# Your favorite piece(s) of music



## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

What is your favorite piece of classical music? Some might argue that they don't have one single favorite. If this is the case, a list of one's favorites would equally (or maybe even more so) satisfy my curiosity.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My ultimate favorite?

Any of the six Bach Unaccompanied Violin Partitas and Sonatas. I love them all equally.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Henze's Symphony no. 7 has become my favourite now, a multi-faceted work. Traditional in form, modern in its language. Wide range of emotion, and mentally very stimulating. Powerful at times, tender in others. The absolute epitome in music for me. Heard nothing quite like it ever before.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

There are so many pieces that I love! I couldn't possibly limit myself to just one. But I will proudly present...drumroll, please*...my ranked list of ten favorite pieces.

1. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"
2. Bach: Mass in B Minor
3. Mozart: Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter"
4. Liszt: Sonata in B Minor
5. Haydn: The Creation
6. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14
7. Chopin: Barcarolle
8. Debussy: La Mer
9. Brahms: Symphony No. 4
10.Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

*Actually, Haydn's Drumroll Symphony doesn't quite make it onto this list, although I do love it.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

TOP 50:

1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) 
2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1909) 
3. Mass in B Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach (1749) 
4. Requiem - Guisseppe Verdi (1874) 
5. Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826) 
6. Tristan und Isolde - Richard Wagner (1859) 
7. Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) 
8. The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963)
9. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (1969)
10. Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974)
11. String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1825) 
12. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964)
13. Faust - Faust (1971)
14. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967)
15. String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1826) 
16. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968) 
17. Parable of Arable Land - Red Crayola (1967)
18. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1808) 
19. Symphony No. 4 in E Minor - Johannes Brahms (1884) 
20. The Doors - The Doors (1967)
21. Unit Structures - Cecil Taylor (1966)
22. Fidelio – Ludwig van Beethoven (1805-1814) 
23. Don Giovanni – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1787) 
24. Der Ring des Nibelungen – Richard Wagner (1876) 
25. Lorca - Tim Buckley (1970)
26. Ascension - John Coltrane (1965)
27. Escalator Over The Hill - Carla Bley (1971)
28. Twin Infinitives - Royal Trux (1990)
29. String Quintet in C Major - Franz Schubert (1828) 
30. Glagolitic Mass - Leos Janacek (1926) 
31. Missa Solemnis – Ludwig van Beethoven (1823) 
32. St. Matthew Passion – Johann Sebastian Bach (1727) 
33. Messiah – Georg Handel (1741) 
34. Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World" - Antonin Dvorak (1893) 
35. Desertshore - Nico (1970)
36. Irrlicht - Klaus Schulze (1972)
37. The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Michael Mantler (1968)
38. Variations in Dream-time - Anthony Davis (1982) 
39. Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1822) 
40. Symphonie Fantastique - Hector Berlioz (1830) 
41. Symphony No. 41 in C Major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1788) 
42. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1785) 
43. Violin Concerto in D Major - Johannes Brahms (1878) 
44. Ein Deutsches Requiem - Johannes Brahms (1868) 
45. Symphony No. 5 - Gustav Mahler (1902) 
46. Geek the Girl - Lisa Germano (1994)
47. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)
48. Y - The Pop Group (1979)
49. The Ascension - Glenn Branca (1981)
50. Grande Messe des morts - Hector Berlioz (1837)


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

AfterHours said:


> TOP 50:
> 
> 1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)
> 2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1909)
> ...


Sorry, for each one I added, I just had to add another


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> Henze's Symphony no. 7 has become my favourite now, a multi-faceted work. Traditional in form, modern in its language. Wide range of emotion, and mentally very stimulating. Powerful at times, tender in others. The absolute epitome in music for me. Heard nothing quite like it ever before.


I am only vaguely familiar with Henze actually... I'll have to look into this Symphony.


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## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

AfterHours said:


> Sorry, for each one I added, I just had to add another


No need for apology, I actually find your list very interesting. When I asked this question, I did not expect Fidelio to appear, and before Don Giovanni and the Ring, very interesting. I love the Orchestral music (libretto and lyrical roles not as much), is the appeal the same for you?


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

dillonp2020 said:


> No need for apology, I actually find your list very interesting. When I asked this question, I did not expect Fidelio to appear, and before Don Giovanni and the Ring, very interesting. I love the Orchestral music (libretto and lyrical roles not as much), is the appeal the same for you?


Thank you. The text of an opera is not nearly as important to me as how much the composer brings out of it emotionally/conceptually through the music, through the elicitation, expression and ingenuity thereof. I think there is no question Fidelio is one of the greatest works of music and vocals.

In regards to The Ring, it of course is incredibly ambitious and reaches higher heights than either and maybe even any work in music history, but I don't recall it being as consistent, which is a factor I also take into account -- not just the peaks or overall ambition.

As a note, I've not listened to The Ring or Fidelio in years (and Don Giovanni only once over the same time span), so my ranking for them is the least certain of any of the entries there. In all honesty, I simply lumped those 3 together out of indecision and lack of recent familiarity and comparison. So I'm not sure of their exact positions or which is "better" than the other, really, but memory tells me they're close and that any of them wouldn't be far ahead of the other 2.

The rest of my list however, was carefully considered and constructed, even if there remain so many others that I might add too.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Beethoven piano concertos 3 an 5
Mozart : all
Chopin: all
Liszt: almost all
Verdi: definitely all
Bellini: all
Donizetti: all
Puccini: all
Rossini: all
Just from the top of my head.


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

I made this list fairly recently of 30 of my favorite works at the moment, with 1 per composer. Even though it's pretty personal and idiosyncratic, perhaps some would find it interesting:

Abrahamsen: Schnee
Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur
Alwyn: Lyra Angelica
Bach: Cello Suites
Bartók: Music for Piano, Strings, and Celesta

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Fauré: Requiem

Finzi: Five Bagatelles
Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Grisey: Les espaces acoustiques
Hahn: À Chloris
Ives: Symphony No. 4

Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua
Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Ligeti: Études
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Nyman: MGV
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Romitelli: Dead City Radio (Audiodrome)
Saariaho: L'Amour de loin

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
Vasks: Violin Concerto "Distant Light"


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

These are going to just be the pieces that I enjoy listening to the most, and thus will have varying degrees of artistic value.
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Sibelius: Symphony no 7
Shostakovich: Symphony no 8
Elgar: Symphony no 2
Bruckner: Symphonies 8 and 9
Villa Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras 7
Vaughan Williams: Symphony no 4
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Barber: Violin Concerto


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