# The Greatest Piece of Music in the History of Mankind!



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

My friends, I am now a very old man, and there is not much time left in my life. It would be a shame for me to pass without giving testimony to the greatest piece of music our species has produced.

The piece is none other than Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue. However, in order to bring this piece to its full potential required Stokowski's brilliant orchestration. Between Bach and Stokowski you have the greatest musical achievement of mankind.

This piece is the closest thing to musical perfection the human race has ever produced:


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2016)

If you don't mind, I prefere this one.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Traverso said:


> If you don't mind, I prefere this one.


I don't mind at all, as long as you're content with the lesser sound and diversity.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Klassic said:


> I don't mind at all, as long as you're content with the lesser sound and diversity.


Get over yourself.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Some folks won't consider my selection a piece of music - Bach's complete WTC.

As for Stokie's Bach arrangements, I have nothing positive to say.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Elmas Piano Concerto #3.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

DaveM said:


> Elmas Piano Concerto #3.


DaveM, you're so funny.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Have you been taking this stuff, Klassic?


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

I am just grateful we have the Passacaglia and Fugue. Without it mankind would be less.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

It's awesome and all, but I'm not even sure I'd think of it as Bach's greatest composition. But then just about all his compositions are his greatest compositions.


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## bioluminescentsquid (Jul 22, 2016)

Every piece by Bach's a hit 

Here's my preferred version


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Greatest Piece of Classical Music Ever: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Florestan said:


> Greatest Piece of Classical Music Ever: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.


Sorry, but this is not equal in counterpoint or development.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Well, as to that, the greatest piece ever is Ian Anderson's (or Jethro Tull's) A Passion Play.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)




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## Guest (Oct 1, 2016)

bioluminescentsquid said:


> Every piece by Bach's a hit
> 
> Here's my preferred version


I had the same choice (see above)


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Missa solemnis .


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Greatest piece of music ever written: non est


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

MarkW said:


> Missa solemnis .


I'm sorry but that's not even Beethoven's greatest.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

There's no such thing.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

All-time greatest? The 1812 Overture! I'm not sure why the question even needs to be asked.


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## Edinburghtenor (May 26, 2016)

Stravinsky's _*Symphonie des Psaumes*_


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Nothing will ever be better than John Cage's 4'33"


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Leroy Anderson: _The Waltzing Cat_.


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2016)

Becca said:


> Nothing will ever be better than John Cage's 4'33"


Might be some truth to that.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Mahler Symphony no 2, without a shadow of doubt.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Brahms would have said, Bach’s Chaconne from his solo violin partita. "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."


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## bioluminescentsquid (Jul 22, 2016)

Traverso said:


> I had the same choice (see above)


Same performer, different organ (This is the larger of the 2 Riepp organs in Ottobeuren abbey - so Bach with a rather heavy French accent  I love the blaring French reeds in the pedal.)


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Becca said:


> Nothing will ever be better than John Cage's 4'33"


In terms of simplicity, no work is greater than 4'33"


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Florestan said:


> In terms of simplicity, no work is greater than 4'33"


Yes, its economy of musical material is second to none.


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## Biwa (Aug 3, 2015)




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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I'm sorry but that's not even Beethoven's greatest.


Well, we disagree.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Who is we then...........


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Well, nice game. I'm gonna play too. I think the greatest piece of music, if you define music as deliberate organisation of making sound for a purpose, would have to be the first piece of music in history. All music after that is merely improvement of an invention, of something that did not exist before. So we could consider that first step into music as the greatest achievement. I would not be surprised if music was "invented" for warfare purposes as many things are. It could of course also have been developed for mating purposes or more effective hunting or food gathering. I look for explanations of fundamental issues to evolutionary biology. Anyhow, the greatest piece of music is the first piece of 'folk music'.

Of course this is not what Klassic means by the greatest piece of music ever composed. That question could only be answered, if it could, by stating and agreeing on the criteria to judge that. As we've not agreed on that so far I'll put in A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. Because I like it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> Nothing will ever be better than John Cage's 4'33"


I think 4'34" would be better.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Yes, its economy of musical material is second to none.


I would vote for 0'00". But that's just me. I'm double parked.


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## James Mann (Sep 6, 2016)

The question of this thread has me intrigued. If there ever could be a greatest piece, what ever could it be?


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

James Mann said:


> The question of this thread has me intrigued. If there ever could be a greatest piece, what ever could it be?


This question is impossible to answer....without conducting a TC poll first to critically assess the universal greatness of the pieces listed.(P.S. this was a joke. Please do NOT start another poll).


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

There's no objective criterion for "the greatest piece of music in the history of mankind".

And if we go for the most popular as the determining factor, it will probably be Queen's _Bohemian rhapsody_ or Led Zeppelin's _Stairway to heaven_.

If we would restrict it to classical music (which is not done in the title or first post), it might be Beethoven's 9th (although many would vote for it knowing only the Ode to Joy movement), Ravel's Bolero, Puccini's Nessun dorma, Strauss' Blue Danube, Wagner's Ride of the valkyries, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or Vivaldi's Four Seasons (to name a few candidates that are popular also among those who do not listen to classical music regularly, who outnumber the classical music lovers).

If we would restrict it to classical music AND classical music lovers, I'm pretty sure we have a poll somewhere on TC that already does that.


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## micro (Jun 18, 2016)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I'm sorry but that's not even Beethoven's greatest.


It is his greatest and most underrated work.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

James Mann said:


> The question of this thread has me intrigued. If there ever could be a greatest piece, what ever could it be?


Enlighten us please?


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Mozart's Don Giovanni, of course.............


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

poconoron said:


> Mozart's Don Giovanni, of course.............


But of course it'll be entirely subjective, so Don Giovanni is subjectively a correct answer to you. Some might say Bach's Mass in B minor or WTC, others might say Wagner's Tristan und Isolde or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. It's subjective. The only way to have an objectively correct answer is to say Beethoven's String Quartet #14, Op. 131.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

DiesIraeCX said:


> But of course it'll be entirely subjective, so Don Giovanni is subjectively a correct answer to you. Some might say Bach's Mass in B minor or WTC, others might say Wagner's Tristan und Isolde or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. It's subjective. The only way to have a objectively correct answer is to say Beethoven's String Quartet #14, Op. 131.


hahaha, true!

the only objective truth that can be is ours...
"falsehoods are truths of other people" as Wilde said


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

micro said:


> It is his greatest and most underrated work.


I think we may need a poll about that ....


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Someone start a poll with as many options as possible (I think it is 16) and list 16 top works from a variety of composers and we will all vote on what of those 16 is the greatest ever piece of music. I would start it but my knowledge is too slim to properly capture the appropriate 16 works.

EDIT: Make sure it is NOT multiple choice. Should also include one selection "Other" for those who can't find their top work in the listed works.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

The Old Bazaar in Cairo by "Cheerful" Charlie Chester. It's deathless. :tiphat: BTW I'm pretty sure it's on YouTube!


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Casebearer said:


> Well, nice game. I'm gonna play too. I think the greatest piece of music, if you define music as deliberate organisation of making sound for a purpose, would have to be the first piece of music in history. All music after that is merely improvement of an invention, of something that did not exist before. So we could consider that first step into music as the greatest achievement. I would not be surprised if music was "invented" for warfare purposes as many things are. It could of course also have been developed for mating purposes or more effective hunting or food gathering. I look for explanations of fundamental issues to evolutionary biology. Anyhow, the greatest piece of music is the first piece of 'folk music'.
> 
> Of course this is not what Klassic means by the greatest piece of music ever composed. That question could only be answered, if it could, by stating and agreeing on the criteria to judge that. As we've not agreed on that so far I'll put in A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. Because I like it.


Now we're talking.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)




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## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

Bach's St.Matthew Passion is certainly one of, if not the most complex piece of music ever composed, and probally to ever be composed in the future.

One of the biggest contenders for the greatest piece of music ever created.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I'm not sure which is the greatest, but with my back to the wall and my wife holding a threatening rolling pin, raised in her right hand, I'm sure it would be one of a gazillion great Bach fugues that I would choose from.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Wagner's Tristan& Isolde is also a masterpiece.


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## Isiah Thanu (Nov 1, 2016)

Becca said:


> Nothing will ever be better than John Cage's 4'33"


certainly nothing will be quieter


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Isiah Thanu said:


> certainly nothing will be quieter


What if an ambulance passes near the concert hall?


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

And what if that ambulance driver was playing 4'33" while driving? 
Too much 4'33" might tear down the very fabric of space...


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

John Cage's number pieces where a huge accomplishment of mankind


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pugg said:


> Wagner's Tristan& Isolde is also a masterpiece.


Matter of taste :angel:


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

The Grosse Fuge


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

I'll start a poll on it.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

ST4 said:


> Matter of taste :angel:


And excellent taste by the way.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

jdec said:


> And excellent taste by the way.


Agreeable, I love Wagner's operas


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Mahler symphony no 8.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

If someone put a gun to my head, I would say the complete WTC by Bach.

If the same someone said "yes, on piano!", he would have to kill me, for even in the shadow of death, I would defiantly reply, 

"No, on harpsichord!"


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

hpowders said:


> If someone put a gun to my head, I would say the complete WTC by Bach.
> 
> If the same someone said "yes, on piano!", he would have to kill me, for even in the shadow of death, I would defiantly reply,
> 
> "No, on harpsichord!"


Agree with you on the WTC choice but I would probably choose death over listening to harpsichord even if it is playing the WTC


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Agree with you on the WTC choice but I would probably choose death over listening to harpsichord even if it is playing the WTC


Check out Sir Thomas Beecham's view on the virtue of the harpsichord. :lol:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

So because what one pre-HIP conducting dinosaur said in ancient history, disqualifies the love for the harpsichord that thousands of HIP music lovers currently have?

Beecham never heard the sensual sounds produced by a modern recreation of an 18th century harpsichord by recent makers.

The type of instruments Beecham was referring to were pieces of crap.

Harpsichord construction and reconstruction have come a long way, baby.

Long live the Baroque HIP movement!!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Barbebleu said:


> Check out Sir Thomas Beecham's view on the virtue of the harpsichord. :lol:


Or an underperforming female cellist!


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

hpowders said:


> So because what one pre-HIP conducting dinosaur said in ancient history, disqualifies the love for the harpsichord that thousands of HIP music lovers currently have?
> 
> Beecham never heard the sensual sounds produced by a modern recreation of an 18th century harpsichord by recent makers.
> 
> ...


Where in *my* post do I make any statement regarding the harpsichord? I merely directed those with a desire to do so to Beecham's remark. Sir Thomas's opinion does not necessarily reflect the view of the management!


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## sloth (Jul 12, 2013)

There's no greatest piece in my opinion, music as a language has a great potential, it can say silly things or complex beautiful meanings. We need both. As human beings we shouldn't be so full of ourselves. Music has always been here, what our best minds, like babies playing with lego, produced are just pale imitations of the infinite movement of the universe (I know, this sounds a bit new agey sorry! :lol.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Art Rock said:


> There's no objective criterion for "the greatest piece of music in the history of mankind".
> 
> And if we go for the most popular as the determining factor, it will probably be Queen's _Bohemian rhapsody_ or Led Zeppelin's _Stairway to heaven_.


More like Stairway to Boredom. God I hate that piece.
Sorry, OT.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

If "greatest" means the piece that most succesfully captures the greatness and timelessness of space in sound, then Steve Roach - Altus, which also one of my favorite pieces of music.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

sloth said:


> There's no greatest piece in my opinion, music as a language has a great potential, it can say silly things or complex beautiful meanings. We need both. As human beings we shouldn't be so full of ourselves. Music has always been here, what our best minds, like babies playing with lego, produced are just pale imitations of the infinite movement of the universe (I know, this sounds a bit new agey sorry! :lol.


You're opinion is a valuable as anyone else's.


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## sloth (Jul 12, 2013)

Pugg said:


> You're opinion is a valuable as anyone else's.


bear with me


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Pugg said:


> Mahler Symphony no 2, without a shadow of doubt.





Pugg said:


> Mahler symphony no 8.


 At least you're consistent with your composer pick.


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

Barbebleu said:


> Check out Sir Thomas Beecham's view on the virtue of the harpsichord. :lol:


"The sound of a harpsichord - two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm. " ― Thomas Beecham

...for those who don't feel like Googling...


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> At least you're consistent with your composer pick.


Indeed, one can changes his mind now and then.
Edit;
But when the gun is hold to my head I choose * 8*


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

sloth said:


> bear with me


I will do, promise.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

When Johannes Brahms stumbled upon Bach's "Chaconne" in 1877, he simply couldn't believe his eyes. "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man [Bach] writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

lextune said:


> "The sound of a harpsichord - two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm. " ― Thomas Beecham
> 
> ...for those who don't feel like Googling...


Beecham never heard the sound of an accurately restored or reconstructed harpsichord. If he was being an honest musician, he would have had to have thought differently if he lived during the HIP movement.


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

Biwa said:


>


This has to be the greatest..... Chopsticks, at least! 
Seriously, I was always amazed that he could even move his fingers that way, with all the heavy bling he wore...


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

To answer the original question
Mozart PC No.23 
Right, that's that question decided now what's next


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## neofite (Feb 19, 2017)

Great topic. And I enjoyed listening to some of the suggestions for the first time,

The serious replies to this question refer to works that were written a century or more ago. Pehaps a naive question and perhaps it has been discussed elsewhere, but is there any possibility that another work of the same level of craftsmanship, depth and beauty will be written in the near future? Why not?


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## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

neofite said:


> Great topic. And I enjoyed listening to some of the suggestions for the first time,
> 
> The serious replies to this question refer to works that were written a century or more ago. Pehaps a naive question and perhaps it has been discussed elsewhere, but is there any possibility that another work of the same level of craftsmanship, depth and beauty will be written in the near future? Why not?


I don't know but I wish somebody would just go ahead and compose it already. How hard could it be?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Klassic said:


> My friends, I am now a very old man, and there is not much time left in my life. It would be a shame for me to pass without giving testimony to the greatest piece of music our species has produced.
> 
> The piece is none other than Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue. However, in order to bring this piece to its full potential required Stokowski's brilliant orchestration. Between Bach and Stokowski you have the greatest musical achievement of mankind.
> 
> This piece is the closest thing to musical perfection the human race has ever produced:


How about the 3rd movement of Sibelius's 4th symphony.
Or his 5th symphony.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Genesis - Supper's Ready.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

The Grosse Fugue without any doubt. We are a poorer species if indeed Beethoven did not have children.


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## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

I don't go for "greatest", but my one of my favourite pieces at the moment is Beethoven's deservedly famous _String Quartet No. 14_. Hard to pick a favourite movement, but how about the fourth (the theme & variations)?


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## 433 (Jan 4, 2017)

Anything by Brahms


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## Jacob Brooks (Feb 21, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Mahler symphony no 8.


This has been my very favorite piece for quite a while. It is the best rendition of resurrection I have yet seen. It is often called a very simple piece but there is so much going on in it and it is very complicated motific-ly and thematically (and at the intersection of these two realms) that takes many listens to understand. Certainly Mahler's best and I would also give it the spot of the greatest piece of music written.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

The first one...............


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Rite of Spring...... I feel it is still light years ahead of what else has been written.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Phil loves classical said:


> Rite of Spring...... I feel it is still light years ahead of what else has been written.


Definitely a contender.

My choice would be Sibelius's 7th symphony...I have listened to it so many times now and still find it staggering. It took him 10 years to complete and, excepting Tapiola and the music for the Tempest, he wrote no more...the 30-year 'silence of Jarvenpaa'...

Perhaps this final section sums-up the importance of the work.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I don't think it is possible to find the greatest piece of music ever written, but if pressed, I would probably choose Bach's Mass in B minor.


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## Capeditiea (Feb 23, 2018)

Sorabji's Organ Symphony No. 1


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Bruckner 8 and 9 are close; if together they formed somehow one piece, I'd vote for it.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Has Beethoven's 6th been mentioned yet?


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## billeames (Jan 17, 2014)

Regarding Beethoven Missa Solemnis not being the greatest ever. 

Hello, I respectfully disagree. What would you say is his Best (Beethoven)? Thanks.

You May have mentioned SQ 14. I also think other great pieces could arguably be the best, as in Brahms symphonies, Bruckner 8 or 9. Saint Matthew Passion was mentioned earlier. These are all great.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


> Bruckner 8 and 9 are close; if together they formed somehow one piece, I'd vote for it.


I have always struggled with Bruckner...will give him another go.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Has Beethoven's 6th been mentioned yet?


Love that piece.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


> Bruckner 8 and 9 are close; if together they formed somehow one piece, I'd vote for it.


Any particular movement or section that you can suggest as a highlight?


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

You're all wrong :devil: It's Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Here's a poll that I ran recently to identify the best recordings:

Your Favourite Recording of Beethoven's 7th Symphony (Voting Round)


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Templeton said:


> You're all wrong :devil: It's Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Here's a poll that I ran recently to identify the best recordings:
> 
> Your Favourite Recording of Beethoven's 7th Symphony (Voting Round)


Maybe I am missing something, but only the famous second movement really grabs me.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

janxharris said:


> Any particular movement or section that you can suggest as a highlight?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


>


Thanks...I'll give it a listen.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

janxharris said:


> Thanks...I'll give it a listen.


Alright, but just so you know: I didn't like it after one listen. It takes time.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


> Alright, but just so you know: I didn't like it after one listen. It takes time.


Indeed - that's the norm for me too.


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

janxharris said:


> Maybe I am missing something, but only the famous second movement really grabs me.


Try the 4th movement. Not the best sound on this clip but a great performance.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Templeton said:


> Try the 4th movement. Not the best sound on this clip but a great performance.


Thanks.................


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

I know what the greatest composition is, and I have the only recording of it! Due to my vile selfishness and the wretched treatment I impose upon fellow music lovers, I will neither reveal nor share it with any others...BAHAHAHAH!!! :devil:


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## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

Mozart's 41st Symphony!


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Has Beethoven's 6th been mentioned yet?


That work is more popular with the fans than other composers. Debussy saw it as the weaker one between 5th and 7th for instance.


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

I like Beethoven's 6th because it shows a different side of Beethoven. Most of the rest of Beethoven's popular and acclaimed works seem to represent a sense of struggle as if Beethoven is fighting a secret war with himself. Except for the brief thunderstorm, the 6th reveals a different side to Beethoven that is serene and calm. When my youngest son was about 7 or 8 I was playing Beethoven's 6th in the car and just as it started, my son said "It sounds like birds waking up in the morning." 

What could be more beautiful than that?


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> That work is more popular with the fans than other composers. Debussy saw it as the weaker one between 5th and 7th for instance.


It's interesting to me that Debussy would put down Beethoven's 6th where it seems that the 6th is musically closer to Debussy than any other Beethoven symphony. With Debussy's own pieces so often painting pictures from nature (i.e. "Clair de Lune"), I'd think he'd empathize more with LvB's 6th.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


>


Thanks again. Bruckner's music doesn't seem to work for me.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Templeton said:


> Try the 4th movement. Not the best sound on this clip but a great performance.


I guess it's just not my thing. Thanks anyway.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Boston Charlie said:


> It's interesting to me that Debussy would put down Beethoven's 6th where it seems that the 6th is musically closer to Debussy than any other Beethoven symphony. With Debussy's own pieces so often painting pictures from nature (i.e. "Clair de Lune"), I'd think he'd empathize more with LvB's 6th.


Technically the 6th is more repetitive with less motivic development than 5 and 7. I think that is what Claude was getting at. Easier listening Ludwig. But it is quite seductive.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

janxharris said:


> Thanks again. Bruckner's music doesn't seem to work for me.


...yet 

/15char


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

try this Bruckner


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

janxharris said:


> I guess it's just not my thing. Thanks anyway.


Oh well, never mind. 'Different strokes for different folks' as they say and my original remark was obviously not intended to be taken seriously. I am sure that you have lots of other works that you enjoy.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

DeepR said:


> ...yet
> 
> /15char


I'll continue to revisit Bruckner's work...for years I didn't like Sibelius's 7th and now it is my all-time favourite piece.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Just as an aside, these two marvelous Bach performances posted by others show just how different the pitch of different organs can be. The first organ is actually closer in sound to B minor by today's standard pitch than to C minor. The second is closer to C# minor in its actual pitch than to C minor. Consequently, neither performance sounds like it's being played in C minor. The pitch of modern Concert A has changed over the years, and something written in C minor may not sound in C minor depending on the instruments used. What remains the same is where the notes fall on the keyboard regardless of how they sound in pitch compared to the modern tuning.


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## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

I really like the Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582. The Greatest Piece of Music in the History of Mankind? Maybe.


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

The most famous, popular, and frequently performed piece ever written:


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

_Le nozze di Figaro_. End of.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

gellio said:


> _Le nozze di Figaro_. End of.


End of nothing. Not as long as I'm on this forum. :devil:

Like most operas, _Figaro_ is a collection of pieces, most of them short, separated by recitatives and hung on a story which provides the whole thing with coherence. It's really not possible to judge such a production by the same standards one would apply to more musically unified compositions.

If I were to vote for Mozart here, I might take his String Quintet in G-minor.

If...


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Like most [Wagner] operas, [fill in name] is a collection of recitatives, most of them long, separated by motifs and hung on a story which provides the whole thing with coherence. It's really not possible to judge such a production by the same standards one would apply to more musically melodic compositions.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> ...a collection of recitatives, most of them long, separated by motifs...


This doesn't describe any work I'm acquainted with.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Mt Rushmore of classical music works:

Beethoven, Symphony No 9
Bach, St Matthew Passion
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Wagner, Tristan und Isolde


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Klassic said:


> My friends, I am now a very old man, and there is not much time left in my life. It would be a shame for me to pass without giving testimony to the greatest piece of music our species has produced.
> 
> The piece is none other than Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue. However, in order to bring this piece to its full potential required Stokowski's brilliant orchestration. Between Bach and Stokowski you have the greatest musical achievement of mankind.
> 
> This piece is the closest thing to musical perfection the human race has ever produced:


 Not a bad choice in the scheme of things. There's something epic about the combination of the two. I see nothing wrong with Stokowsky doing these Bach transcriptions. After all, he was originally an organ player! So what could be more natural for him in the same way that Ravel transcribed Mussorgsky's _Pictures at an Exhibition_?

https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Stokowski-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B000002S9M


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

I don't know, but Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil is a fair shout.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I never really liked Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor and there are lots of keyboard compositions by JS Bach I regard more highly. It's not bad, but feels a bit dry and technical as it proceeds, compared to his more wonderful ones. For example I used to play this, BWV 944, one of my absolute favourites. I think it is one of his pieces that convey his most tragic emotions.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

during my explorations of classical music, the single greatest musical achievement that I have come across, is the *cycle of Bach cantatas*. I have not heard of all them, just a couple of dozens, but every one of them is unique and is a masterpiece.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

hammeredklavier said:


> I never really liked Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor and there are lots of keyboard compositions by JS Bach I regard more highly. It's not bad, but feels a bit dry and technical as it proceeds, compared to his more wonderful ones. For example I used to play this, BWV 944, one of my absolute favourites. I think it is one of his pieces that convey his most tragic emotions.


Strange how differently we listen to music. Because I think BWV 944 feels a bit dry and technical, while BWV 582 conveys some of Bach's most tragic emotions.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

premont said:


> Strange how differently we listen to music. Because I think BWV 944 feels a bit dry and technical, while BWV 582 conveys some of Bach's most tragic emotions.


Those are my sentiments exactly.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Greatest Piece of Classical Music Ever: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.


I am afraid I might have to change that response form two years ago. Now I might say Beethoven's Third, or Ninth. But I really cannot decide.



Klassic said:


> Sorry, but this is not equal in *counterpoint or development*.


Surely we can't decide the greatest piece of music on those criteria alone.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Mt Rushmore of classical music works:
> 
> Beethoven, Symphony No 9
> Bach, St Matthew Passion
> ...


those works are not some Dakota hill of 1700m, but rather Mount Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga and Lhotse


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> End of nothing. Not as long as I'm on this forum. :devil:
> 
> Like most operas, _Figaro_ is a collection of pieces, most of them short, separated by recitatives and hung on a story which provides the whole thing with coherence. It's really not possible to judge such a production by the same standards one would apply to more musically unified compositions.
> 
> ...


Wow.........you make writing a world-class opera sound so simple. I wonder why it took Beethoven *years* to write Fidelio?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Jacck said:


> those works are not some Dakota hill of 1700m, but rather Mount Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga and Lhotse


One of them I would put on *Mount Trashmore*. :lol:

But Beethoven characterized it better when he noted that *the sacred art of music "ought never to permit itself to be degraded to the position of being a foil for so scandalous a subject*."


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

1. Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses, Liszt
2. Annees de Pelerinage, Liszt
3. Hungarian Dances for Piano, Liszt
4. Piano concerto No.1, Liszt,
5. A Faust Symphony, Liszt.

End of. 

:lol::lol::lol:


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Fritz Kobus said:


> One of them I would put on *Mount Trashmore*. :lol:
> 
> But Beethoven characterized it better when he noted that *the sacred art of music "ought never to permit itself to be degraded to the position of being a foil for so scandalous a subject*."


I love Beethoven, but he was being insufferably pompous, pontificating, pretentious and haughty in making that comment. Other than that, it was fine.............


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