# On your Deathbed what would You listen to?



## Jaime77

I don't know if this has come up before. Never seen it. In your final moments on Earth what music would you choose to be listening to and you must pick one and one only. 

I wonder will we see lots of entries for people wanting to hear Xenakis, Birtwistle or Ferneyhough ... mmmm .. probably not.


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## Kuntster

Beethoven op.110


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## Taneyev

Tchaikovsky's trio


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## Aramis

I won't die on bed.


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## Jaime77

Aramis said:


> I won't die on bed.


Where and will there be no music ?


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## Elgarian

Either Elgar's _The Spirit of England_, or 'The Presentation of the Rose', from _Rosenkavalier_.


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## handlebar

Mahler's 2nd or 3rd


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## Weston

Cage's _As Slow as Possible _ (And isn't this title grammatically incorrect? Shoudlnt' it be "Slowly?")

Seriously though I might choose Vaughan-Williams _Tallis Fantasia _and ask my dearest lady friend to read me Shakespear's Sonnet No. 73.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
...etc.
...etc.
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

Of course those things in combination would probably do me in right then.


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## Jaime77

Tallis Fantasia - never thought of that. That would be a beautiful one. It is already sort of other-worldly. I would go with Abendrot from the Four Last Songs by Strauss I reckon. Close second - Verklarte Nacht in string orchestra version. 

I was first going to say Erwartung by Schoenberg


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## nickgray

Chopin's second sonata.

hmmm... on second thought I'll settle for the DG Complete Beethoven edition


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## Artemis

Schubert's String Quartet No 14, "Death and the Maiden", D 810, performed by the Artemis Quartet.


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## Mirror Image

This thread is too morbid for me. Sorry I can't contribute.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Wagner's Ring... it'll gain me a good number of hours.

Seriously? Beethoven's 9th.


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## Sorin Eushayson

No doubt in my mind: Mozart's Requiem, the fragments recorded by Spering and Das Neue Orchester. Also, if I'm given a few more hours, Handel's Messiah.


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## Sid James

Aramis said:


> I won't die on bed.


Yeah, not everyone dies in bed...


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## haydnguy

Brahms German Requiem.


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## Sid James

How about that guy in the film_ Death in Venice_, where Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th symphony is playing as he dies? I haven't seen it for years, but I'm sure that's what happened (?)...


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## Mirror Image

Andre said:


> How about that guy in the film_ Death in Venice_, where Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th symphony is playing as he dies? I haven't seen it for years, but I'm sure that's what happened (?)...


Funny that the "Adagietto" from the 5th was used in that context as it was actually a love offering to Alma Mahler. I can certainly hear love in this movement, but I don't hear death, but "Symphony No. 6," on the other hand, is a whole different ball game.


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## altiste

Nothing but my own music, thanks very much.


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## Polednice

Well, that all depends on how melodramatic I'm feeling! 

_Ein Deutsches Requiem_ if I want to pass with dignity and am in a sane mood;
Tchaikovsk'y Sixth Symphony if I'm my usual, emotional traumatised self, wanting to go out in style!


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## jhar26

Hmmm, probably James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing and Shake 'till You Feel Better!" 

And if that one doesn't help I guess I would settle for the inevitable with some Strauss (four last songs, rosenkavalier or capriccio sextet) or the Mozart requiem.


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## Padawan

jhar26 said:


> Hmmm, probably James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing and Shake 'till You Feel Better!"


Funny. I love James Brown.

I've thought about what music should be at my funeral but not my deathbed. Weird, huh?

I suppose I've given more thought to whom I would want by my side at my deathbed but not what music I'd listen to. I will give it more thought but it would probably be something spiritual.


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## dmg

<3


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## Jaime77

dmg said:


> <3


Yes, Emma, I am a fan


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## Vic

I'd like to hear Tristan und Isolde. Some good old romance...


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## bongos

"The Resurrection" ?


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## danae

I won't go quietly into the night: "Adoration de la terre" from Stravinsky's Rite... or even Varese's Ameriques.


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## SenorTearduct

Mozart's Requiem, Only the Introit, Kyrie, Confutatas, and Lacromosa


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## Zeniyama

I'd listen to Chopin's Barcarolle, op. 60. Something about barcarolles has always made me feel all warm inside, and Chopin's is one that I've admired immensely since first hearing it.


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## JSK

If I fulfill my current life's dream of editing a performable edition of Elfrida Andree's opera Fritiof and getting it recorded and at least getting it into the Swedish operatic repertory, the overture from that opera.


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## Mirror Image

I would probably want to hear the second movement (Adagio) from Bruckner's "Symphony No. 7." What a profound, beautiful statement this is. He composed it as a way of mourning Richard Wagner's death. It's a dedication to Wagner's memory.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Hmmm, probably James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing and Shake 'till You Feel Better!"

And if that one doesn't help I guess I would settle for the inevitable with some Strauss (*four last songs*...

Oh yes! A magnificent set of works. Or perhaps _Der Abscied_ from Mahler's _Das Lied von der Erde_... the version with Bruno Walter and Kathleen Ferrier is sure to guarantee not a dry eye in the house.


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## Earthling

Resurrecting an old thread (pun very much intended!)... I was about to create a new thread but I thought this topic would come up (I was discussing this with my girlfriend the other day).

My first instinct would be Bach's sixth cello suite, probably Casal's recording (my favourite piece by my favourite composer). BUT, I've got to go with something a bit more sentimental: *Beethoven's sixth symphony *instead (please, no _Soylent Green _jokes!).

It was one of the very first pieces I heard consciously aware that I was listening to classical music and the magic of classical music.


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## SuperTonic

I've never really thought about it until now, but after giving it some thought I don't think I would want to listen to anything. The knowledge that it would be the last music I ever heard would be too depressing and I would never be able to enjoy it.


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## 151

A skipping Portishead record, at this rate


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## Kopachris

Call me horribly clichéd, but I'd also listen to Mozart's Requiem, even though I'm not Catholic. It's a good piece of music for when you die.

If not that, then definitely either Tchaikovsky's fourth or fifth symphony.


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## Grosse Fugue

Either Le Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni. Also Largo al Factotum.


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## david johnson

rainfall will suffice.


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## karenpat

I wouldn't like to be stressed out about "what will be the last piece of music I listen to in this life??" in that situation. However I have a recording of Schubert's Litany for the feast of all souls day, transcribed for cello, by Anne Gastinel & Claire Désert; it's very soothing and something I would probably like to listen to before I drift off.


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## David58117

Probably my families voice, since it would be my last opportunity to hear it.


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## Guest

Poco allegretto from Brahms' Symphony no. 3 (3rd mvt). Actually, might as well listen to the whole symphony while I can.


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## Serge

The Godfather theme. I kid, I kid... The 1st movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9.


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## gmubandgeek

I'd want to die to Haydn's Farewell Symphony. Just kidding (but it is appropriate). I want to die triumphantly so I guess I'd pick Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique 3rd movement.


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## Huilunsoittaja

Maybe Brahms' Requiem...


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## Edward Elgar

Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive.

Failing that, probably something very old and choral like Palestrina or Monteverdi.

Then it's Cage 4'33" for eternity! (The athiest viewpoint)


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## Boccherini

Edward Elgar said:


> Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive.
> 
> Failing that, probably something very old and choral like Palestrina or Monteverdi.
> 
> Then it's Cage 4'33" for eternity! (The athiest viewpoint)


John Cage was an atheist, wasn't he? The one that said "The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all"; meaninglessness at its peak.


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## Earthling

Boccherini said:


> John Cage was an atheist, wasn't he? The one that said "The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all"; meaninglessness at its peak.


Well, he was something of a Zen Buddhist. That statement is perfectly consistent with Zen.


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## Nix

Earthling said:


> My first instinct would be Bach's sixth cello suite, probably Casal's recording (my favourite piece by my favourite composer). BUT, I've got to go with something a bit more sentimental: *Beethoven's sixth symphony *instead (please, no _Soylent Green _jokes!).


Wow, exactly the two choices I was thinking of before I read this. I'll go with Beethoven 6 as well, since my favorite moment of it is in the first movement, whereas my favorite moment in the cello suite is in the 5th movement. Greater chance of living to hear what I really want to!


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## Guest

Hmmm, a few come to mind. For different reasons. 

"My Way" by Sinatra
Abschied from Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (Klemperer/EMI)
Mahler's 2nd Symphony (Again, Klemperer/EMI - live recording)
Adagio for Strings by Barber
Spem in alium by Thomas Tallis


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## Earthling

Nix said:


> Wow, exactly the two choices I was thinking of before I read this. I'll go with Beethoven 6 as well, since my favorite moment of it is in the first movement, whereas *my favorite moment in the cello suite is in the 5th movement*. Greater chance of living to hear what I really want to!


The gavotte of the sixth suite? We really must be long lost brothers!


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## Nix

Earthling said:


> The gavotte of the sixth suite? We really must be long lost brothers!


Heh, of course you can't have the gavotte without the sarabande preceding it. The six most beautiful minutes of music (in my opinion).


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## jives11

I have always thought the Parsifal Prelude to be eminently suitable, my preference would be the 62 Knappertsbusch Bayreuth recording .


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## Edward Elgar

Boccherini said:


> John Cage was an atheist, wasn't he? The one that said "The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all"; meaninglessness at its peak.


And it begins! Ha ha ha!


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## teccomin

Mahler's Resurrection lol


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## Chris

If I was a butcher it would have to be Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze


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## World Violist

Chris said:


> If I was a butcher it would have to be Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze


Oh my goodness YES!

Something by Arvo Part... I hear his Kanon Pokajanen is really really good, so I dunno. I'll check back in once I've heard it. The other composer I would consider for my deathbed is Edmund Rubbra. Fourth quartet or the Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn.


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## Earthling

I listened closely to *Beethoven's sixth symphony *again tonight and it surprises me that for the past few years how much more this piece moves me (then again, I have been moved to tears more often and easily than I used to-- maybe I'm just becoming an old softie LOL). It isn't the first time for me, though it has been a more recent thing I've noticed is the "thunderstorm" movement also moves me to tears now-- and the past couple weeks I've been trying to articulate to myself why that is.

Its been many years since I've listened to it thinking of the suggested imagery Beethoven suggests in the titled movements-- I just listen to the notes themselves without any _conscious_ extramusical associations, though I do think, upon reflection (not while listening) that I do make certain subconscious associations, usually things of a very personal nature. I'm begining to see this more and more in my listening habits (that is, when I am listening quite deliberately-- I don't always get that luxury).

But it strikes me that now the "thunderstorm" sequence gets to me as well and I wondered why-- not in any definite sense, but just an understanding of myself how this has changed in me over the past 25 years deliberately listening to music. Unsurprisingly, when I first heard this as an early teen, I used to not like the thunderstorm movement as much because of the loud dissonance-- as if it were an interruption to all the other more consonant music of the symphony. Years later I grew to appreciate the thunderstorm and appreciated it, but probably more strictly from a formal musical perspective, having a bit of contrast and it makes sense just prior to the final movement.

Over the past ten years, that has changed, and in the past five years its become much more an emotional experience for me and I hear the whole symphony much more as an integrated whole (this is true for a lot of music for me now too). I feel all the more that thunderstorm is necessary, but I was curious as to what sort of thing was going on for me, perhaps subconsciously while listening to it (I know I'm rambling LOL but there's a point to all this and what this has to do with death).

Tonight I remembered this passage from Rilke's _Letters to a Young Poet_:



> We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. *If it has terrors, they are our terrors; if it has abysses, these abysses belong to us; if there are dangers, we must try to love them. *And if only we arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, then what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience. How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about *dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? *Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.


And that's when I thought about the thunderstorm-- I don't think of a literal thunderstorm, but the towering dissonances suggest the impression of terror-- "it is no longer just a wind and rain storm; it is a frightful cataclysm, a universal deluge, the end of the world," Berlioz said of it.

I've lived through a few things of emotional pain, fears, insecurities, and loss (who has not?). But many things (I'm thinking especially of my many fears and insecurites) I have worked through and come out the other side, all the better for it. I think on some subconscious level I hear those fears in that movement, in a way, relive them-- but then the storm passes-- there was nothing to fear-- it was just a bunch of flashing and noise. Like Rilke wrote, they were MY terrors, they belonged to me, they were of my own making, and I have been fortunate enough to have worked through many of those things. And I was reflecting on that tonight in connection with why would I want to listen to this piece "on my deathbed" (assuming that's how I go!).

All this I think I have subconsciously brought to my listening of this symphony. I don't think of any of this as I'm listening-- I listen to the notes themselves and it moves me-- you should see the heap of tissue here at my desk! LOL Of course all this is subjective-- this is strictly what I make of it myself. I was just trying to articulate what it is that perhaps moves me so much about that one particular movement (it certainly doesn't "de-mystify" it for me).

I'm surprised how Beethoven helped to teach me something about myself tonight, through his music (even though he would've had probably _very _different thoughts). But I wasn't expecting that tonight.

I know this is a bit of a rambling personal and emotional post and not quite on-topic, but I wanted to share that.


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## Octo_Russ

I would want to listen to Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, it would be perfect to pass away right at the end of the Adagio, aaaaahh!.

Just as the last strains of the Adagio are dying, so too would i be slipping away, now i'm getting all poetic! hahaha.


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## Huilunsoittaja

In Heaven, the _silence _will be so satisfying, it'll be unimaginably better than even the most beautiful music on Earth.


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## jives11

Huilunsoittaja said:


> In Heaven, the _silence _will be so satisfying, it'll be unimaginably better than even the most beautiful music on Earth.


In the popular vernacular of young people : "Yeah, right"


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## Earthling

Huilunsoittaja said:


> In Heaven, the _silence _will be so satisfying, it'll be unimaginably better than even the most beautiful music on Earth.


I hope we all like John Cage!!!!!  LOL


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## Keikobad

Not a terribly realistic question. I would imagine that, at that moment, listening to music (not to mention choosing from a long list of candidates) would be of relatively less importance, so busy would I be with labored breathing, uncontrolled bowel and bladder functions, and that annoying taste in one's mouth which, it is alleged, accompanies the experience in general.


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## Boothvoice

Handel's Messiah!


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## SixFootScowl

Depends how I am feeling and how much time I have and a lot of other factors. If you are saying I have some free time, then it will probably be an opera on DVD that I really like, which may be different from what I really like now. If an instrumental work, perhaps Beethoven's Sixth.

Ah yes, posted before looking above. Boothvoice has the right idea. Handel's Messiah would definitely be the best deathbed work--especially the third part. Will squeeze the other stuff in if there is enough time.


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## TurnaboutVox

Something interesting that I hadn't heard before, preferably. If it turned out to be good, I'd be striving to hang on until the end. If terrible, it wouldn't be so hard to let myself slip away...


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## Balthazar

Bach's Goldberg Variations

Adagio from Schubert's String Quintet, D956

Andante from Schubert's Piano Sonata in B flat, D960

Probably in that order, if I can control the timing.


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## KenOC

The Stones' _Sympathy for the Devil_. Never too late to get a good word in, just in case.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Oh No, Frank Zappa


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## Taplow

Bach's cantata _Vergnügte Ruh_, BWV 170.


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## Pugg

Strauss Four last songs sung by Lucia Popp , on repeat.:angel:


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## Merl

Brahms 3rd symphony (Levine) or Beethoven's 7th symphony (Honeck).


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## Tallisman

If I knew there was an afterlife, Mahler's 9th. Maybe the adagio from Bruckner's 8th. No other pieces of music would imbue the letting-go of life with so much cosmic grace.

If I knew there wasn't an afterlife, I don't think I'd be able to listen to music at all. I'd contemplate in silence. I love music, but even it can't overcome the profundity of death.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Merl said:


> Brahms 3rd symphony


Ditto, but with Rudolf Kempe/Berlin Philharmonic

And, Nat King Cole singing Stardust


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## Biffo

Brahms: Clarinet Quintet - Melos Ensemble


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## Brahmsianhorn

I have the same as the poster on the previous page: the Adagio to Bruckner's 8th

But it has to be Furtwangler's 1944 recording


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## JeffD

If I had to stay alive till the end of the piece I would chose something long.


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## Taplow

Pugg said:


> Strauss Four last songs sung by Lucia Popp , on repeat.:angel:


Also a fine choice.


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## realdealblues

Honest truth...for over 10 years, 95% of the time I went to sleep listening to 1 of 2 recordings figuring if I died in my sleep I would prefer one of them have been the last thing I heard.

The 1st one was Mozart's Requiem (Marriner/Academy Of St Martin In The Fields)








The 2nd one was Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde (Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic)








I would probably still be listening to them each night, if I hadn't met my girlfriend who prefers a Fan to sleep over music...


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## Barbebleu

I would like to hear the doctor saying" Wait a minute, he's fine! Cancel the funeral.":lol:


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## Room2201974

Brahms Opus 118 no 2


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## KenOC

I’d listen to James Brown: “Wo! I feel good, I knew that I would now!”

Maybe I’d leap from my deathbed and bounce off the walls.


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## betterthanfine

Probably Im Abendrot from Strauss' Four Last Songs, preferably sung by Jessye Norman. The Lark Ascending would be my second choice.


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## geralmar

Kalinnikov Symphony #1, second movement. Snow falling in the moonlight.


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## Pugg

Barbebleu said:


> I would like to hear the doctor saying" Wait a minute, he's fine! Cancel the funeral.":lol:


Genius...


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## elgar's ghost

Probably nothing unless some kind soul moved my stereo from the lounge.


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## DarkAngel

Rosebud.........


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## Vtran

Some music that I really hate so I have the urge to live longer to listen to some music I love.


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## KenOC

I would demand Cage's As Slow as Possible, the Halberstadt performance, which is scheduled to finish in 2640. It is underway, and opened with a rest lasting a year and a half. "The last note change occurred on October 5, 2013. The next change will not occur until 2020."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible

Bedsores might be an issue.


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## SixFootScowl

JeffD said:


> If I had to stay alive till the end of the piece I would chose something long.


Does Goodall's Ring count for one piece? That is about 16 hours.


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## SixFootScowl

KenOC said:


> I would demand Cage's As Slow as Possible, the Halberstadt performance, which is scheduled to finish in 2640. It is underway, and opened with a rest lasting a year and a half. "The last note change occurred on October 5, 2013. The next change will not occur until 2020."
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible
> 
> *Bedsores* might be an issue.


You know how some pieces have been named by the composer or others, such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Your post gives me a great idea. I shall nickname 4'33" "Bedsores."


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## Star

Fritz Kobus said:


> Does Goodall's Ring count for one piece? That is about 16 hours.


A long, slow, agonising death!


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## Star

Bach B minor bass 'Et Resurrexit'


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## SixFootScowl

Star said:


> A long, slow, agonising death!


You have a point. So maybe some would prefer to get it over with quickly. How about Für Elise?


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## Barbebleu

Fritz Kobus said:


> You have a point. So maybe some would prefer to get it over with quickly. How about Für Elise?


Or Chopin's Minute Waltz!


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## Pugg

Barbebleu said:


> Or Chopin's Minute Waltz!


That's it, over and done with it.


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## Merl

OT - The sound of Jamie Oliver being strangled.


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## KenOC

The sound of my doctor saying, "Oh never mind, you're fine. We got the charts mixed up."


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## BiscuityBoyle




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## Lionheart

Don Giovanni - The commendatore scene.


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## Barbebleu

KenOC said:


> The sound of my doctor saying, "Oh never mind, you're fine. We got the charts mixed up."


See post #79.:lol:


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## AeolianStrains

So many of us going down with Mozart's Requiem, as is proper. It's still my most cherished Requiem, and since it slows down in the latter half, it'd be great to drift away to it.


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