# Top 10 Most Incredible and Awe-Inspiring Works of Music?



## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

For you, what are the top 10 most incredible and awe-inspiring works of music?

Definitions being applied:
Incredible: "difficult to believe; extraordinary."
Awe: "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like."

So, for your lists you are taking both "how difficult to believe and extraordinary" the achievement is and "how much awe it inspires" into _combined_ account.

You may choose Classical works, Rock albums and Jazz albums. I'd _prefer_ you selected _full_ works for your lists (entire symphonies, concertos, albums, etc), but feel free to also mention movements or songs.

An ordered, ranked list can be quite challenging to conclude as one can have works that reach very high peaks of "incredible" and "awe-inspiring" but are maybe not as consistent as others. And one can have those that are very consistent but perhaps don't reach such high peaks, leaving it a difficult task to determine which is better. One could say that the very greatest examples should be _both_ very consistent _and_ reach considerable peaks, but I'll leave that judgment up to you.

This is pretty much what my own criteria for music/art boils down to (so, despite how many dozens of the most worthy candidates there are, it will be an easy list for me to come up with as the work has already been done). But I am quite curious what others come up with when considering this from your own perspective.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) 
2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1909) 
3. Mass in B Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach (1749) 
4. Requiem - Guisseppe Verdi (1874) 
5. Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826) 
6. Tristan und Isolde - Richard Wagner (1859) 
7. Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) 
8. The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963) 
9. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (1969) 
10. Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974)


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
3. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (I hope this counts as one work!)
4. Haydn: The Creation
5. Mozart: Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter"
6. Liszt: Transcendental Etudes (again, I'm counting a whole cycle as a single entry...hope that's OK)
7. Beethoven: Diabelli Variations
8. Bach: Goldberg Variations
9. Brahms: Symphony No. 4, especially the passacaglia finale
10. Bach: The Art of Fugue


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Maybe several dozen, not just ten.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Bettina said:


> 1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
> 2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
> 3. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (I hope this counts as one work!)
> 4. Haydn: The Creation
> ...


Thank you  The Ring is definitely one work even though it can also be performed separately (Wagner wanted it all as one). Not sure about those Etudes though. Did Liszt consider them a single work, to be considered as a whole?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

AfterHours said:


> Thank you  The Ring is definitely one work even though it can also be performed separately (Wagner wanted it all as one). Not sure about those Etudes though. Did Liszt consider them a single work, to be considered as a whole?


I'm pretty sure that Liszt considered them a single work - he published them under a single opus number. But I don't know how he wanted them to be performed. It certainly seems exhausting to play all of them in a single concert , but it's often been done!

In any case, if you'd like me to choose just one of the Transcendental Etudes, I'll go with Mazeppa. Impressively virtuosic and terrifying as well!


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

arpeggio said:


> Maybe several dozen, not just ten.


Okay then, I'll just consider your list to be mine + Bettina's + the next 2, so now we all get our entries doubled :lol:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

For various reasons I'm awed by:

Tallis: Spem in alium ("the forty-voice motet")
Bach: Mass in b minor
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Bach: Chaconne from Partita #2 in d minor for solo violin
Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor for organ 
Beethoven: Symphony #9
Beethoven: the late quartets (all of them; they share motivic material, and who can choose between them anyway?)
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Wagner: Parsifal


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Hey, if Woodduck gets to count Beethoven's five late quartets as a single entry, then I should certainly get to lump together the Liszt etudes! :lol:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Bettina said:


> Hey, if Woodduck gets to count Beethoven's five late quartets as a single entry, then I should certainly get to lump together the Liszt etudes! :lol:


I approve. :tiphat: ...........


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Bettina said:


> Hey, if Woodduck gets to count Beethoven's five late quartets as a single entry, then I should certainly get to lump together the Liszt etudes! :lol:


Technically no, at least not as a single entry, so I'll just choose for him: the 15th!! ... With the 14th very close behind :tiphat:


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

Wrong thread. How embarrassing!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> In addition to the usual suspects, I think the first movement of Mozart's 40th, however spoiled by overexposure, contains a density of melody that even Mozart rarely achieved. It always convinces me that a better understanding of the brain would almost certainly reveal that there are ratios and "rules," some objective criteria, by which to measure the distinctiveness of musical material (particularly material that seems complete all to itself, without development), and that something like that movement's exposition is what happens when someone already as good as Mozart meets many of those criteria by intuition alone and then even more than that by chance.
> 
> So, Tristan, The Ring, Late quartets, yada yada, and that.


Is _that_ or _yada yada_ the more awe-inspiring work, would you say?


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> Wrong thread. How embarrassing!


Too much clairvoyance all at once?


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> For various reasons I'm awed by:
> 
> Tallis: Spem in alium ("the forty-voice motet")
> Bach: Mass in b minor
> ...


Fwiw, Beethoven's 15th SQ was my #11 with his 14th just below that. As follows:

11. String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1825) 
12. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964) 
13. Faust - Faust (1971) 
14. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967) 
15. String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1826)


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

Man, you guys are too quick for me in all sorts of ways!


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Bach: Cello Suites (incredible how much solo cello can express)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 4
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (never spoiled)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 5
Cage: Sonatas and Interludes
Machaut: Masse De Notre Dame (first listen was shocking, almost scary)
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (couldn't understand what was going on)
Riley: Harp of New Albion
Schubert: Symphony in B minor, D 759 "Unfinished"

# sorry, not ranked.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Bruckner - Symphony No. 4
Schubert - String Quintet in C (the sheer melodic genius never ceases to amaze me every single time)
Mozart's 21st and 20th Piano Concertos 
Delius - Sea Drift
Scriabin - Prometheus (moments where the music exists outside of space and time... )


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Wagner: The Ring
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 
Verdi: Requiem
Mozart: Jupiter Symphony


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
Bach, St Matthew Passion
Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen
Mahler, Symphony No. 8
Verdi, Requiem
Bach, Mass in B minor
Bruckner, Symphony No. 8
Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
Mahler, Symphony No. 2


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

I am at a loss. I cannot make a ranked list, or determine a top ten. Which transcendent moment was more transcendent that the other transcendent moment. 

In addition, there is some very (seemingly) mundane music that is achingly beautiful to play. If I had the powers to communicate how it feels to play something, well, a lot of things would be different.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Top ten, blimey! 
Not is any order by preference, etc. 
Beethoven Symphony No. 3
Beethoven last five string quartets and Grosse fugue
Schubert last three string quartets
JS Bach Brandenburg Concertos
Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Beethoven Diabelii Variations. 
Beethoven last five Piano Sonatas
Dvorak Symphony No. 7
Hummel Fantasy in E flat Major Op. 18
Clementi Gradus ad Parnassum.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

beetzart said:


> Top ten, blimey!
> Not is any order by preference, etc.
> Beethoven Symphony No. 3
> Beethoven last five string quartets and Grosse fugue
> ...


Thank you for your top 50


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Awe inspiring works (random order):

Sibelius Symphony No.2
Sibelius Symphony No.5
Shostakovich Symphony No.7
Shostakovich Symphony No.12
Prokofiev - Cantata for 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Brahms - Symphony 4
Vaughan Williams - Hodie
John Adams - Harmonielehre
Beethoven - Symphony No.9
Glass - Koyaanisqatsi


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Off the top of my head and in no particular order as they come out of said head:

Wagner Götterdämmerung

Wagner Parsifal

Sibelius Symphony No. 7

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Bach Well Tempered Clavier

Bach Solo Violin Partitas & Sonatas

Haydn The Creation

Handel Messiah

Handel Giulio Cesare

Brahms Piano Trio No. 1


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

AfterHours said:


> For you, what are the top 10 most incredible and awe-inspiring works of music?... for your lists you are taking both "how difficult to believe and extraordinary" the achievement is and "how much awe it inspires" into _combined_ account...one can have works that reach very high peaks of "incredible" and "awe-inspiring" but are maybe not as consistent as others. And one can have those that are very consistent but perhaps don't reach such high peaks, leaving it a difficult task to determine which is better. One could say that the very greatest examples should be _both_ very consistent _and_ reach considerable peaks, but I'll leave that judgment up to you.


It's not simply the work by itself, but who the conductor is and/or who the players are that can make a huge difference in terms of running the gamut from feeling left flat to feeling deeply touched.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Haydn67 said:


> It's not simply the work by itself, but who the conductor is and/or who the players are that can make a huge difference in terms of running the gamut from feeling left flat to feeling deeply touched.


Of course. I would just think with the conductor/performer you feel brings out the work the best when taking it into consideration for your rankings on your list.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Another fun top 10 Mr Afterhours! Completely ridiculous and banal at first sight these top 10s but I always enjoy them very much. Another reminder to myself to what's really the important music. 


1) Beethoven string quartet opus 132

2) Liszt sonata B-minor

3) Beethoven piano sonata nr 29 "Hammerklavier"

4) Prokofiev Piano concerto 2

5) Liszt Piano concerto nr 2

6) Liszt Totentanz (orchestral)

7) Beethoven String quartet opus 59 no 2 (Razumovsky)

8) Händel organ concerto opus 4 no 1 in G minor

9) Schumann piano sonata no 1 

10) Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's 6th symphony (preferably played by Glenn Gould)


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Razumovskymas said:


> Another fun top 10 Mr Afterhours! Completely ridiculous and banal at first sight these top 10s but I always enjoy them very much. Another reminder to myself to what's really the important music.
> 
> 1) Beethoven string quartet opus 132
> 
> ...


Great list! My top three favorite things about this list are:

1. Liszt is well-represented (a Liszt list!)
2. You included a Liszt transcription of Beethoven
3. You gave Händel the umlaut that he rightfully deserves!


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

AfterHours said:


> Of course. I would just think with the conductor/performer you feel brings out the work the best when taking it into consideration for your rankings on your list.


True, and which I fairly often cite. Where would one be without those wonderful interpretive nuances?


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Bettina said:


> Great list! My top three favorite things about this list are:
> 
> 1. Liszt is well-represented (a Liszt list!)
> 2. You included a Liszt transcription of Beethoven
> 3. You gave Händel the umlaut that he rightfully deserves!


Thanks Bettina, I find it a great list too! ;-)

1.Yes I'm a Liszt man indeed. So Liszt will be in many of my lists.

2. Liszts Beethoven transcriptions (and his other numerous transcriptions) to me is a lovely illustration of what kind of man he was. Sometimes I wonder that if he would have wanted he could have created more works of the calibre of the sonata in B-minor. But no! Because he wanted to spread Beethovens' music and make it more available he transcribed all of his symphonies. Beethoven himself would have never transcribed let's say 9 large works of Bach. He was probably to egocentric for that (thank God)

3. I always use his full german name (Georg Friedrich Händel) because after all he is born a german. Opportunist as he was he transformed his name according to the nation he depended on and of course England really gave him the most honor but to me it just feels wrong to call Him George Frederick Handel. In his Italian years he called himself Giorgio Federico Hendel. It's a bit comic if you look at it.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Bettina said:


> 1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
> 2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
> 3. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (I hope this counts as one work!)
> 4. Haydn: The Creation
> ...


Interesting List! 

My top 4 interesting remarks of your list are:

1) There's only 5 works of them that I know quite good

2) The works I know I would rank like this 1)Goldberg variations 2) Diabelli variations 3) Liszt Etudes 4) Beethoven-9 5)Bach Art of Fugue

3) Bettina! you of all people should know that it is not the etudes themselves that are Transcendental but the performance that should be transcendental ;-) (etudes d'execution transcendante)

4) I'm still circling around Wagner (I'm afraid of him) but I am certain that Der Ring des Nibelungen is a great work of awe (some things you just know beforehand)


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

No specific order......

Beethoven: Symphony 9 Reiner/Chicago Symphony
Schubert: Symphony 9 ("Great" C Major) Szell/Cleveland Orchestra; his late 1950s version
Mahler: Symphony 9 Klemperer/New Philharmonia Orchestra
Brahms: Symphony 1 Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra
Brahms: Symphony 4 Walter/Columbia Symphony
Bruckner: Symphony 7 Giulini/Vienna Philharmonic
Sibelius: Symphony 2 Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra
Sibelius: Symphony 4 Vanska/Lahti Symphony
Mozart: Symphony 41 ("Jupiter") Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra
Wagner: Tannhauser Overture (Dresden version) Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra


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