# Your "special" pieces



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I don't know about you, but there are a few pieces of music which I deliberately avoid listening to very often, to try and keep the "magic" feeling they evoke. Pieces like Mahler 2, Bruckner 5 & 8 and Elgar 2. Every time I listen to them (maybe 3 or 4 times a year), it feels like an Event.

Do you feel the same way about certain pieces, and if so, what are those pieces?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Sure. Mahler 9. Beethoven 9. Verdi Requiem. Britten Peter Grimes.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

I've found that something fresh comes to my door nearly every time I get tired of a piece. You just have to let go and let the world work. The tighter the grip, the blinder you are to the countless beauties left to be discovered.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

There is one piece of music that I play as little as possible because I worry that it will wear out its welcome, given its one minute length.

It's the best one minute I've ever heard - BWV 677 from Bach's Clavier-Ubung III. I'm not talking about any old performance but the one from Suzuki on BIS; his speed and enthusiasm are fantastic.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

There are a few that fit the category for me, though it may sound like there's an echo in here . . .

Beethoven: 9th Symphony.
Vaughan-Williams: Tallis Fantasia
Schumann: Piano Concerto
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

Others too, but to a lesser extent. There are even more progressive rock pieces that fit this category.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Mahler's symphonies are definitely like that. Mahler's 2nd in particular. Listening to that is an "event", and I don't want to listen to it too much for fear that I may grow tired of it. Also, listening to Tchaikovsky's ballets from start to finish. That is not something I do very often, and they remain some of my favorite works of all time


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## stevederekson (Jan 5, 2014)

Mahler 2,3 and 9.

Mozart Requiem.

Wagner Tristan / Lohengrin / Tannhäuser.

Chopin Mazurka Op.17 N. 4


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

My 'special pieces' (in no particular order) -

Shostakovich: _Symphony No. 5_
Vaughan Williams: _Symphony No. 5_
Elgar: _Symphony No. 2_
Bartok: _The Wooden Prince_
Ives: _'Holidays' Symphony_
Barber: _Violin Concerto_
Casella: _Sinfonia (Symphony No. 3)_
Villa-Lobos: _Genesis_
Stravinsky: _Le sacre du printemps_
Holst: _The Planets_
Dvorak: _Symphony No. 9 'From the New World'_
Delius: _In a Summer Garden_
Honegger: _Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique'_
Prokofiev: _On the Dnieper_
Ravel: _Daphnis et Chloe_
Debussy: _La Mer_
Nielsen: _Symphony No. 2 'The Four Temperaments'_
Sibelius: _Symphony No. 6_
W. Schuman: _Symphony No. 3_
Koechlin: _The Jungle Book_ (the whole work is something that affected me quite deeply several years ago)
Milhaud: _Symphony No. 6_
Bruckner: _Symphony No. 9_
Mahler: _Symphony No. 5_
Adams: _Harmonielehre_
Britten: _Diversions_
Janacek: _Glagolitic Mass_
Respighi: _Church Windows_
Tubin: _Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs_
Bantock: _Celtic Symphony_
Myaskovsky: _Symphony No. 24_

I think this enough for now.


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## MozartEarlySymphonies (Nov 29, 2013)

My special pieces (Or most nostalgic) would be (in no order)

Bach Brandenburg Concertos
Bach Mass in B Minor
Bach Goldberg Variations 
Bach Christmas Oratorio 
Handel Music For the Royal Fireworks
Handel Messiah
Handel Zadok The Priest
Vivaldi ANY Concerto, 
Vivaldi Gloria 
Vivaldi Dixit Domimus RV 807
Mozart Symphonies, Most notably 21,29,30,33,40 and 41.
Mozart Horn Concertos
Mozart Piano Sonatas K. 330 and K. 333
Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik 
Mozart Marriage of Figaro 
Mozart Coronation Mass
Haydn Trumpet Concerto
Haydn Symphonies, Most notably 92-104. 
Haydn Mass No. 3
Haydn Nelson Mass
Hummel Trumpet Concerto 
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5
Beethoven Symphonies 5 6 7 
Beethoven Wind Music (Examples-Marches, Trio for Two Oboes and English Horn, Octet, etc.)
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4
Mendelssohn Songs Without Words
Chopin Etudes
Chopin Waltzes 
Schubert Lieder
Schubert Trout Quintet
Schubert Symphonies, Most notably 1,2,5,8 and 9
Schubert Wonderer Fantasy
Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Liszt Liebestraum No. 3
Liszt Piano Sonata
Verdi Requiem
Brahms Violin Concerto
Brahms Symphonies, Most notably 2
Mahler Symphonies, Most notably 4-8
Bruckner Symphony No. 8
Elgar Cello Concerto
Ravel Bolero
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Holst The Planets
Herrmann Psycho Soundtrack


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I don't avoid listening to my favourites. Nearly everything I own is a favourite: that's why I bought them, from among the thousands I could have bought, but didn't. It would be nearly impossible for me to put any of these selected works above others I have selected for acquisition. I try to rotate my listening so that I get to hear all of my favourites without excluding any of them.

Would I stop eating pears, which I love, to try and make them taste even better? No, of course not!


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## stevederekson (Jan 5, 2014)

Those lists are far too long.

I believe the author is speaking of pieces that serve as a sort of "spiritual experience", a trance-like listening where you feel your blood rushing and your nerves contracted all throughout.

There are a lot of pieces we enjoy listening to, but only a very small percentage can do what I described above.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I've never thought of not listening to a thing to preserve its specialness - I try not to listen to anything too often, regardless of how I feel about it. 

But then, in terms of how super-special a work is, Mozart's Requiem, Chopin's Nocturnes, and Dvorak's 9th used to be like that for me, but now they're just works that I love - perhaps I heard them too often after all. 

I guess I would still feel that way about Shostakovich's 8th string quartet, Brahms' first and fourth symphonies, Allegri's Miserere, Reich's WTC 9/11 (way too intense to take very often), and maybe Bach's Cantata #82. 

This is a great question.


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## lupinix (Jan 9, 2014)

most special ones are which I listen about once a half year or less: Rachmaninov symphony 2 and prokofiev symphony 5 & 6 & 3
then Rachmaninov piano concertos 2 & 3, symphony 1 & 3 and vocalise, prokofiev pc 2 and symphony 4 & 7, shostakovich symphony 4 & 10, scriabin piano concerto, ravel piano concerto in g minor and chopin sonata 3


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

stevederekson said:


> Those lists are far too long.
> 
> I believe the author is speaking of pieces that serve as a sort of "spiritual experience", a trance-like listening where you feel your blood rushing and your nerves contracted all throughout.
> 
> There are a lot of pieces we enjoy listening to, but only a very small percentage can do what I described above.


I think you're off-the-mark here. Every one of those works in my list are 'spiritual experiences'. All of them are _special_ and near and dear to my heart. For you to say otherwise, would only be mistake on your part.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

brotagonist said:


> I don't avoid listening to my favourites. Nearly everything I own is a favourite: that's why I bought them, from among the thousands I could have bought, but didn't. It would be nearly impossible for me to put any of these selected works above others I have selected for acquisition. I try to rotate my listening so that I get to hear all of my favourites without excluding any of them.
> 
> Would I stop eating pears, which I love, to try and make them taste even better? No, of course not!


You CAN get sick of a favorite food if you have it too often. Yes.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Really too many to list. That's why I'm listening to Vogner all day long.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

The opera William Tell. I love it so I try not to over do it.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2014)

Of course I read the title "Your 'special place'" at first...


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I am more likely to "reserve" special performances than works. For example, Beethoven's Violin Concerto as performed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja. This is what I would love in a live performance! Lots of creative freedom, little cadenzas here and there, some embroidery that LvB certainly didn't write into the score. Very exhilarating! But good for how many listens? So I listen to it seldom.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2014)

^ I have my special performances too... Back when Burroughs still posted here, I thought the whole Howard Shelley cult was a little nutty...then I grabbed that Schumann/Grieg/Saint-Saens disc for myself... For a few moments the Schumann sounded a little too speedy... But damn if I didn't become a convert with that disc.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Itullian said:


> You CAN get sick of a favorite food if you have it too often. Yes.


But pears? Never


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Of course I read the title "Your 'special place'" at first...


I read it that way about four times even after I'd realized what it actually said.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Mahler 2 must be a very special piece for me as I never listen to it!


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

I try to make a Mahler listen an event, hopefully undisturbed which just completely obliterates any sense of fulfillment when the end comes.

Otherwise special pieces that 'get me' every time are -
Mozart pc23 2nd mov
Beethoven op.111
VW Sea Symphony and 5th
Elgar 2
Neilsen 5th
Prokofiev 6 symphony
Strauss Death and Transfiguration
Specific passages from raindrop prelude, emaj etude and slow mov of 1st pc (Chopin obviously)
Brahms slow mov op.5


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Interesting thread. I had never thought there were pieces I wouldn't want to play because it spoiled their freshness. But curiously enough Taggart had just posted on my Stepping Stones a Chopin Prelude, commonly called 'The Bells', that he once played for a piano exam.






Prelude no 6 in B minor, Op 28.
I find it deeply Slavic, evocative of mysterious forests at twilight & now I think of it, I certainly wouldn't want to lose the frisson by playing 'Polish Forests' to death. Another candidate would be Vivaldi's Stabat Mater; I wouldn't want to lose the goose-bumps on that one, either.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Very special works, for different reasons. I don't avoid listening to them as they are so special I can't envisage ever tiring of them.
Mahler 2 (esp. final movement from choir entry to end)
Mahler 3 (esp. 3rd movement)
Respighi - Fountains of Rome
Allegri - Miserere
Skempton - Lento
Korndorf - Hymn 1 "Sempre Tutti"
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No.2
Shchedrin - Concerto for Orchestra No.1 "Merrie Ditties"


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

stevederekson said:


> I believe the author is speaking of pieces that serve as a sort of "spiritual experience", a trance-like listening where you feel your blood rushing and your nerves contracted all throughout.
> 
> There are a lot of pieces we enjoy listening to, but only a very small percentage can do what I described above.


You hit the nail bang on the head. This is exactly what I'm talking about.

With the pieces I mentioned, I fear that listening to them very often (say, several times a month) would mean their special "power", and the incredible feeling it gives me listening to them, would rub off and they would just seem like "normal" pieces, rather than the grand cathedrals of sound that they are.


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## GiulioCesare (Apr 9, 2013)

Allevi's Violin Concerto.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

I've never avoided a work on purpose in order to keep it special.

Fortunately, my listening list is so huge that the possibility of overdoing it is not great.

I did recently, however, have Handel's Water Music on two separate lists at the same time (Great recordings from All Music Guide borrowed from the library; and my own CD compilation for work listening), but since one was Hogwood and the other was Savall, it wasn't too bad. 

I do have special pieces, for sure, but I really don't purposely limit my listening to them. It just happens.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I will add Leonard Bernstein's performance of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, the most heartfelt performance of this music I've ever heard. Always brings me back to the Kennedy presidency and Camelot from the early 1960's.
A very special performance for me. Maybe three times a year so I look forward to it.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

My special (i.e. nostalgic) pieces are:
~ Grieg: Piano Concerto = This piece was instrumental in my becoming obsessed with classical music. I always associate it with my first steps into serious listening.
~ Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition = The first classical concert I went to. This also brings back fond memories.
~ Handel: Messiah = I still try to see this in concert once a year, whenever I can, and never get tired of it.

But really I have lots of special pieces, often because of extra-musical associations, and several works by Beethoven, Mozart and Vaughan Williams probably fit the bill as well.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

GiulioCesare said:


> Allevi's Violin Concerto.


You mean this Allevi?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Allevi


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

For me, it would probably be Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. That was the program the night of my first date with the girlfriend!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I have special pieces but am afraid I cannot put them away long enough and actually risk burning out on them. I have a tendency to burnout on something, move on to something else for a time and then come back. I tend to make rather abrupt shifts, in an instant. For example, I may listen to nothing but Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Johnny Winter for several months or more then suddenly one day abruptly stop and go in to classical for months. I actually have a hard time listening to both as I will get into one or the other and not want to switch. Anyway, my special pieces at this time are:

Handel's Messiah, Dublin version
Beethoven's FIdelio, 1978 Bernstein conducted on DVD and CD.


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## revdrdave (Jan 8, 2014)

"Special pieces" to me are not ones I avoid listening to to try to maintain some sense of magic. indeed, it is their "magic" (if that's the right word) that keeps me returning to them so frequently. For me, if a piece loses something from frequent listening, it's magic, or whatever makes it "special," must be pretty superficial to begin with (a good example of this for me is Rimsky-Korsakov's _Scheherazade_). That said, special pieces that I do return to often are the first version of Vaughan William's _London_ Symphony, Gorecki's _Symphony of Sorrowful Songs_, Mahler's Ninth, and several Chopin Nocturnes.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

For me, the Kindertotenlieder, in both its male and female, its piano and orchestral versions. It's a piece that's too powerful for me to want to listen to often, but it's always with me.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

^^^Janet Baker. Devastating.


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## Berlioznestpasmort (Jan 24, 2014)

Tchaikovsky's _Serenade for Strings _for certain - for me it has a nearly sacred import. I first heard it long ago (before I knew what it was) as theme music for Pensees de la Nuit - a thoughtful (and thoughtfully brief) program broadcast at midnight on CJBC in Toronto. And yes, I don't like to wear it out (like I did with Brahms' 3rd) lest I lose its special magic.


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Berlioznestpasmort said:


> Tchaikovsky's _Serenade for Strings _for certain - for me it has a nearly sacred import.


I concur. It has a cathartic and sacred element to it. The _elegie_ never ceases to impress some melancholic comfort upon me. Yes, melancholic comfort.

Re the thread as a whole, I can relate with these "special" pieces. For me, they are works that I set aside and _try_ not to listen to every day. I could, but I wish to retain some sacred element in them. Ironically, they are also pieces I've likely heard the most -- so preservation is not necessary.

And I often think about this conundrum: Why do I hold off on listening to certain pieces? I thoroughly enjoy them. Some evoke certain places and times in my life, others are entirely emotive without personal context. Is it a fear of losing those emotions? Losing that _feeling_? I always come across new works. Get addicted to new things, new sounds. Always fall back on the pieces that I first loved, always loved. Things don't change. Status quo. Persistence. So why restrict? Why not listen over, and over, and over, and over, seeing if you will really get tired of it. I may. I fear that. Fear losing something precious to me. Loss, suffering, struggle -- everyday issues. I can't lose these things that are _special_ to me, can I? Or, so what? I'll start listening to a _special_ piece right now. That'll help me. I'll know for sure then if I fear _loss_. Fear of death, etc.

Or so my mind chatters off.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Beethoven's Leonore Overture Number 3 as performed by Arturo Toscanini from his 1939 Beethoven Cycle with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Always special to hear this incomparably great performance.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Schumanns "Genoveva"
Korngolds "Die Tote Stadt"
Delius' "A Village Romeo and Juliet"


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## lupinix (Jan 9, 2014)

revdrdave said:


> "Special pieces" to me are not ones I avoid listening to to try to maintain some sense of magic. indeed, it is their "magic" (if that's the right word) that keeps me returning to them so frequently. For me, if a piece loses something from frequent listening, it's magic, or whatever makes it "special," must be pretty superficial to begin with (a good example of this for me is Rimsky-Korsakov's _Scheherazade_). That said, special pieces that I do return to often are the first version of Vaughan William's _London_ Symphony, Gorecki's _Symphony of Sorrowful Songs_, Mahler's Ninth, and several Chopin Nocturnes.


I can understand how this is to you. I won't say either that I would ever get tired of my special pieces, probably even if I listened to them every day. But the only way to not make them at least a bit less occult thus magical is to try not to listen to them all the time. Besides theres so many other good music which I don't know yet, and my musical need is just very big, I would eventually get tired of *only* listening to the ones which are my favorite music now (and without composing myself) though, because I would "miss" to much (rather than because the pieces tire me)


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## billeames (Jan 17, 2014)

For me special pieces are:

Bach Magnificat Preston Decca
Bach Mass b Minor Richter 1962
Bach BMV 51, 140, 147 Werner on Erato. Gardiner, Schneidt on Archiv LP BMV 51 only. 
Brahms Symphony 1 Ozawa BSO, Wand NDR, Giulini PO, BRSO, LAPO, Levine VPO and CSO, Tennstedt LPO EMI, 
Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem Klemperer, Karajan BPO
Beethoven Missa Solemnis (favorite of all time actually) Bernstein DG, Klemperer EMI, 
Beethoven Symphony 5 E and C Kleiber, Furtwangler May 27, 1947 DG Japan in Original Image Bit Processing -- OIBP. 
Beethoven Symphony 9 Isserstedt, Davis BRSO NOT Dresden, Fricsay, Szell, Dohnanyi, Furtwangler 1951 EMI.
Bruckner 4 5 8 (Abbado for the 4,5 and Giulini, Haitink, Karajan VPO, Wand NDR for the 8th, Tennstedt LPO EMI for 8.
Bruckner Te Deum Karajan BPO in OIBP.
Handel Messiah Davis LSO 1966
Mahler 1 8 (1: Abbado CSO, 8: Sinopoli, Solti, Bernstein)
Mozart Mass c Minor Leppard, Bernstein, Hogwood
Schubert 9th Krips LSO, Boult LPO, Guilini CSO, Levine CSO. 
Schubert Mass e flat Major D950 Abbado VPO
Shostakovitch 5 Rostropovich DG, Warner Classics, Haitink Concertgebouw, Bychkov Berlin PO. 
Shostakovitch 8 Rostropovich and Previn EMI or DG, Gergiev Kirov/Philips
Verdi Requiem Karajan VPO or BPO 
Vivaldi Gloriae RV 588 589 Schimone
Vivaldi Introduduzione al Dixit and Dixit Dominus RV 635 595 Negri

Thanks,

Bill


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## billeames (Jan 17, 2014)

Sorry, there was an error in my post. I meant to say 
Vivaldi Introduduzione al Dixit and Dixit Dominus RV 636 594 Negri

I am not familiar with Introduduzione al Dixit and Dixit Dominus RV 635 595 yet.


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## worov (Oct 12, 2012)

My new special piece :


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Beethoven: Piano Concerto 5, Symphony 9, Violin Concerto
Brahms: Piano Concerto 2, Symphony 4, Violin Concerto
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
Mozart: Piano Concerto 20, Piano Concerto 23, Piano Sonata 8, Symphony 40, Requiem, Fantasy in D Minor, Fantasy in C Minor
Puccini: O Mio Babbino Caro, Un Bel Di 
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 2
Schumann: Piano Concerto, Fantaisie in C

I would consider these special, but I don't put off listening to them


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Update my list per what is on my mp3 player at this time:

Handel's Messiah, Dunedin Consort, Dublin version.
Handel's Messiah, Academic Orchestra and Choir, Copenhagen
Handel's Der Messias (German), Karl Richter and the Munchener Bach Choir and Orchestra
Beethoven Symphonies 1-8 Gunter Wand 
Beethoven Symphony 9, Ferenc Fricsay
Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Ormandy
Beethoven Mass in C, Rilling
Beethoven Christ on the Mount of Olives, Rilling
Beethoven Egmont
Beethoven Fidelio, Bernstein 1978
Beethoven Appassionata piano concerto
Beethoven Creatures of Prometheus
Brahms German Requiem, Academic Orchestra and Choir, Copenhagen


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

There are special, extraordinary works that I avoid listening to often, but my avoidance is not planned or aimed at some objective. It's simply the case that I'm not always up to these works' demands on me, whether in time, energy, or emotional readiness. Huge, transporting, draining masterpieces like Wagner's _Tristan_ or _Parsifal_, Bruckner's _Eighth_, or Bach's _B-minor Mass_ simply ask more of me than I can give, most days, and it trivializes them almost criminally to approach them hurriedly or casually. I find plenty of other wonderful music that fits better into everyday life, and my listening is diverse enough to keep everything fresh for next time.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Mahler 2
Bruckner 5 Snap
Simpson 9
Penderecki 1
Bruckner 8 Haitink VPO
Brian 1
Rachmaninov Pno Conc 3 Ashkenazy/LSO/Fistoulari


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Anything by Chopin, too much of his music easily ruins it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Debussy's L'isle joyeuse as performed by Sviatoslav Richter


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I probably already said this earlier somewhere, but...

There is nothing I avoid hearing. If I feel like listening to something, I listen to it, no matter how often or recently I have heard it. However, since I primarily listen to my CD collection, I have an ongoing campaign (that I keep track of in a spreadsheet LOL) to listen to my entire collection and when I am done, to start all over again, so there are some imposed brakes on getting too much of a good thing too quickly.

Also, in the year 2014, now that my purchasing has diminished to almost nothing (temporarily, while I absorb what I already have), I am listening to a lot more classical music on You Tube, where I don't keep track and where I do follow my whims and the suggestions provided by the You Tube algorithms.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

GiulioCesare said:


> Allevi's Violin Concerto.


Oh wow, dude, I had no idea. Then I'm sorry that I didn't defend you more when it was getting attacked. I agree with many of the "criticisms" of that work but I will go down defending your right to love what you love without suffering condescension! Stick to your guns, buddy.

(Of course if you change your mind....)


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