# Pieces of classical music you can listen to over and over?



## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

*Hey there!* I was curious...are there any pieces of classical music you can listen to over and over and over and over again and not get tired of it?

The piece that comes to mind immediately upon asking myself this question is *Beethoven's Sixth Symphony*. No matter how many times I listen to it, it sounds just as good as it did the first time I heard it. In fact, nearly evertime I listen to it another time, something new always seems to pop out at me and I love it _that much more_. It is so great imo. 

--
Thanks,
chrisco97


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

There's so many to list! But one work I've become deeply attached to over the past year or so is Elgar's _Symphony No. 2_. I never paid much attention to this work initially but I had quite an Elgar listening phase earlier in the year and one of the works I revisited was the 2nd. One of the most deeply profound works of the 20th Century. What attracts me to this symphony is the pure mystique surrounding it and the haunting pictures Elgar paints with the music. It's as if he's taking you by a street that at one point in time flourished with people and daily activity but then with a wave of his hand that street has become deserted and there's not a soul to be seen for miles. It's as if Elgar _knew_ that nothing was ever going to be the same again and things were changing for the worse. Those simple times were to become nothing more than a lingering memory.


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## maestro57 (Mar 26, 2013)

Beethoven's "Appassionata".


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Polka and Fugue from Weinbergers "Schwanda the Bagpiper".


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## ZombieBeethoven (Jan 17, 2012)

Ein Deutches Requiem


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

Two more that come to mind are *Rondo alla Turca* and *Piano Sonata No. 16 (1st movement)* by Mozart. I love both of these pieces so much.


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

Neo Romanza said:


> There's so many to list! But one work I've become deeply attached to over the past year or so is Elgar's _Symphony No. 2_. I never paid much attention to this work initially but I had quite an Elgar listening phase earlier in the year and one of the works I revisited was the 2nd. One of the most deeply profound works of the 20th Century. What attracts me to this symphony is the pure mystique surrounding it and the haunting pictures Elgar paints with the music. It's as if he's taking you by a street that at one point in time flourished with people and daily activity but then with a wave of his hand that street has become deserted and there's not a soul to be seen for miles. It's as if Elgar _knew_ that nothing was ever going to be the same again and things were changing for the worse. Those simple times were to become nothing more than a lingering memory.


I will most definitely have to check that one out...thanks for the detail!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

*Sibelius's* 5th symphony


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I don't do too much repeated listening, so can think of none off the top of my head, no matter how good. Some pieces are too exhausting to bear hearing again right away. I have to let my musical libido build up again, so to speak.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Most of my true favorites--Also Sprach Zarathustra, Mahler's 1st and 6th, and Tchaikovsky's 4th. As I explained in the thread about saving favorite pieces for special occasions, the ones I really get to love are the ones that I've listened to so many times that I know them intimately.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

chrisco97 said:


> Two more that come to mind are *Rondo alla Turca* and *Piano Sonata No. 16 (1st movement)* by Mozart. I love both of these pieces so much.


An interesting question is whether KV 310 should be played on the clavichord or the fortepiano.

On the clavichord:






Or on the fortepiano (magnificent play by Staier by the way!) :


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> *Sibelius's* 5th symphony


Anytime I come across a swan, I hum out the call. They never seem respond.


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

I do believe I listen to *D. 956* once a week. It's good for the soul.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

There are many, but the one that immediately came to mind was Liszt's piano arrangement of Beethoven's 7th.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Satie's Vexations


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Avey said:


> Anytime I come across a swan, I hum out the call. They never seem respond.


They think you're a bit peculiar you see !


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## Guest (Jun 2, 2013)

Wow. Another thread question to which the answer is "all."

Damn those things are sure popular!!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I find the things that I never tire of are ones that go deep into my past; growing up with the radio programme 'Children's Favourites' I heard a limited number of classical pieces over and over. I'm practising one on my violin this week, Jeremiah Clarke's 'Prince of Denmark's March', always referred to in the 50s as 'The Trumpet Voluntary'. I absolutely love it! I also like 'The Ride of the Valkyries' & the finale of 'The 1812 Overture' from the same programme.

Other pieces I still love were things I got to play (or mime along to, anyway!) in the York Schools Strings Orchestra - The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba; Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; and Vivaldi's Concerto in A Minor, Op. 3, No. 6, 1st Mvt. 

Funnily enough, though, moody, I also played Schwanda the Bagpiper there - and I hated it! Sorry...


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

About a billion pieces from Mozart, except Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which I never listen to.

Outside of _The 'Gangerl_, Chopin's first piano concerto, Schubert's final piano sonata, Wintereisse and Schwansong, Beethoven's Egmont Overture and many of his sonatas, Hugo Wolf's Michaelangelo and Goethe Lieder, and recently Mahler's Fifth and Das Lied, though these haven't yet become keepers with me...


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## Bone (Jan 19, 2013)

Could you mean something that could be heard from beginning to end more than once at a sitting? If that is the case, here are my top 5 (no particular order): Mahler 5; Brahms 3; Prokofiev Piano Concerto 1; Mozart Clarinet Quartet; and Stravinsky Rite of Spring.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

I never get tired of Felix Mendelssohn's Octet.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Ingenue said:


> I find the things that I never tire of are ones that go deep into my past; growing up with the radio programme 'Children's Favourites' I heard a limited number of classical pieces over and over. I'm practising one on my violin this week, Jeremiah Clarke's 'Prince of Denmark's March', always referred to in the 50s as 'The Trumpet Voluntary'. I absolutely love it! I also like 'The Ride of the Valkyries' & the finale of 'The 1812 Overture' from the same programme.
> 
> Other pieces I still love were things I got to play (or mime along to, anyway!) in the York Schools Strings Orchestra - The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba; Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; and Vivaldi's Concerto in A Minor, Op. 3, No. 6, 1st Mvt.
> 
> Funnily enough, though, moody, I also played Schwanda the Bagpiper there - and I hated it! Sorry...


Too complicated for you was it,I see that you are an honorary member of Classic FM.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Taggart & I recently took up our instruments again, but we had a brief return in the 1980s too, and some of the pieces that Taggart played on his piano then, I adore & could listen to over and over.

In particular, William Byrd's Coranto (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, CCLXI) and Mistress Anne Vaux's Jig by Dowland.

Mmmmmm!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

This may sound strange, but actually hearing a piece live in concert helped me "get over" a few pieces that I was obsessing over for a long time. Sometimes I just can't stop listening to a piece because I like it so much. In that case I slowly build up a desire to hear it live and when I finally do, listening to it again at home loses some of its appeal because nothing beats the live experience.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20! By _far_ the most frequently heard piece of music in my music collection.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

Kieran said:


> About a billion pieces from Mozart [...]


Yes. It can be taken as an overstatement but any Mozart's piece of music can be listened again and again and again and again without getting tired. And this is why I have gotten stuck with his music through years. And honestly, I don't now why this has happened to me.

Of course, from time to time I visit some other musicians but the pendulum goes from Bach/Baroque to Mozart passing through Keith Jarrett/Jazz...; Bach/Jarrett/Mozart-Mozart/Jarrett/Bach.

This rainy Sunday I have been abiding in the realm of 'die Linzer/Prager/Haffner Symphonien' all day long... and I know this will take, at least, all the next week.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

Feathers said:


> Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20! By _far_ the most frequently heard piece of music in my music collection.


I recently got Piano Concerto No. 17 with Keith Jarrett and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and I have been listening to it for months, again and again, too.


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## Karabiner (Apr 1, 2013)

Charpentier and Lully's Te Deums never fail to cheer me up so I listen to them a lot.
Schubert's Trout Quintet is another work that I can listen to over and over, and I just get lost in the music - I find with the String Quintet and Quartets I have to concentrate a lot more.


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## Pianoxtreme (May 31, 2013)

Just about anything by Beethoven. Appassionata, Symphony 5/9/6/7, Archdule trio. Heck, even his horn sonata!


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

EricABQ said:


> There are many, but the one that immediately came to mind was Liszt's piano arrangement of Beethoven's 7th.


I've been wanting to get a recording of piano arrangements of Beethoven symphonies. Which recording would you recommend?


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

Kieran said:


> About a billion pieces from Mozart, except Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which I never listen to.


Really? A lot of Mozart fans love that one. I personally like it a lot, but I do not tend to listen to it much either.



Feathers said:


> Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20! By _far_ the most frequently heard piece of music in my music collection.


Yes, that is a good one. One of my favourites.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

some guy said:


> Wow. Another thread question to which the answer is "all."
> 
> Damn those things are sure popular!!


Ah yup. I've never "worn out" a piece of music that was any good in the first place.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

chrisco97 said:


> Really? A lot of Mozart fans love that one.


I thought it was meant to be the mark of a real Mozart fan that they hate _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_, the same way that all real Wagner fans hate _Die Walkürenritt_, all real Ravel fans hate _Bolero_, etc.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

Kieran said:


> About a billion pieces from Mozart, except Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which I never listen to.


You will likely be forced to listen to this serenade several times on the streets in Salzburg :lol:

Out of curiosity, why don't you listen to it because it is played so often or is it intrinsically not interesting to you?


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

opus55 said:


> I've been wanting to get a recording of piano arrangements of Beethoven symphonies. Which recording would you recommend?


The only set I'm familiar with is Cyprien Katsaris. I have the complete set and it's very good.

Several pieces from that set are on Youtube.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Everything from Beethoven!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Over and over is fine as long as it's not consecutive. I'll leave that to the transcribers.


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Pyotr said:


> I never get tired of Felix Mendelssohn's Octet.


THIS!

(mustmeet15characterlimit)


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Avey said:


> I do believe I listen to *D. 956* once a week. It's good for the soul.


I hear you!!!

For me, its Schubert Great C major symphony. It gives me the energy for work.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Practically anything I like -- until for some reason I find myself no longer liking it.


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

ahammel said:


> I thought it was meant to be the mark of a real Mozart fan that they hate _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_, the same way that all real Wagner fans hate _Die Walkürenritt_, all real Ravel fans hate _Bolero_, etc.


I have heard a lot of people say they love the work. I guess they are possibly just fans of the work instead of Mozart himself. :lol:


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

opus55 said:


> I've been wanting to get a recording of piano arrangements of Beethoven symphonies. Which recording would you recommend?


Idil Biret on Naxos---excellent.


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## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

When I feel like I could listen to a certain piece over and over, I try to limit somewhat how often I listen to it. I would hate for a piece I love to become a piece I've grown tired of.


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## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

I've heard some piano arrangements of Beethoven symphonies, but they just make me want to hear the real orchestral arrangements.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

apricissimus said:


> I've heard some piano arrangements of Beethoven symphonies, but they just make me want to hear the real orchestral arrangements.


That was the whole idea.


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## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

moody said:


> That was the whole idea.


So do you think that piano transcriptions have less of a place now that we can queue up any of several orchestral recordings at a moment's notice?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

apricissimus said:


> So do you think that piano transcriptions have less of a place now that we can queue up any of several orchestral recordings at a moment's notice?


In those days people couldn't or didn't get around. Obviously no radio,records ,TV, etc so it was the way of getting the works and opera and lieder out to the populace. But now we can listen to them gobsmacked and with wonder.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

ahammel said:


> I thought it was meant to be the mark of a real Mozart fan that they hate _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_, the same way that all real Wagner fans hate _Die Walkürenritt_, all real Ravel fans hate _Bolero_, etc.


It sounds like you're saying people say they hate something to look 'cooler' in the eyes of others, which wouldn't be very clever. That serenade has good music in it, perhaps the 3rd movement is weaker but the others are hardly something to turn your nose up at. The slow movement for instance has a delightful contrast of melodies, I bet Schubert liked that movement as it some atmosphere to it for me.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

peeyaj said:


> For me, its Schubert Great C major symphony. It gives me the energy for work.


Symphonies, in my opinion, are harder to get tired of because they are more complex and varied than most of the other genres. The one you mentioned is certainly that and, in addition, has a well-earned moniker.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

'Great' has become somewhat of a meaningless term nowadays, people use it all the time in a lazy way without defining it either. According to wikipedia it was "originally called The Great C major to distinguish it from his Symphony No. 6, the Little C major", so there was at least a reason behind it.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

Most Mahler pieces except the 8TH. Anything by Moeran.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

starry said:


> It sounds like you're saying people say they hate something to look 'cooler' in the eyes of others, which wouldn't be very clever. That serenade has good music in it, perhaps the 3rd movement is weaker but the others are hardly something to turn your nose up at. The slow movement for instance has a delightful contrast of melodies, I bet Schubert liked that movement as it some atmosphere to it for me.


I'm just being flippant. I like _Nachtmusik_ just fine.

I really do hate _Bolero_, though.


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## Styx (Jun 5, 2013)

J. S. Bach - Musical Offering BWV 1079 Trio sonata


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## smari89 (Jun 5, 2013)

chrisco97 said:


> The piece that comes to mind immediately upon asking myself this question is *Beethoven's Sixth Symphony*. No matter how many times I listen to it, it sounds just as good as it did the first time I heard it. In fact, nearly evertime I listen to it another time, something new always seems to pop out at me and I love it _that much more_. It is so great imo.
> 
> --
> Thanks,
> chrisco97


I completely agree, I'm so glad Beethoven's 6th is mentioned -- it was one of my first real exposures to classical music at the age of 6 and I was stunned (the 1st and 3rd part have remained my favorites).

Other works that come to mind immediately are *Pachelbel's Canon in D, 1st movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, 4th part of Mozart's #41 Symphony, and Beethoven's entire #9.*


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## lunchdress (Apr 20, 2013)

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 - Allegro is one....

I get obsessions all the time where I have to listen to something 5 times in a row or several times a day or week or month or year, but I try to vary as much as possible because there is so much good music to listen to and so many ways to hear it.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

toccata and fugue doesn't wear thin. it's like a massage for the mind.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

I will never, _ever_ tire of listening to Turangalîla-Symphonie.


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## smari89 (Jun 5, 2013)

Some other pieces that easily come to mind to me are the finale of *Haydn's Symphony 104 in D ("Spiritoso"), Holst's The Planets (especially "Venus" and "Jupiter")*, and another childhood favorite of mine, *Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite "Farandole."*


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Haydn's Symphony 104, and, a more important omission, Debussy's Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp - I _love_ that work and listen to it quite often.


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## hoffmanro (Apr 28, 2013)

Two symphonic works that I never tire of listening to over and over: Bruckner's Ninth and Sibelius Tapiola.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

To me is Sibelius in general, but specially his Violin Concerto. I over-listened many great concertos to the point that I am tired of them (Mendelssohn's is a good example), but I can't get tired of the Sibelius one.


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## Xavier (Jun 7, 2012)

Beethoven's "Consecration of The House" overture

Pfitzner's Three Preludes from "Palestrina"


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