# Guilty Pleasures



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Guilty Pleasures: The super-famous ubiquitous household-name classical pieces YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE, have probably been with you since the beginning of your classical-listening careers, and _still_ regularly listen to!

List of "most popular" classical works to help you out: Most Popular Classical Works

Myself:
Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries (with vocals)
Puccini - Nessun Dorma 
Mozart - Queen of the Night II
Johann Strauss II - Blue Danube
Beethoven - Chorale from Symphony 9.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite
Shostakovich - Waltz #2
Mozart - Dies Irae from Requiem
Vivaldi - Four Seasons

I really don't feel too guilty for liking these though.


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Tchaikovsky ballets
Beethoven 5th
Four Seasons
Dvorak 9th

after Meaghan post Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet popped to my head


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Okay... 1812 Overture. I got really emotional at a performance of it once (though that may have been because it was outside and on the waterfront with what looked like half my city in attendance) and felt a little silly about it. But people shouldn't feel silly for liking the music they like, even if it's "easy."


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Puccini - La Fanciulla del West. Can never hear it too many times. I know it's über-drippy but it gets me every time.

And Tosca, the "shabby little shocker".


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Nothing wrong with guilty pleasures in music, that's what they are for! You won't put on any weight necessarily by listening to them! Too many to list, sorry.


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## CaptainAzure (May 2, 2011)

Couchie said:


> Mozart - Queen of the Night II
> Johann Strauss II - Blue Danube
> Beethoven - Chorale from Symphony 9.


Fo' sure.

I would add 
Beethoven's 5th, 'für elise'
Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture and 'dance of the sugar plum fairy'
Bach's Orchestral Suite 3: Air
Mozart Piano Concerto 21 Andante
Mozart Symphony 40 Molto Allegro
Handel The Arrival Of the Queen of Sheba, Zadok the Priest

However it doesn't feel quite right to call them guilty pleasures as it implies I wouldn't want many to know that I listen to them. Whereas I will blast them out of the speakers with relish and a side of beans.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Ravel: Bolero
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Pachelbel: Canon


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I love watching the 1812 Overture to fireworks. That piece has a special significance for me, as do fireworks shows in general (both my birthday and my son's birthday are July 4 which is American Independence day, typically celebrated by fireworks shows). The 1812 is significant because my high school orchestra played it during a concert. It was one of the best musical performances I was ever involved in. 
So seeing both together brings back all kids of great memories. It sometimes brings a lump to my throat.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Supertonic, I'm glad I'm not the only one.


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

Ma Vlast - Smetana


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## CaptainAzure (May 2, 2011)

SuperTonic said:


> I love watching the 1812 Overture to fireworks. That piece has a special significance for me, as do fireworks shows in general (both my birthday and my son's birthday are July 4 which is American Independence day, typically celebrated by fireworks shows). The 1812 is significant because my high school orchestra played it during a concert. It was one of the best musical performances I was ever involved in.
> So seeing both together brings back all kids of great memories. It sometimes brings a lump to my throat.


I'm attending a Battle prom in the summer at Highclere Castle where there will be on display; spitfires, a Napoleonic cavalry charge, the singing of arias, playing of classical music and as a finale during the twilight, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture will be performed, accompanied by 200 cannon and fireworks.

I don't need to tell you which portion of the day I am looking forward to most of all.


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## haydnfan (Apr 13, 2011)

Gorecki's 3rd symphony is my guilty pleasure!


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## dandylion (Dec 9, 2010)

CaptainAzure. I certainly hope there will be a video put out of the Battle Prom. It sounds spectacular!

My guilty pleasures:

Beethoven Piano Concerto #5
Beethoven 5th Symphony
Beethoven Triple Concerto
Smetana Die Moldau
Wagner Entry from Das Rheingold
Siegfried's funeral
Entry of Gods
Parsifal Prelude 1
Berlioz Dies Irae from Requiem
Shostakovich Jazz Suite 2 Waltz


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

dandylion said:


> Wagner Entry from Das Rheingold
> Siegfried's funeral
> Entry of Gods


Oh yes!:tiphat:


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

A lot of these works have become a "guilty" pleasure only by overexposure to pop crossover mix whatever.

A lot of them are brilliant works of art that have a lot of depth to them.


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## Orange Soda King (Sep 14, 2010)

Alkan!

(minimum character limit)


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## Void Eater (May 10, 2011)

Might I ask why anybody should ever feel guilty about liking famous music?

Especially since the qualification for being a guilty pleasure is being famous. If a famous piece of music is good, why feel guilt listening to it? I'm currently listining to Beethoven's 5th. I feel no shame.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Void Eater said:


> Might I ask why anybody should ever feel guilty about liking famous music?
> 
> Especially since the qualification for being a guilty pleasure is being famous. If a famous piece of music is good, why feel guilt listening to it? I'm currently listining to Beethoven's 5th. I feel no shame.






That's why.


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## haydnfan (Apr 13, 2011)

Guilty pleasure: the Stokowski transcriptions of Bach's orchestral works. I love 'em!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

This subject comes up on almost every music discussion board, whatever the main topic of the board. I never understood the concept of feeling guilty about something you like.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> This subject comes up on almost every music discussion board, whatever the main topic of the board. I never understood the concept of feeling guilty about something you like.


Well, it could be due to irony. ie: The 5 favourite symphonies of a classical connoisseur who has heard 200 symphonies are often the same 5 favourites of a person who has heard 5 symphonies.

Or it could stem from your perhaps unconscious cultural surveying model. Suffices to say, if listening to and enjoying 'Fur Elise', 'Mass in B Minor', and then 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' in succession doesn't arouse any cognitive dissonance, then you don't have to worry about it.

Lastly, it could be that the use of the word "guilty" herein is mostly whimsical.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I understand perfectly. It's a defensive reaction to snobbery. I feel guilty about almost all the music I like.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Classical music


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

science said:


> I understand perfectly. It's a defensive reaction to snobbery. I feel guilty about almost all the music I like.


It's more of a discord between what you like and what you would like to like - could be brought about by either your own perceptions or what others expect. I don't think populism is inherently preferable to elitism.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

On the contrary, I aspire to be elite. 

I've internalized the whole system so that I look down on my own self, and resent myself for it. 

I'm purifying myself though. Ultimately I won't like any music anymore. Knowledge will banish pleasure. I'll be so thoroughly bored by it all. Always able to cite a more obscure recording, or a more obscure work, or a more obscure composer, I'll reign unchallenged over classical music fora, dispensing pity with equanimity. 

My weakness is that I cannot endure solitary confinement. When I overcome that, I will be God.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Not trolling at all, BTW, absolutely serious. 

Should've mentioned more obscure musicians. See, it's that kind of thing keeps me up at night, as well as the long, long, long list of things I don't know yet. It's depressing.

But as long as you're not ahead of me on the path, we'll be able to get along wonderfully.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Interesting life goal I suppose. I think at some point however the overwhelming apathy brought on by banishing such pleasure will lead to either prematurely abandoning such an endeavour, or your untimely death. You also have the issue of new music, and every day perhaps hundreds of people decide to become the newest and obscurest composer...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Also, novels, film, science, politics - it is futile, overwhelming, and virtuous. We are at best suicide bombers in the war against ignorance.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I feel guilty sometimes when I listen to particularly _decadent _composers. You know, the ones that are all fun and sugar.  Some annoy me (ex. Offenbach), but others I secretly like, and would hardly share with anyone.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

I am kinda with those who don’t quite get the concept of the Guilty Pleasure in this context. So, the piece needs to be one the top classical works that I myself find a bit wacky but at the same time like to a substantial extent? OK, much clearer now, the 1812 Overture then.


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## Padawan (Aug 27, 2009)

I'm too new to classical music to be jaded. I likes what I likes! 

Symphony 9 –	Dvorak
Scheherazade – Rimsky-Korsakov
Symphony 5, Coriolan Overture – Beethoven
Bolero – Ravel
Elegy in G for Strings –	Tchaikovsky
Suite bergamasque: III Claire De Lune – Debussy

Plus nearly every piece mentioned in this thread!


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