one for isolating movements from larger works, but cannot help it with the slow movement (2 - andante) from X. Scharwenka Cello Sonata Op 46a (Seta Tanyel etc, Hyperion) Sheer beauty and exquisite interaction between the piano and cello lines.


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## Incitatus (Mar 27, 2014)

I have too many favorite pieces to name but I really feel something for "Hounds of Spring". That was the final song I played with my High School Wind Ensemble and there was so much emotion and passion from EVERYONE playing it that in the end it became as easy as breathing. 

I also must admit I'm a sucker for any of Bach's cello pieces (especially suite 5 prelude) because they were the first things I played on the cello (well.... how I learned the cello at any rate!) and I feel so much passion in hearing them played well! Schubert, Mozart and Brahms are also on my list of favorites. As well as some contemporary composers.


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

I've mentioned this Dufay piece a few times recently but I'll mention it again here, it's just that cool. An excerpt from another recording of the same piece. The Hilliards really nail this section.


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