# The most unique pieces of music, in your opinion



## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

What pieces have an unmatched sound that hasn't been replicated? I'm interested to see what you people think! :tiphat:


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## Guest (May 27, 2016)

I'll get in your good books and say Jonchaies by, er, Xenakis.


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## Guest (May 27, 2016)

Another one, in my limited experience, Shaar by Xenakis.

You'll probably never hear 4'33" by Cage the same twice. But we have a thread for that.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

dogen said:


> Another one, in my limited experience, Shaar by Xenakis.
> 
> You'll probably never hear 4'33" by Cage the same twice. But we have a thread for that.


Oh, dear beware, that's a very heavy discussion over there.:lol:


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## Guest (May 27, 2016)

Double up by Simon Steen-Andersen.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

dogen said:


> I'll get in your good books and say Jonchaies by, er, Xenakis.


Of course Dogen, it's my party classic! 
But I have heard it too many times to comment on that now :lol:


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

dogen said:


> You'll probably never hear 4'33" by Cage the same twice. But we have a thread for that.


Whenever I put on 4'33 I either hear gunshots and screaming or lawnmowing, is my stereo broken? :lol:


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## Guest (May 27, 2016)

Xenakiboy said:


> Whenever I put on 4'33 I either hear gunshots and screaming or lawnmowing, is my stereo broken? :lol:


No, you just need to move to a better neighbourhood!


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

Xenakiboy said:


> Whenever I put on 4'33 I either hear gunshots and screaming or lawnmowing, is my stereo broken? :lol:


where do you live, anyway? hahaha

Universal studios?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ives Concord Piano Sonata-an absolutely brilliant and unique kaleidoscopic blend of poetry and cacophony.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My vote probably wouldn't be what we call classical. I'd say something like Gentle Giant's "So Sincere." It has to be among the most uncanny things I've ever heard, not because it's dissonant necessarily - just really oddball.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

dogen said:


> No, you just need to move to a better neighbourhood!


Beware what your saying, poster can be your new next door neighbour.:lol:


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Wagner: _Lohengrin_, Prelude to Act I
Debussy: _Pellás et Mélisande_
Messiaen: _Turangalîla_
Stockhausen: _Gesang der Jünglinge_
Lucier: _I am sitting in a room_


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I've always enjoyed this mind-clearer:


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Xenakiboy said:


> What pieces have an unmatched sound that hasn't been replicated? I'm interested to see what you people think! :tiphat:


Missa Solemnis, especially the more Dionysian music - credo, Sanctus. 
Serenade for tenor, horn and strings
Taverner's masses, Corona Spinea
Chromatic stuff by Gesualdo
Finnissy's English Country thingies.
Bach's music for solo violin.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Wagner: Preludes to _Lohengrin_ and _Das Rheingold_
Beethoven: _Grosse Fugue_
Scriabin: piano sonatas
Sibelius: symphonies 3-7, _Tapiola_, many others


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Beethoven Grosse Fugue. Nothing like it. Nothing close to it.

Edit: just noticed Xaltotun beat me to it.

Another: Saint-Saens Symphony #3 'Organ'


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Béla Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Casebearer said:


> Béla Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta


My childhood memories!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

At the risk of being TOTALLY pedantic, the words "most unique" are an improper construction. A thing is either unique or it is not.

(Merriam-Webster disagrees in certain cases, but what do they know?)


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

For me, it's Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony and Catalogue d' Oiseaux.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F, An American in Paris. Rather than classically raised and trained composers trying to write jazz, this music comes from someone from the world of jazz and musical theatre trying to write classical music. I think it's unique.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

there is a lot of unique music which is poor eg john cage 4 33

and not that much that is good

mozart's middle movement of pc 21 is unique and good for example.


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## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

Grofe has some similar stuff to Gershwin if you ever want to listen to more like him. He even was the orchestrator to Rhapsody in Blue.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Mandryka said:


> Serenade for tenor, horn and strings


I can see what you mean. I was torn between Britten's _Serenade_ and _Curlew River_, ultimately ruling them out because so much of what Britten wrote with Pears in mind seems to occupy the same sound-world, even where the orchestration differs. The _Serenade_ is certainly distinctive compared to other composers' works, but perhaps not quite "unique" when seen in the context of the Britten/Pears canon as a whole.


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Stockhausen: Samstag aus Licht
Xenakis: Shaar (it was mentioned)


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Hovhaness: Piano Concerto #1: _Lousadzak._
Prokofiev: Toccata, Op. 11


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## Grotrian (May 5, 2016)

Lots of one-of-a-kind things out there, but something that springs to mind is the finale of Prokofiev's Fourth Concerto. Is there anything like it in its genre?


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## ViatorDei (May 19, 2016)

Nothing too far out there, but I've always found these to be quite original pieces:

Mahler's 7th (a bizarre, beautiful, eerie, fantastic world)
Mahler's 10th (a very different world...)
Sibelius's 4th (I always think 'wow, who writes music like that?')
Bach's Goldberg Variations (have a certain quality that always keeps them new and fresh now matter how many times you listen to them... I don't know of any other piece that does this for me.)
Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Requiem (original masterpieces)


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Xenakiboy said:


> My childhood memories!


Seriously though, I had memorized it (in my head) way before I saw the Shining, so it was kind of weird to see it in a horror movie, because I associated it with a more mysterious mood, than a scary. 
Similar situation with Ligeti and 2001 for me too.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Vronsky said:


> Xenakis: Shaar (it was mentioned)


I think that almost all of Xenakis' output (may be less for the electronic or percusion music) is incomparable, its very hard to find anything that sounds like it. (of course you can find music with similar traits or instrumental techniques eg. Varese, Messiaen, or spectralism - to some degree)


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

agoukass said:


> For me, it's Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony and Catalogue d' Oiseaux.


I totally agree with the Turangalila symphony, as only a year ago I was driving along to see a client and this was playing on the radio, and the only time in my life I stopped the car and listened to the end of the piece to find out what it was. Unfortunately, I missed my appointment and lost a client in the process, but it was worth it.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Weston said:


> My vote probably wouldn't be what we call classical. I'd say something like Gentle Giant's "So Sincere." It has to be among the most uncanny things I've ever heard, not because it's dissonant necessarily - just really oddball.


The non classical section of this forum is what introduced to their music. I've haven't heard that song so I'll give it a listen.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Strange Magic said:


> I've always enjoyed this mind-clearer:


I don't read Russian, so who wrote that? It's really cool. I wouldn't say it sounds unique from a surface listen, but definitely cool.

I translated the name: Alexander Mosolov. New one for me, thanks. It reminds me of a harsher Honegger.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

clavichorder said:


> I don't read Russian, so who wrote that? It's really cool. I wouldn't say it sounds unique from a surface listen, but definitely cool.
> 
> I translated the name: Alexander Mosolov. New one for me, thanks. It reminds me of a harsher Honegger.


It is almost always heard as _Iron Foundry_. Here's Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Foundry. As Soviet Futurist music, it does its job of suggesting what's going on in the foundry pretty well. Prokofiev's ballet, Pas d'Acier, composed for Diaghilev in 1925 and first performed in 1927, was probably fostered by the same notion of illustrating then-"modern" Soviet life, but the ballet and music were denounced both in the West and in the USSR. The Russians' complaint was that Prokofiev, then living in the West, knew nothing of Soviet life.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

clara s said:


> where do you live, anyway? hahaha
> 
> Universal studios?


Ha! Ha! clara s always cracks me up!! :lol:


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

One more for Turangalila! Also Brittens Nocturnal for guitar is one (for me)  Also agree with Goldberg variations! HURRA


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Messiaen is unique, period. Although his work is not the most unique I have heard. Lutoslawski is pretty damn unique. Varese is seriously unique. I don't know, I have to think about this more.

Wait, I know! It is probably something by Stockhausen. In fact, without a doubt, I can say this.


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