# Do you tend to enjoy a piece from beginning to end or only certain parts?



## level82rat (Jun 20, 2019)

I find myself frequent falling in love with a work simply because of a few bars or a small motif that repeats every so often. Are you in the same boat?


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## John Lenin (Feb 4, 2021)

Yes. I like the 2nd opera of Wagners ring.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Only like the passage starting at 16:00 for about 12 seconds.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

From beginning to end for me. Of course there are passages during a symph. or opera I like most but I feel if I hear only those passages its like reading a certain chapter or paragraph of a novel and not the whole book.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Sometimes-- an example is the London Symphonies. I like the middle movements of the Surprise, the first two movements of the Military, etc.

Oratorios, too, are seldom even in quality.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Phil loves classical said:


> Only like the passage starting at 16:00 for about 12 seconds.


Only that part? The whole concerto is marvelous!


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## level82rat (Jun 20, 2019)

Phil loves classical said:


> Only like the passage starting at 16:00 for about 12 seconds.


I have yet to listen to that whole thing in full but I'll agree that those few seconds are really interesting and it falls off after that


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

After "Call me Ishmael." I completely lose interest in Moby Dick.


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## level82rat (Jun 20, 2019)

MarkW said:


> After "Call me Ishmael." I completely lose interest in Moby Dick.


I'm lost. I'd appreciate an explanation


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

level82rat said:


> I'm lost. I'd appreciate an explanation


That is the first sentence of the novel.


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

There are wonderful moments/sections, in many pieces that I will occasionally play (sometimes 4 or 5 times in a row) without playing the entire movement/piece...just to get a quick dose of *BEAUTY*...

Here is one such case in the second movement of Vaughan Williams 2nd Symphony; so simple yet so evocative...almost brings me to tears (the link starts at the beginning of the passage which is at the 17'41" mark and goes to 18'34"):


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

level82rat said:


> I find myself frequent falling in love with a work simply because of a few bars or a small motif that repeats every so often. Are you in the same boat?


I agree, just like I play the whole CD/ LP and never just one piece.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

level82rat said:


> I find myself frequent falling in love with a work simply because of a few bars or a small motif that repeats every so often. Are you in the same boat?


I'll frequently listen to just one or two movements of a work...a scene or an act from an opera , different sections of a suite....but I don't break it down further, as a rule...I don't listen to part of a movement or a few bars here and there.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Haydn70 said:


> Here are 25 seconds of pure joy for me (from the start of the link at 1'25" to 1'50") from the second movement of Brahms 3rd Symphony:


Ditto...and other portions of this wonderful movement give me the same feelings as well.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

I almost always play the entire symphony, concerto, string quartet etc. in their entirety. The one exception that I serve in "bleeding chunks", to quote Tovey, is Mahler's second symphony. I enjoy the first 3 movements, but have no interest in movements 4&5, although once in a blue moon, I do let it run through.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Like most things, It Depends. There are many pieces that are engrossing from beginning to end--lots of concertos fall into this category for me, fewer symphonies, tone poems, or chamber works. Entirely subjective and personal (isn't all art?)

I only listen to the first two movements of Schubert's 8th Symphony.


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