# Favorite First Movement



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

What is your *favorite first movement in all of the classical music repertoire*?

Can you detail why? An anecdote or maybe technical reason?

Also, do you have an absolute _least_ favorite first movement, compared to the rest of the composition?

Or, maybe, consider: why are first movements important? Are they overrated? Do you think they set up something important? Mean little? Portend certain ... ?


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Start another poll thread


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A perfectly good question. I'll volunteer the first movement of Beethoven's 9th. At the end I feel like I'm staggering off some blasted battlefield, only to be smacked by the Scherzo!

Movement 1, Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso. No animals were harmed in writing this movement unless they deserved it.


----------



## kartikeys (Mar 16, 2013)

This one from Pergolesi's flute concerto:





Among others by various artists.


----------



## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

Rosen wrote in The Classical Style that the first movements in classical era works were supposed to be more dramatic and less tonally stable than the other movements. They're usually in the sonata-allegro form, so they have exposition, development section, and recap, possibly with an intro and/or coda. The middle movements are usually in reduced sonata form or otherwise simpler in terms of form, which translates to a movement of less weight and magnitude. The last movement can be different things, including sonata form, but even then it's less adventurous rhythmically or tonally than the first movement. I personally feel that composers during the classical era tended to put more genius into their first movements, though Beethoven was starting to transcend this custom and often did so.

Trying to choose only one top favorite movement seems excessively restrictive, but from the classical era, my pick might be Mozart's piano quartet in E flat major if I had to choose.


----------



## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

William Walton's 1st symphony, I have *never* again heard such a compelling, dramatic first movement.....it has everything. I love his potent harmonic sensibility and his orchestration is among the very best. I think it was written in the 1920's, yet he really says something individual using a very beethovinian sonata-allegro architecture.


----------



## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> William Walton's 1st symphony, I have *never* again heard such a compelling, dramatic first movement.....it has everything. I love his potent harmonic sensibility and his orchestration is among the very best. I think it was written in the 1920's, yet he really says something individual using a very beethovinian sonata-allegro architecture.


Walton's First was my initial choice but I've decided to go for Michael Tippett's Symphony No. 2


----------



## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

Schumann Symphony 1


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

An impossible to answer question . . . but it's interesting to read people's replies.


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I enjoy the first movements of both Martinu's Symphony #1 and Prokofiev's Symphony #3. The sea of rising, hissing bubbles evoked by the Martinu, and the screaming, muscular slabs of sound that typify the Prokofiev just make my day. But almost all composers start out their symphonies with their best stuff in the first movement. Brahms bats 4 for 4, for sure.


----------



## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

For me, it's far and away the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth. That goes for any genre, whether it's symphony, piano sonata, string quartet, piano concerto, etc.

Everything about it, from the opening ominous tremolos (murmurs of nothingness), the introduction of the majestic theme which recedes into a yearning, searching tone that seems to be attempting to find its way, which it emphatically does in its recapitulation. I feel it's as complex, varied, and emotionally expressive as _anything_ from the Romantic era, it's as elegant and 'perfect' as anything from the Baroque and Classical eras. Charles Rosen writes that Beethoven wrote the first Romantic song cycle in "An die Ferne Geliebte", and other Romantic works such as piano sonata #28, cello sonata #4 and #5, but I feel it was in the Ninth symphony where we hear the level of emotional expression that is associated with the Romantic era, it's in that first movement where the Romantic era was born.


----------



## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

I'm always so staggered at the end of the 1st Movt of Mahler's 2nd that I understand why Mahler felt there should be a short pause. 
I also find the first movement of his 3rd to be an absolutely astounding piece of music that would have worked just as well on it's own if not as part of a symphony.


----------



## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> William Walton's 1st symphony, I have *never* again heard such a compelling, dramatic first movement.....it has everything. I love his potent harmonic sensibility and his orchestration is among the very best. I think it was written in the 1920's, yet he really says something individual using a very beethovinian sonata-allegro architecture.


Nice, took my most recent favorite.

Here are some other great firsts:
Mozart Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola, & Orchestra in Eb (K. 364)
Borodin Symphony No. 2 in b 
Bach Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A (BWV 1055)
Shostakovich Cello Concerto in Eb (Op. 107)
Brahms Violin Concerto in D (Op. 77)
Beethoven String Quartet No. 14 in c# (Op. 131) - might not be traditional but it's one of my favorites.

All of those are favorite because there just awesome openers.

Least favorite is Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in c (Op. 67) but to be fair this is because it's overplayed and I just got sick of it.


----------



## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

The first thing that came to mind was the first movement of Brahms's Piano Quintet. I don't know if a more dramatic movement exists in the chamber repertoire.


----------



## NordHK (Feb 1, 2016)

So far, Beethoven's sonata in G minor. That was the first movement I learned. It was hard at first but eventually I managed to play it well.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I'll go with Nielsen's symphony no. 3 - fantastic brass contribution.


----------



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I'll give it a shot. Let's see....:


*Tchaikovsky*: Manfred, Suite no. III, Piano Concerto no. II.
*Glazunov*: Symphonies nos. II & VI (exciting stuff), Suite from the Middle Ages, Sonata no. I.
*Myaskovsky*: Symphonies nos. V, XVI, XXVII. String Quartets nos. II, IX & XIII. Piano Sonata no. IV.
*Ignacy Jan Paderewski*: Piano Sonata.
*Sir Arnold Bax*: Symphony no. VII, Winter Legends, Piano Sonata no. I
*Anton Bruckner*: Symphonies nos. IV, V, VIII, IX.
*Mahler*: Symphonies nos. II, III, IV, VIII (part one), IX.
*Nielsen*: Symphonies nos. II & III. Violin Concerto.
*Sibelius*: Symphonies nos. I, V, VI, Kullervo.
*Melartin*: Lyric Pieces for piano, Violin Concerto.
*Cesar Franck*: Symphony in D.
*Leevi Madetoja*: Symphony no. I.
*Alfven*: Symphonies II & III.
*Boris Tchaikovsky*: Piano Quintet.
*Vissarion Shebalin*: String Quartet no. V, Piano Trio.
*Eduard Tubin*: Symphonies I, II, VIII.
*Lydia Auster*: Piano Concerto.
*Villem Kapp*: Symphony no. I.
*Eugen Kapp*: Symphony no. II.
*Adolfs Skulte*: Symphonies nos. I, II, VI, VII.
*Janis Ivanovs*: Symphonies nos. VI, XVII.
*Heitor Villa-Lobos*: Bachianas Brasileiras no. VII.
*Karl Goldmark*: Rustic Wedding, Violin Sonata op. 25, Violin Concerto.
*Kurt Atterberg*: Symphonies nos. II & III.
*Stenhammar*: Serenade, Symphonies I & II, Piano Concerto no. I.
*Brahms*: Symphonies III & IV, Double Concerto, Piano Concerto no. I.
*Reger*: Piano Concerto, Serenade in G op. 95.
*Elgar*: Symphony no. II, Cello Concerto.
*Kenneth Leighton*: Cello Concerto
*Cyril Scott*: Symphony no. III.
*George Lloyd*: Symphonies V, VIII, IX, XI.
*Walton*: Cello Concerto, Symphonies I & II.
*Malcolm Arnold*: Symphony no. V.
*Albert Roussel*: Symphony no. I.
*Howells*: Piano Concerto no. I.
*Parry*: Symphonies IV & V.
*Stanford*: Symphony no. III "Irish."
*Kabalevsky*: Piano Sonatas II & III, Piano Concerto no. I, Cello Sonata.
*Shostakovich*: Symphonies IV, VII, VIII.
*Weinberg*: Cello Concerto.
*Popov*: Symphonies I, II, V.
*Joly Braga-Santos*: Symphonies II & IV.
*Scriabin*: Symphony no. I.
*Paul Creston*: Symphony no. II.
*David Diamond*: Symphonies I & IV.
*Howard Hanson*: Symphony no. I "Nordic."
*Edgar Bainton*: Piano Concerto, Symphonies nos. II & III.
*Lev Knipper*: Symphony no. IV.
*Leonard Bernstein*: Symphonies I & II.
*Antonin Dvorak*: Symphonies III, V, VI, IX.
*William Grant Still*: Symphony no. II "Song of a New Race" (truly sublime).
*Suk*: Symphony "Asrael", Symphonic Poem "A Summer's Tale."
*Novak*: Slovak Suite.
And a lot more, but I'll stop here (and besides, too much afterthoughts ain't good for my slightly aging system).
:tiphat:


----------



## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

Schubert's _String Quintet_. It's perfect!


----------



## Guest (Feb 1, 2016)

First movement of Beethoven's ninth has to be the ultimate.


----------



## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

There is something about the first movement of Sibelius's first Symphony that makes me play it two or three times before I let the rest of the symphony play on. This is the only work by any composer that this happens with. Especially the Antony Collins LSO.


----------



## Steve Wright (Mar 13, 2015)

Splendid thread. First movements do seem pretty crucial and I'll admit that, early on in my listening career, it's often the first movements that will lodge in my brain for a while before anything does. Indeed, the mental (sonic) image I have of a given work is usually of its first movement.
A few favourites:
Brahms Symphony 4
Schumann Symphonies 1, 3, Piano Quintet
Bruckner - all of his first movements are awesome, but let's have 4 and 8
Beethoven Symphonies 3, 4, 7 / Razumovsky quartet 1 / Appassionata, Waldstein, Les Adieux sonatas
Nielsen 3
Shostakovich 5 
Dvorak 8 - right up there. So much melody and invention packed into those first 5 mins! 7 and 9 very fine in this respect too.
Schubert 9 - ditto
Sibelius 3, 5


----------



## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

There are more ostensibly ear-grabbing opening movements but for me it's Mozart piano concerto no.21, all day long. So many people nominate the slow movement as their favourite, but the first movement is the purest musical sunshine I know.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Couldn't possibly pick a single favorite, but let me add Mendelssohn's _Italian Symphony_. His violin concerto ain't so bad either.


----------



## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Ravel's String Quartet is a good example of sonata-allegro form.

A second choice would be Borodin's SQ #2 in D.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The first movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4. One of the greatest symphonic movements of all time. No doubt about it.


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

The 2 that come to mind quickly are
Brahms PC No.1
Mozart Prague Symphony
They really grab hold of me and force me to be carried along in the music


----------



## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Beethoven's Eroica. The first movement is so groundbreaking (six main themes, hugely complex narrative, dissonance unheard of at that time, a developmental coda, etc.) that its easily my favorite opener.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've struggled with this topic for a couple of days and I can only conclude I must first retire, then go back and listen to every first movement I've ever heard and get back with you in a decade or so.


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Weston said:


> I've struggled with this topic for a couple of days and I can only conclude I must first retire, then go back and listen to every first movement I've ever heard and get back with you in a decade or so.


I too have spent a couple of days things thinking about this topic. Some of the aforementioned favourites of mine include:
Beethoven 3
Nielsen 3
Sibelius 1
Walton 1
Schumann 3
Beethoven 9

and I'll add
Mahler 5
Sibelius 5

and that's just symphonies. If I were to add favourite first movements of violin concerti the list would quickly triple in size.


----------

