# Your favorite short (sub 5 minute) piece of music.



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

For me, it is Liszt-Pagannini La Campanella. I know that no matter what I am doing, I can click to this on my IPod and hear 5 minutes of perfect piano music. I typically don't go more than two days without listening to this (either the Yundi Lin or Hamelin recordings or something from YouTube.)

What are some of your "quick hit" favorites?


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Oh! Good question.

It used to be La Campanella, Rachmaninov Prelude In G Minor (op23, no5), Allegro barbaro, fantasie impromptu etc. 

It varies all the time. But at the moment, its: Pavane pour une infante défunte, Jeux d'eau, Consolation No.3


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Do opera arias count?


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

crmoorhead said:


> Do opera arias count?


No reason they wouldn't. As long as they are short, of course.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Joan Scarlatescu, Bagatelle for violin&piano.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Erik Satie, Gnoissienne No. 5.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> Erik Satie, Gnoissienne No. 5.


I went and found that o YouTube and listened for the first time. I immediately liked it. Beautiful.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)




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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


>


Call me crazy and I could be way off on this but that made me think of an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

Songs by schubert and some chopin waltzs


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


>


You make me laugh every time COAG. :lol:

I have too many favorite works to name that are below 5 min. There are tons of ballet scenes and dances below 5 min, and piano pieces too.

This always gets a special place though:


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Casta diva always makes my spine tingle, but it's over 5 mins.

Some candidates that I like:






Also this:






And this:






And this, of course, more than them all:

The original:






In Stokowski's orchestration:






Or with bells on!


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

I don't have many absolute favorites in music. Too many things I love X3 so I'll just list 5 REALLY good short things.

Frederic Chopin - Etude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10





Anton Webern - Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10





Jaco Pastorius - Portrait of Tracy





Frank Zappa - Aybe Sea





Yuki Kajiura - A Bit of Happiness


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

EricABQ said:


> Call me crazy and I could be way off on this but that made me think of an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.


its fast... but Eddie Van Halen's solos are usually tonal. Probably a better comparison could be made with Bach's keyboard music, or something like the harpsichord solo in the 5th Brandenburg Concerto X3


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I really enjoyed that Pastorius piece. The Zappa too.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Most pieces by Webern I would include in this thread.


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## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

Stravinsky: Feu d'artifice (Fireworks)






Pretty good for an opus 4, but it's still pretty juvenile compared to the Rite.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Brahms - Hungarian Dances
Dvorak - Walzes Op.54, American Suite, Cypresses, Polonaise For Orchestra, Humoresque, Nocturne
R.V.Williams - Six Studies in English Folk Song
Shostakovitch - Jazz Suite #2
Grieg: Peer Gynt #1
Sibelius - Alla marcia, La Pompeuse Marche D'Asis, JS 116
Schumann - Humoreske Op.20, 24 Caprices For Violin
Liszt - Der Kampf Um's Dasein, Festklaenge, La Campanella

- Some of Marches and Polkas of Johann Strauss I & II and J.P.Sousa


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Arsakes said:


> Brahms - Hungarian Dances
> Dvorak - Walzes Op.54, American Suite, Cypresses, Polonaise For Orchestra, Humoresque, Nocturne
> R.V.Williams - Six Studies in English Folk Song
> *Shostakovitch - Jazz Suite #2
> ...


I really don't think these are under five minutes long.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Arsakes said:


> Brahms - Hungarian Dances
> Dvorak - Walzes Op.54, American Suite, Cypresses, Polonaise For Orchestra, Humoresque, Nocturne
> R.V.Williams - Six Studies in English Folk Song
> Shostakovitch - Jazz Suite #2
> ...


Or those for that matter.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

To answer the question...






Although that is usually anywhere between 4 - 7 minutes.

I REALLY like this piece. I can't think of a piece that more accurately conveys suffering from depression.


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


>


Wow. This makes me see the harpsichord in a completely different light. Had no idea it could be used that way. At points it sounds like an electronic instrument; very insightful.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

5 minutes?? Impossible.
<insert endless list of piano pieces>


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

All movements (individually) of Ligeti's piano concerto. That's one of the things I like, short and concise movements and not those endless movements with many boring and uncreative sections. Another example is the third movement of Ravel's piano concerto in G. I'm not saying that _all_ of those long movements are boring, etc., but those examples I listed show that you can do a very nice short movement.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Every time I listen to this, it move me to tears. She was just extraordinary!.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

I thought that Humoreske of Schumann is one piece. /Mistake
Those Liszt pieces of mine are: Der Kampf Um's Dasein 2:47 and festklaenge a little over 4 minutes.

Shostakovitch - Jazz Suite #2
Grieg: Peer Gynt #1

^ About these two What I mean is both have under 5 minute _movements_.

For strictly one single piece under 5 minutes I can add:

Ippolitov-Ivanov: Turkish March
Beethoven: "Fur Elise"
Elgar: Elegy for Strings
Handel: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (if it's not part of something else?)
Saint-Saens: The Swan

Are tracks of Star Wars two trilogies from John Williams allowed? Some good pieces are there


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

4' 33" in an anechoic chamber


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

I rather like these 2 little pieces:
1. Aquarium by Saint-Saens from Carnival of the Animals





2. Sicilienne by Faure


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Just a few that came in to my mind at the moment.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Any of the Op 46 Slavonic Dances by Dvorak.

Non Piu Andrai from Marriage of Figaro.


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## everythingthrume (May 1, 2012)

Kreisler's violin pieces.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Total excitement:

Liszt - Mazeppa


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Catastrophically posted in a wrong topic ... like previous post.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I don't listen to "short" music, because I have an attention span. I enjoy development. I like composers who not only birth great ideas but nurture them into adulthood. 

Couchie


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Couchie said:


> I don't listen to "short" music, because I have an attention span. I enjoy development. I like composers who not only birth great ideas but nurture them into adulthood.
> 
> Couchie


Because there's no value whatsoever in music with brevity. Everything must be long-winded.

Burning Desire


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

BurningDesire said:


> Because there's no value whatsoever in music with brevity. Everything must be long-winded.
> 
> Burning Desire


Careful with that sarcasm, lest you take an eye out.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

everythingthrume said:


> Kreisler's violin pieces.


Very good choices.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue for three violins and continuo. One of my favourite pieces of all time.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Almost anything by Scriabin that is under 5 minutes. Scriabin can say more in 3 minutes than some composers in 30 minutes.

And also quite some piano pieces by Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and all the others.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)




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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

(both pieces: Des Abends and Aufschwung)


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Brian FERNEYHOUGH: _In Nomine a 3_ • Ensemble Recherche [Kairos] ~ Ferneyhough modeled his nifty little fantasy (for piccolo, oboe & clarinet) on an In Nomine by Renaissance composer Christopher Tye, the composer most associated with the form. The work begins with the clarinet playing the original plainchant incipit, which quickly gets the full Ferneyhough treatment.
http://www.myspace.com/bryanferneyhough/music/songs/in-nomine-3-82424642

György LIGETI: _Musica Ricercata VII_ • Babayan [Pro Piano] ~ This mesmerizing little piece features a relentless seven-note ostinato in the left hand that is rhythmically and dynamically independent from a fetching folk melody in the right hand. The melody starts off very simply and is then played against various transformations of itself in deft counterpoint, including canon-very nice.





Maurice DURUFLÉ: "Pie Jesu" from _Requiem_ • Connolly, Cohen & Filsell [Signum] ~ This sublime movement for mezzo, cello & organ is to die for-which is the ultimate Requiem compliment.





Charles IVES: "General William Booth Enters into Heaven" • Gramm & Cumming [Vox or Phoenix USA] ~ This schizophrenic/phantasmagorical little song is the "Bohemian Rhapsody" of early 20th-century art song and represents Ives in a nutshell.
http://www.myspace.com/charlesivesm...ral-william-booth-enters-into-heaven-80906846

J. S. BACH: Cantata "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft" BWV 50 • Gardiner/EBS & Monteverdi Choir [Soli Deo Gloria, live] ~ This fired-up movement (the remnant of a lost work, which may or may not have been by Bach) sounds like the call to arms from a Lutheran battle cantata.





J. S. BACH (trans. Kurtág): Sonatina from "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" BWV 106 (aka "Actus tragicus") • M. & G. Kurtág [ECM] ~ Kurtág takes Bach's already distilled music and distills it some more while transcribing it for piano, four hands.
http://www.myspace.com/mrtakurtgpia...natina-az-actus-tragicus-b-l-bwv-106-29869784

Thomas TALLIS: _Miserere nostri_ • Skinner/Alamire [Obsidian] ~ Using only three words of text-"Miserere nostri, Domine" ("Lord, have mercy on us")-this deceptively simple seven-voice motet is actually a contrapuntal tour de force and one of the finest examples of art concealing art from the Renaissance. The intricate system of canons is so ingeniously derived and insidiously contrived that it calls no attention to itself even as the music naturally emerges out of it; then, almost before you know it, it's over. 
[This recording can be heard at the Naxos Music Library using the free 15-minute preview.]


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

There are far too many possibilities here:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)




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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

This is probably my current favorite _very_ short piece at around a minute and a half:






At under 5 minutes there are just too many great ones to choose from...


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Off the top of my head, some of the Chopin Etudes


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

It's Schubert's Impromptu.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I like this


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## Jared (Jul 9, 2012)

gets me every time....


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I like this


COAG, Pears' voice just depress me.. It's just _plain_ wrong.  I don't "get" Pears' voice (it's thin), though Britten accompaniment is amazing as usual.

Here is my favorite one:


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Don't Fail bring tears in my eyes every time..

:'(

* Der Lindenbaum*


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

This is just one of numerous short pieces by Satie, it's difficult to just pick one


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Richter playing Chopin.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

These three Medtner Skazki are beautiful!


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

This one especially.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Beethoven - Bagatelle in b-minor, op.126 no.4


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Chopin Waltz in Bb Minor.

Obviously.


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## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

Dvorák's 7th Humoresque (in G-flat major) is under 3 minutes, and it's still my favorite piece of all time, actually. It's such a magnificent piece, and I'm amazed at how Dvorák was able to fit so much character into such a little timeframe. It sounds like many, many ideas and emotions that are well paced over the short duration, and it leaves me speechless.


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## anasazi (Oct 2, 2011)

I choose two: Debussy "Syrinx" and Brahms OP. 118 #2 (a piano intermezzo). I could add an aria or two perhaps.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Ignore the text & photos in the first vid. I suspect these were there to avoid copyright.















I could probably go forever with lieder


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

From a band who were used to the more epic kind of workout in the 70s - King Crimson:

Catfood from early 1970 - an amusing little ditty about supermarket consumerism featuring off-kilter piano from guest jazzer Keith Tippett, some of Keith Sinfield's less preposterous lyrics and one of Greg Lake's final contributions to the group (in fact he'd already left by then and was there on a session-only basis). 

Book of Saturday from early 1973 - an airy, jazzy miniature with a nice John Wetton vocal and a typically fluid bass line from the same man.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

> ...some of Keith Sinfield's less preposterous lyrics...


I think you mean Pete Sinfield. 
On a kind-of similar note - how about 'Bike' by Pink Floyd


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

techniquest said:


> I think you mean Pete Sinfield.
> On a kind-of similar note - how about 'Bike' by Pink Floyd


Er, yes - quite right - I've just remembered that Keith Sinfield plays Rugby League for Leeds. Yes, Syd Barrett wrote some good kaleidoscopic miniatures for that first album, - my favourite is Matilda Mother.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

So damn good.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I love so many, but this could be my favorite < 5 minutes.






This piece and performance has it all. Everything I like about music.


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## powerbooks (Jun 30, 2012)

It's another tough thread, because there are so many.

Does non-classical music count? (The OP does not specify).

But for this moment, it is Nimrod, all kind of versions:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Die Meistersinger Von Nürnburg

MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHhhH

Glorifying Wagner never gets old. NEVER.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Couchie said:


> Glorifying Wagner never gets old. NEVER.


Prelude to Act III of _Lohengrin_ puts a lot of great music into a span of about three minutes


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## powerbooks (Jun 30, 2012)

Couchie said:


> Die Meistersinger Von Nürnburg
> 
> MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHhhH
> 
> Glorifying Wagner never gets old. NEVER.


If my memory serves me well, those busters in Die Meistersingers kept singing well over 4 hours, not just 5 min!


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Some more great short pieces :3

Kid Koala - Page 298, from the soundtrack of Nufonia Must Fall





They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul, from Flood





John Cage - Sonata XIII from Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano





Frederic Chopin - Mazurka, Op. 6 No. 1





Jeff Lynne - Prologue and Twilight, from Time


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

The menuet in Bach's French Suite No. 3, tons of Scarlatti's pieces, Ravel's fifth Chants populaires, Satie's Gymnopedies and Gnoessienes, Debussy's Suite bergamasque pieces and Arabesques, Torelli's trumpet concertos. A bunch of Beethoven bagatelles and fugue as well. Tchaikovsky Les Saisons, plus his ballet music, and Bartok's etudes and vocal music. Some Schubert vocal music as well.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

There's a few.

Senza Mama from Suor Angelica. I love Song to the Moon from Rusalka too but I think it's a touch too long to qualify. I really enjoy the prelude from suite Bergamasque, Raindrop prelude from Chopin, or several of his nocturnes. The Gondolier song, of Mendelssohn's songs without words.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

It's a rainy night, and you're cramped up in your little apartment with a cigarette and a glass of gin. Time to turn on the Talk Box for a little late night jazz...


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