# Pieces that celebrate the joy & triumph of life



## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

The greatest celebrations of the triumph of life I've ever heard are these two."To be! To be! To be!---they exclaim. The pure joy of being free, in the sunlight and warmth, and taking a deep breath of fresh air.










What are yours?


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Those are great choices. I’d go with the opening of Petrushka. We’ll forget that it soon turns into a violent puppet tragedy and remember how Stravinsky breathes utter joy and excitement into those first couple minutes.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

This is probably the piece that makes me feel the most happy, the last movement starting at 19:30. I don't feel I'm actually listening to music, but being out in the country side.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Haydn, I always smile with this music.






Chopin - Krakowiak, Grand Rondeau de Concert op.14 pt1/2 - Rondo a la Krakowiak
How on earth does one play this, as mortal.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The Ernest Bloch symphony in C# minor. One of the most powerful, life-affirming, triumphant works ever put to paper. Too bad it's not better known. Get the BIS recording.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Beethoven Symphony 6, Pastoral, Mvt 5:


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Whilst I agree with you on the Planets, Fabulin, it wouldn't be Herrmann's torpid account but Ozawa's stunning Planets. Jupiter rarely sounds so ravishing.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Merl said:


> Whilst I agree with you on the Planets, Fabulin, it wouldn't be Herrmann's torpid account but Ozawa's stunning Planets. Jupiter rarely sounds so ravishing.
> 
> View attachment 126570


If it was played any faster, I would not have chosen it. My favourite Jupiter of all recordings.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

Subjectivity and all that, but I'm pretty sure this is literally the perfect example of what you're describing.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

So many wonderful, tear-inducingly joyous pieces! Here's just one of many favorites, the Presto of Bach's Brandenburg No.4:






The most joyous I've ever heard was Walter/Wendy Carlos' version on the synthesizer: unforgettable! Alas, not YouTube available.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

K488 A Major outer mvts


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Sibelius - Finlandia


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Schubert's Trout Quintet


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

The final movement of Scriabin's piano concerto.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Haydn's Symphony 102 is one giant happy pill.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Schubert, Piano Sonata D959, the fourth movement: Rondo. Starts at 53:52. The ever fresh joy of life, the modest pride and joy of the composer in being able to create such beauty, the faithful and yet inventive joy of the pianist (Brendel) in bringing the notes to vivid life, the unalloyed joy of the listener at being in the presence of the sublime: ahh!


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Fabulin said:


> triumph of life


Not to derail tje thread but just what is the "Triumph of Life?"

Philosophically?

We all hear the expression but just what does it mean to you, to me to others?


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Beethoven's and Bruckner's 9th. Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

eljr said:


> Not to derail tje thread but just what is the "Triumph of Life?"
> 
> Philosophically?
> 
> We all hear the expression but just what does it mean to you, to me to others?


I gave my example in the OP. "The pure joy of being free, in the sunlight and warmth, and taking a deep breath of fresh air".


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The final fugue in Falstaff


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Fabulin said:


> "The pure joy of being free, in the sunlight and warmth, and taking a deep breath of fresh air".


well worded

............


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

it may seem the oddity, insofar as the final timpani strokes are supposed to represent man falling, but I've always thought of Abbado's recording of Mahler's *Symphony 6* ending in affirmation of the human spirit and, more to the point, mankind. The whole thing simply has a positive vibe to it unlike most people's Mahler.









I think Liszt's *Le Preludes*, in which he philosophizes that life is little more than a series of preludes, also ends triumphantly lifting the idea of the human spirit.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

DaveM said:


> Beethoven Symphony 6, Pastoral, Mvt 5:


Kinda unfair. You post Beethoven in a thread about joy and celebrating life then there's no competition.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ethereality said:


> Kinda unfair. You post Beethoven in a thread about joy and celebrating life then there's no competition.


This needn't be a Good-Better-Best thang. Vincent d'Indy was obviously feeling particularly cheerful and life-affirming when he composed this:






Makes me feel the same!


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## Faville (Sep 15, 2012)

Theofanidis' Rainbow Body has been the most memorable piece for me over the last ten or so years that has given me that true joy/triumph-of-life feeling.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

The last movement of Beethoven’s 9th: the Ode to... !


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Also quite life-affirming: Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, 5th movement (Finale): Pesante-Presto. Pretty joyous for a terminally ill man. Pretty joyous for a well Anybody!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Fabulin said:


> I gave my example in the OP. "The pure joy of being free, in the sunlight and warmth, and taking a deep breath of fresh air".


That sounds like "Morning Mood" from _Peer Gynt_.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Fabulin said:


> I gave my example in the OP. "The pure joy of being free, in the sunlight and warmth, and taking a deep breath of fresh air".


I feel joy, freedom and a breath of fresh air when I listen to the young Chopin's very beautiful _Rondo à la Krakowiak_:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Bax: Spring Fire
Alfven: Third Symphony
Creston: Second Symphony
Glazunov: Oriental Rhapsody & The Seasons
Khachaturian: First Symphony
Tchaikovsky: Fourth Symphony
Myaskovsky: Fifteenth Symphony
Roussel: First Symphony (Poem of the Forest)
Atterberg: Piano Concerto & Varmland Rhapsody
Kodaly: Overture to "Hary Janos" & Concerto for Orchestra
Brahms: Second Symphony
Novak: Eternal Longing
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

larold said:


> it may seem the oddity, insofar as the final timpani strokes are supposed to represent man falling, but I've always thought of Abbado's recording of Mahler's *Symphony 6* ending in affirmation of the human spirit and, more to the point, mankind. The whole thing simply has a positive vibe to it unlike most people's Mahler.
> 
> View attachment 126642
> 
> ...


I didn't really hear that, but you've made me want to revisit that recording now.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

No doubt and very close to the OP: 'Seht die Sonne', the massive but very uplifting final part of Schoenberg's 'Gurrelieder'. the hymn to the Sun. In this youtube fragment you see the staged version by the Dutch national opera, which really adds something to the music.

PS: Do you guys have a special way to include the picture of the youtube video instead of only the non inviting hyperlink code?


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

NLAdriaan said:


> No doubt and very close to the OP: 'Seht die Sonne', the massive but very uplifting final part of Schoenberg's 'Gurrelieder'. the hymn to the Sun. In this youtube fragment you see the staged version by the Dutch national opera, which really adds something to the music.
> 
> PS: Do you guys have a special way to include the picture of the youtube video instead of only the non inviting hyperlink code?


Put the link inside of brackets like this:

[ VIDEO] [/ VIDEO] only without the spaces.


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

Carl Nielsen's "The Inexstingueshable" would be the perfect candidate, but actually to my ears his third symphony "Espansiva" is a better celebration.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)




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