# Top 10 Most Exciting/Galvanizing Works of Music?



## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

For you, what are the top 10 most exciting/galvanizing works of music?

Definitions being applied:

Exciting: "producing excitement; stirring; thrilling."
Galvanizing: "shock or excite (someone), typically into taking action."

Consistency can come into play here as some works are extremely exciting/galvanizing in parts but maybe not as much in others. While some works might be more consistent but perhaps don't reach the same degree of peak excitement. So it can be challenging to determine which, overall, you feel should be higher ranked. Good luck 

Feel free to choose Classical works, Rock or Jazz albums. I'd prefer you selected _full_ Classical works and/or Rock/Jazz albums for your top 10 but also feel free to make special mention of particular movements and songs if you'd like.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Not sure I can give you a top 10, but here are a handful:

Bruckner's 4th
Eroica 
Bruch's violin concerto is pretty galvanising
Any middle-late Verdi opera
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St and Let it Bleed


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Great idea for a thread! I know that you prefer complete works, but some of my favorite exciting passages are excerpts or single movements from larger works - sorry about that.

1. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
2. Khachaturian: Sabre Dance from Gayane
3. Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre
4. Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"
5. Dvořák: Carnival Overture
6. Liszt: Mazeppa
7. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"
8. Chopin: Etude Op. 10, No. 12, "Revolutionary"
9. Balakirev: Islamey
10. Mozart: Rondo Alla Turca from Piano Sonata in A Major, K. 331


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

My top 10:

1. Mozart Jupiter Symphony
2. Bach Concerto for 2 Violins
3. Beethoven Piano Concerto 4
4. Beethoven Symphony 7
5. Stravinsky Rite of Spring
6. Mahler Symphony 1
7. Bruckner Symphony 4
8. Tchaikovsky Symphony 2
9. Tchaikovsky Symphony 4
10. Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata

Honorable Mention: Rhenish Symphony (I'm listening to it right now, and the first movement is very exciting).


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## bigboy (May 26, 2017)

I second Bettina's sentiment that this is a neat idea!

I probably can't muster 10 complete works at the moment, but here goes:

Vaughan Williams - Concerto Grosso

Holst - Jupiter (from the Planets suite): I can't help but try and sing along with this one...

Brahms - Sonata for Cello and Piano #2, 3rd movement and 4th movement: 
I think the whole sonata is great, but these movements have this wonderful driving rhythmic pulse to them

Strauss - Don Juan: The Don Juan theme erupting from the brass section always gets me!

(Changing to jazz for a bit...)

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner mounting flame: I am never failed to be wowed by the virtuosity of the performers in this group

Miles Davis - Agharta: I know not everyone takes a shine to this album, but for me it is an intense 90 minutes of alternatingly ethereal, sexual, intellectual and spiritual music.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Some favorite orchestral excitement

1. Scriabin - Prometheus
http://www.talkclassical.com/48917-alexander-scriabin-prometheus.html
2. Roslavets - Komsomoliya
3. Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
4. Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony
5. Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin Suite


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

This was excruciating! So many close calls of Classical works, Rock and Jazz albums that I ended up leaving out. Later on, I'll have to make some, if not several, honorable mentions, because so many more deserve props in this category. Rock and Free/Experimental Jazz are replete with such works, as it is their natural, anarchic bent, plus there are several other contenders for Classical.

1. The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963) 
2. Parable of Arable Land - Red Crayola (1967) 
3. The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Michael Mantler (1968)
4. Ascension - John Coltrane (1965) 
5. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1808) 
6. The Ascension - Glenn Branca (1981) 
7. Kick Out the Jams - MC5 (1969) 
8. Mother of Virtues - Pyrrhon (2014) 
9. The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails (1994)
10. Operator Dead... Post Abandoned - Burning Star Core (2007)


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Another question I do not know the answer to so I will have to pass.


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Ives: Symphony No. 4
Ligeti: Etudes
Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie
Nyman: MGV
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Respighi: The Pines of Rome
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

To me, "galvanizing" sounds like a term from the Medical Field or from Metallurgy, in which I lack degrees. And, I know, as a language guy and wordsmith-type for whom such a word should hold more significant Webster-like meaning, as in "to stimulate or excite", I remain somewhat confused about naming "galvanizing musical works", since we are all probably "galvanized" in different ways and by different things. If electric shock is involved, and "electricity" seems to play an important role in galvanization of all sorts, I don't know where to go except to electronic music. And I'm no expert in electronic music. But here are my initial thoughts:

Palestrina's _Missa Papae Marcelli _(1567)
Monteverdi's _L'Orfeo_ (1609)
Bach's _Brandenburg Concerti _(1721)
Handel's _Messiah_ (1741)
Mozart's _Marriage of Figaro_ (1786)
Beethoven's _Eroica_ Symphony (No. 3) (1804), and Symphony No. 5 (1808), and Symphony No. 9 (1824)
Wagner's _Tristan und Isolde _(1859)

and see ... that's already 9!

And I've yet to mention Debussy's _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune _(1894), Schonberg's _Pierrot lunaire _(1912), Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring _(1913) ... and anything by Cage, Stockhausen, Penderecki, or Pierre Boulez. Or Hildegard von Bingen! And there is Miles Davis's _Kind of Blue _album (1959), the Getz/Gilberto bossa nova album (1964), the Beatles _Sgt. Pepper's _album (1967), and so much more.

And I notice I don't even have mentioned one important, _galvanizing_ electronic music work in the list. Certainly Pierre Schaeffer's _Etude aux chemins de fer_ (1948) is galvanizing! Ahh! I can't do this!


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Yeah, SONNET CLV, I was just about to write a humble inquiry about the word, because to me it sounds like something is being coated with metal ions from a solution in an electric field, or something.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

SONNET CLV said:


> To me, "galvanizing" sounds like a term from the Medical Field or from Metallurgy, in which I lack degrees. And, I know, as a language guy and wordsmith-type for whom such a word should hold more significant Webster-like meaning, as in "to stimulate or excite", I remain somewhat confused about naming "galvanizing musical works", since we are all probably "galvanized" in different ways and by different things. If electric shock is involved, and "electricity" seems to play an important role in galvanization of all sorts, I don't know where to go except to electronic music. And I'm no expert in electronic music. But here are my initial thoughts:
> 
> Palestrina's _Missa Papae Marcelli _(1567)
> Monteverdi's _L'Orfeo_ (1609)
> ...


I didn't think it would be necessary to define this one but you're causing a change of heart! Exhilarating, unrelenting and explosive could be other key words. Though I think it's a very easy matter to complicate, especially for those that might like to indulge in overthinking things


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Okay guys (and gals). I updated the OP with definitions provided  If this causes any changes in lists, feel free to alter with some exciting new selections, or maybe this galvanized you into posting another!


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Toch: Symphony #3.

I'm done.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

i like music said:


> Toch: Symphony #3.
> 
> I'm done.


Thanks for bringing up Toch! That reminds me - I'd like to add his piano piece The Juggler to my list. I'm currently teaching that piece to one of my students, and we are having a blast with it! So many exciting things in that piece: glissandos, tremolos, huge leaps, and alternating hand motions that actually look like juggling!


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Dvorak - Slavonic Dances
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Beethoven - Grosse Fugue
Verdi - Requiem
Beethoven - Emperor Concerto
Prokofiev - Scythian Suite
Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing (Honorable Mention to Duke Ellington/Paul Gonsalves - Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue)
J. Geils Band - Full House (Live)


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

i like music said:


> Toch: Symphony #3.
> 
> I'm done.


Huh. Did _not_ expect anyone other than myself to nominate Toch.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Trout said:


> Nyman: MGV


Nyman's MGV is rapturous. Another favorite is Water Dances.

I agree with others about Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, No. 9 and Stavinsky's Rite of Spring. These are some of the most exciting pieces.

My other choices
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 In F, BWV 1047
Beethoven: Grosse Fuge
Bruckner: Symphony No. 5
Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Rossini: Guillaume Tell Overture
Wilms: Symphony No. 6


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Cool Thread! This is why I love classical music!!


1)Carl Maria Von Weber - Der Freischutz: Wolf's Glen Scene

2)Franz Liszt - Mazeppa - Orchestral version

3)Händel: Giulio Cesare, Act 1: Viva, Viva Il Nostro Alcide

4)Händel: Athalia - Act II: The mighty pow'r (Chorus & Solo)

5)Mozart: Die Zauberflöte: Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen!!!!!!

6)Leonardo Vinci - Artaserse: Vo Solcando un mar crudele

7)Prokofiev piano concerto 2

8)Beethoven symphony no2: I- Adagio Molto

9)Bach keyboard concerto no 1: I- allegro

10) Liszt: Mephisto Waltz no 1


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Beethoven: Symphony 3 
Beethoven: Symphony 5 
Beethoven: Symphony 9 
Schubert: Symphony 9 ("Great"C Major)
Wagner: Tannhauser Overture
Tchaikovsky: Symphony 4
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto 1
Brahms: Symphony 1
Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 3


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

This:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

arpeggio said:


> Another question I do not know the answer to so I will have to pass.


With me it changes from week to week.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Galvanizing? Exciting? I can do this:

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #1, Piano Concerto #2, Piano Concerto #3, Symphony #3

Ravel: Concerto for the Left Hand

Shostakovich: Symphony #5

Respighi: Saint Gregory the Great (from Church Windows)

Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter

Mozart: Symphony #41, final movement

Bach: Brandenburg #4, final movement; Keyboard Concerto #1, first movement

Obviously there are so many more, but I'll stop here.


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Mozart: Requiem
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Schumann: Symphony No. 4
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé

On the same tier:
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Mahler: Symphony No. 6
Schumann: Kreisleriana
Debussy: Nocturnes
Debussy: La mer
Bach: Italian concerto
Rameau: Pièces de clavecin
Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3
Mozart: Symphony No. 25 
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

My choice is:-

Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony
Sibelius 2nd Symphony
Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto
Beethoven 5th Symphony
Schubert 9th Symphony (Great)
Beethoven 3rd Symphony (Eroica)
Khachaturian Sabre Dance (from Gayeneh)
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture
Wagner Ride of the Valkyries (from Die Walkure)
Mahler 6th Symphony

Lots more I can think of but these are the ten that came to mind!


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

As I just mentioned in "Pieces that are you Blowing you away" Arnold's Tam O'Shanter Overture really gets my heart pumping and is blowing me away. Definitely fits the description for "exciting and galvanizing".


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Off the top of my head:

Copland Rodeo

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, Third Movement

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, Third Movement

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, Fourth Movement

Debussy L'isle joyeuse

Beethoven Symphony No. 7, Fourth Movement

Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Fourth Movement

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Third Movement

Mozart Symphony No. 41, Fourth Movement

Prokofiev Classical Symphony, Fourth Movement


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Bach: Mass in Bm
Wagner: Prelude & Love/Death of Tristan & Isolde
Verdi: Requiem
Mahler's 5th 
Shostakovich's 5th
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliette 
Boito: Mefistofele 
Wagner: Gotterdammerung 
Gounod: Romeo et Juliette 
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

It's interesting to note that folks are now listing "galvanizing" works that are "exciting". Beethoven's Fifth and Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ get several mentions. And rightly.

But a musical work can be exciting without being "exciting", as in one of my selections earlier in this thread: Debussy's _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune_. This seminal work proves important in the development of music. Though it sort of wafts along on a cloud of sound propelled like a gentle breath by the flute, it remains an extremely exciting work in the history of the art. Its melody and harmonies and orchestration changed everything, and that effect cannot be described as anything but exciting.

And I would make a similar argument for Schoenberg's _Pierrot lunaire _or John Cage's Sonatas And Interludes For Prepared Piano. Though neither of these works will ever be confused for Holst's "Mars" movement from _The Planets_ or the conclusion of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (let alone the Beethoven Fifth or Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_!), they are exciting works of music, once again for the same reason Debussy's _Prélude_ proves exciting.

Conversely, there exists much bombastic, high spirited _Allegro_ and _Presto_ propelled music that is anything but exciting. Most of it is composed by composers whose names are all but forgotten. In other words, innovation is exciting -- galvanizing, if you will -- whether or not it meets the physical definition of "exciting".

Which is why I have a problem with attaining any success with the topic of this thread.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

SONNET CLV said:


> It's interesting to note that folks are now listing "galvanizing" works that are "exciting". Beethoven's Fifth and Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ get several mentions. And rightly.
> 
> But a musical work can be exciting without being "exciting", as in one of my selections earlier in this thread: Debussy's _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune_. This seminal work proves important in the development of music. Though it sort of wafts along on a cloud of sound propelled like a gentle breath by the flute, it remains an extremely exciting work in the history of the art. Its melody and harmonies and orchestration changed everything, and that effect cannot be described as anything but exciting.
> 
> ...


Maybe it should be "Top 10 Most Confusing and Indecisive Works?"


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

SONNET CLV said:


> It's interesting to note that folks are now listing "galvanizing" works that are "exciting". Beethoven's Fifth and Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ get several mentions. And rightly.
> 
> But a musical work can be exciting without being "exciting", as in one of my selections earlier in this thread: Debussy's _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune_. This seminal work proves important in the development of music. Though it sort of wafts along on a cloud of sound propelled like a gentle breath by the flute, it remains an extremely exciting work in the history of the art. Its melody and harmonies and orchestration changed everything, and that effect cannot be described as anything but exciting.
> 
> ...


I agree that excitement can mean different things to different people. And that's exactly why I love this thread so much - AfterHours is encouraging us to think about our personal definition of "exciting music," and to list a series of works that fit with each of our individual definitions. For one person, that might mean a list of works that are exuberant and bombastic. For another person (such as yourself), excitement might be more about innovation and novelty rather than adrenaline. This thread topic is flexible enough to allow for all of those definitions.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Bettina said:


> I agree that excitement can mean different things to different people. And that's exactly why I love this thread so much - AfterHours is encouraging us to think about our personal definition of "exciting music," and to list a series of works that fit with each of our individual definitions. For one person, that might mean a list of works that are exuberant and bombastic. For another person (such as yourself), excitement might be more about innovation and novelty rather than adrenaline. This thread topic is flexible enough to allow for all of those definitions.


Yes, in essence Bettina (and Sonnet Clv) are correct. No one is going to stop you from choosing Music for Airports or 4:33  or anything else. But the thread _is_ preferably geared towards works that feature music where its attempt and purpose is to be exhilarating, thrilling, electrifying, exciting, aggressive, fierce, unrelenting, galvanizing and alike emotions -- those that do this the most successfully/thrillingly in your view. Exciting/galvanizing may not have been the _most_ perfect choice for a description as maybe there's a little too much interpretation possible (but even so it's not a big deal). But that's what I'm interested in finding out here. If I were just looking for works that one is most "excited about" then it would just be my/your overall top 10 I guess. But if you can just understand what I'm looking for here, and try not to overthink it, it shouldn't be too difficult to give it a shot.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

3:13:30 to 3:17:58. The last minute of that timeframe especially deserves to be singled out if any single minute of music does. I feel like I should just divide that part into 10 pieces for my list. That and the scene starting at 1:40:20 have to be numbers 1 and 2 on any list for me.

The consistency requirement might kill any selection from Wagner though... so

Handel Theodora overture
Handel Rodelinda overture
Handel Serse overture
Handel Jephtha overture
Handel Un pensiero nemico di pace 
Handel Lo faro; diro spietato
Handel Lascia Amor
Bach Orchestral Suite B minor Overture
Mozart string quartet 14 4th movement (God I wish he wrote more stuff like this)
Bach - Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, particularly this version 




I'm only partially kidding by filling out the list with Handel. The baroque era and things that remind me of it (like the Mozart selection) is where I go for an adrenaline rush.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Wagner - _Das Liebesverbot_ overture
Herold - _Zampa _overture
Donizetti - _Rosmonda d'Inghilterra_ overture
Berlioz - _Le corsaire _; Act III finale of _Troyens_ (EXTERMINONS!)
Meyerbeer - The Blessing of the Swords (from _Les Huguenots_)
Glass - Attack and Fall (from _Akhnaten_)
Prokofiev - _Alexander Nevsky_
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (with cannons!) and the Marche slave
Holst - MARS! The Bringer of _Quatermass_!
And any number of great Rossini ensembles - let's go with the Gran pezzi concertato a 14 voci from _Il viaggio a Reims_

Non-classical:
007 Takes the Lektor (John Barry, _From Russia with Love_)
John Barry again - _The Lion in Winter_
Bernard Herrmann - _North by Northwest_
Maurice Jarre - _Lawrence of Arabia_
REM - _It's the End of the World (As We Know It)_; _Begin the Begin_


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Richard Strauss is exciting, many of his compositions starting with tone poems ending with 4 last songs, in various definitions of the word "excitement".


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Density 21.5

at least it is a metal


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Beethoven 3rd Symphony arguably the most original piece ever composed
Beethoven 16th String Quartet the 3rd movement is beyond what humans can express emotionally
Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony breathtaking finale although the opening chord is sublime
JS Bach 5th Brandenburg concerto with the famous keyboard cadenza
Vivaldi Four Seasons my first taste of baroque music
Schubert 15th String Quartet
Brahms 4th Symphony
Bruckner 1st, 5th, 6th, 9th.
Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony heartbreaking.


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## Guest (May 30, 2017)

I primarily read this thread because I wasn't sure how a piece of music could coat iron or steel with a protective layer of zinc.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

beetzart said:


> *Beethoven 3rd Symphony arguably the most original piece ever composed*
> Beethoven 16th String Quartet the 3rd movement is beyond what humans can express emotionally
> Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony breathtaking finale although the opening chord is sublime
> JS Bach 5th Brandenburg concerto with the famous keyboard cadenza
> ...


I was actually about to create a thread about this- I don't get what's so original and revolutionary about it? It's a great piece, and I love it. But there have been more revolutionary pieces before that. If there's one symphony that changed music forever by Beethoven, I would say it is either the fifth or the sixth.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

What pieces before it are more revolutionary? The 3rd makes a huge statement and that is Beethoven saying you may have enjoyed Haydn et al playing nicely in the background but you will listen to my music, and listen in amazement. The two opening huge chords are surely enough intent to say this is a special piece of music.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

beetzart said:


> *What pieces before it are more revolutionary?* The 3rd makes a huge statement and that is Beethoven saying you may have enjoyed Haydn et al playing nicely in the background but you will listen to my music, and listen in amazement. The two opening huge chords are surely enough intent to say this is a special piece of music.


*Monteverdi: Vespers*

*Biber: Mystery Sonatas*

*Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier*

*Bach: St. Matthew Passion*

*Mozart: Marriage of Figaro*

*Mozart: Don Giovanni*


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

nathanb said:


> I primarily read this thread because I wasn't sure how a piece of music could coat iron or steel with a protective layer of zinc.


Personally, I find the symphonies of Christopher Steel to be very galvanizing!

But, seriously, it's hard to name just 10 works. beetzart actually named a number that I like so we'll just go with that. Of course, even beetzart named more than 10 with all those Bruckner symphonies!


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Tchaikov6 said:


> *Monteverdi: Vespers*
> 
> *Biber: Mystery Sonatas*
> 
> ...


I guess you could argue for all those suggestions. I just think the Eroica is so bold and in a league of its own really. It has everything a modern forward thinking symphony should have. He set the bar very high with the the 3rd.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

beetzart said:


> I guess you could argue for all those suggestions. I just think the Eroica is so bold and in a league of its own really. It has everything a modern forward thinking symphony should have. He set the bar very high with the the 3rd.


Well, you are entitled to your opinion- I just think that Beethoven was perhaps more boldly revolutionary rather than the pieces I said, which are more discreet, but I still think are just as musically extreme.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Exciting/Galvanizing

*Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.1. (I can't think of a more optimistic, exciting, ebullient work.)*
Prokofiev Piano Sonata No.7
Grieg - Wedding Day at Troldhaugen
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Beethoven - Symphony No.5
John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
Xenakis - Jonchaïes
De Falla - Three Cornered Hat


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> I was actually about to create a thread about this- I don't get what's so original and revolutionary about it? It's a great piece, and I love it. But there have been more revolutionary pieces before that. If there's one symphony that changed music forever by Beethoven, I would say it is either the fifth or the sixth.


It's true that the Eroica might not sound revolutionary to us nowadays, because we're so familiar with it and because composers have done even more radical things since then. But at the time, it was a groundbreaking work. Some of its most revolutionary aspects are:

1. *The overall length of the whole symphony* - almost an hour long (depending on tempo, of course). This was unprecedented at the time. Many symphonies at the time were around half an hour (for example, Mozart's Symphonies 40 and 41, Haydn's 104, Beethoven's own 1 and 2).

2. *The length of some specific sections* - Not only was the whole symphony extra long, but certain specific parts of it were proportionally longer than would be expected. The development section of the first movement is about twice as long as what would have been considered normal at the time. Also, the coda is longer than usual too.

3. *The extreme postponement of resolution* - In most music of the time, dissonant notes would be resolved pretty quickly, usually within a few bars. But in the Eroica, the dissonances are sometimes left hanging for long periods of time. In measure 7, the note C-sharp produces a surprising dissonance. This is not resolved until about 400 bars later!

4. *The use of a funeral march* - It was completely unheard of to include a funeral march in a symphony. Most symphonies at the time were non-programmatic, with generic titles for movements such as "allegro" or "andante." It was shocking for Beethoven to introduce death into the symphony, the most abstract of all genres.

5. *The new theme in the development section* - In the first movement, the development section contains a brand-new theme in the distant key of E Major. This is an unusual thing to do. The conventional role of a development section is to develop (duh) the themes that were already heard in the exposition. Beethoven broke with that tradition by using the development section like a kind of "second exposition" in this first movement.

Whew, that turned out to be longer than I was expecting! I'm just such a fangirl for the Eroica - I can't stop writing about why it's so great and creative and innovative!! :lol:


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Bettina said:


> It's true that the Eroica might not sound revolutionary to us nowadays, because we're so familiar with it and because composers have done even more radical things since then. But at the time, it was a groundbreaking work. Some of its most revolutionary aspects are:
> 
> 1. *The overall length of the whole symphony* - almost an hour long (depending on tempo, of course). This was unprecedented at the time. Many symphonies at the time were around half an hour (for example, Mozart's Symphonies 40 and 41, Haydn's 104, Beethoven's own 1 and 2).
> 
> ...


Yes, I guess I agree that the Eroica Symphony is quite revolutionary now, you and beetzart have convinced me... but I still think there more revolutionary pieces of music before the Eroica that changed the course of music before the Eroica.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

20centrfuge said:


> Exciting/Galvanizing
> 
> *Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.1. (I can't think of a more optimistic, exciting, ebullient work.)*


I totally agree. So much of Prokofiev's music is like a strong, fresh Spring wind come from across the steppe, blowing away the funk and miasma that, by contrast, seems to have previously been present.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> Yes, I guess I agree that the Eroica Symphony is quite revolutionary now, you and beetzart have convinced me... but I still think there more revolutionary pieces of music before the Eroica that changed the course of music before the Eroica.


Oh, I totally agree with you! As much as I adore the Eroica, I wouldn't give it the top prize for the most revolutionary piece ever. In fact, as I posted in another thread, I actually think that Haydn's Farewell Symphony is more revolutionary in some ways. The Farewell was the first symphony to use a cyclic form along with a narrative-type program. Many of Beethoven's innovative techniques were built on the foundation that Haydn established.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

nathanb said:


> I primarily read this thread because I wasn't sure how a piece of music could coat iron or steel with a protective layer of zinc.


Was wondering about that myself.... maybe at very high frequencies and very large amps ...with some lead... I'm willing to give it a go if some one will provide the cash for the ultimate metal coating hifi setup


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Was wondering about that myself.... maybe at very high frequencies and very large amps ...with some lead... I'm willing to give it a go if some one will provide the cash for the ultimate metal coating hifi setup


Great idea and worth contributing to Eddie. All you'll need is our credit card and bank account info, as well as our social security number, isn't that right? C'mon people, step up to the plate here!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

AfterHours said:


> Great idea and worth contributing to Eddie. All you'll need is our credit card and bank account info, as well as our social security number, isn't that right? C'mon people, step up to the plate here!


Yep, your with the system all info greatfully accepted - I'm ringing Bob Carver already


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