# Pieces that you immediately liked



## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Are there any pieces that when listening for the first time you immediately liked? For me it’s the 2nd movement of Beethoven’s 7th symphony and the 1st movement of Brahms 4th symphony, I like the rest as well, but it took me longer to like it so that’s the point of this thread


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite
Tchaikovsky: piano concerto b flat minor, 5th symphony
Dvorak: symphonies 7, 8, 9, Slavonic dances
Mozart: symphony #25, 39, piano concerto #27, clarinet concerto
Haydn: symphony #94, 103, 104
Beethoven: symphonies #5,6,7, piano concerto #5, piano sonata op.13 Pathetique
Mendelssohn: symphony #4
Bartok: divertimento (3rd mvmt)
Bach: Toccata & fuge d minor, "Sleepers awake"


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Beethoven : Piano concertos' 3 and 5.

Beethoven :Triple concerto. 

Chopin: Krakowiak - Concert Rondo in F, Op. 14
I always dreamed I could play them .


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Bach - Harpsichord Concerto no. 1, BWV 1052
Beethoven - Piano Sonata no. 21 "Waldstein"
Brahms - Piano Quartet no. 3
Dvořák - Piano Quintet no. 2
Mendelssohn - Piano Trio no. 1
Schubert - Piano Trio no. 2
Schumann - Waldszenen


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## Nawdry (Dec 27, 2020)

EvaBaron said:


> Are there any pieces that when listening for the first time you immediately liked?


Oh wow, there are so many. Like "infatuation at first hearing"? Here are a few I recall, particularly from early in my classical immersion ...

Bizet: L'Arlesienne Suites (entire)
Beethoven: Symphony 5 (entire)
Brahms: Symphony 1 (especially movement 1, pulled me into all of it)
Piston: Symphony 4 (movements 1 & 3; took a while for the languorous movement 2)
Rozsa: Theme, Variations, & Finale (entire)
Rozsa: Concerto for String Orchestra (entire)
Hindemith: Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber (entire)
Schubert: Symphony 8 (Unfinished, entire)
Schuman: New England Triptych (entire)
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (entire)
Honegger: Symphonic Movement 1 (Pacific 1-2-3)
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (entire)
Vaughn Williams: Symphony 8 (entire)

... and onward from there.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty
Kalinnikov: both symphonies
Mahler: symphony 7
Weinberger: Schwanda the Bagpiper
Beethoven: symphony 7


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)




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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Bach: Suite no. 3 in D major
Beethoven: Triple Concerto
Borodin: Polovetsian Dances, String Quartet no. 2
Brahms: String Quintet no. 1, Symphony no. 2, Symphony no. 4, Violin Concerto
Butterworth, G. : The Banks of Green Willow
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Debussy: Nuages (Clouds) from Three Nocturnes, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor, Humoresque no. 7, Symphony no. 8
Elgar: Cockaigne Overture
Grieg: Elegiac Melody no. 2 ("The Last Spring"), Holberg Suite
Mahler Symphony no. 1
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture, Incidental Music to a Midsummer Night's Dream, op. 61, Violin Concerto
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet
Rimsky-Korsakov: Procession of the Nobles
Schubert: Incidental Music to Rosamunde, Piano Sonata no. 13
Tchaikovsky: Andante cantabile from String Quartet no. 1, Capriccio Italien Overture, Piano Concerto no.1
Vaughan Williams: Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, Oboe Concerto, Symphony no. 3
Wagner: Die Meistersinger Overture, Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, Tannhauser Overture


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Thinking back to teenage years ... Nielsen symphony #5


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I don't have enough fingers to count...Just yesterday it was Carl Czerny's string quartet in d-minor and ages ago it was Nocturnal by Britten. Some more ages ago it was Mozart's 40th and Schubert violin sonatina in a-minor. I have 6 more fingers  Bach viola da gamba sonatas, Messiaen-Turangalila, Shostakovich 5th, Prokofiev-Romeo & Julie, Bartok violin concerto no. 2 and Schnittke-Piano Concerto


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Schubert String Quartet no. 15
Bruckner Symphony no. 7 movement 3
Beethoven String Quartet no. 12 movement 1
Dvorak The Water Goblin
BWV 1056, last night
Some of the warhorses like Tchaikovsky 5, Messiah, Beethoven 5, Dvorak 9
Many others that I did not get on first listen but could tell were good


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Thinking back to my youngster years:

Shostakovich - Syms. 5/9/10
Nielsen - Sym. 3 (1st movement)
Vaughan Williams - Sym. 9
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Dvorak - Sym. 9


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

EvaBaron said:


> Are there any pieces that when listening for the first time you immediately liked? For me it's the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony and the 1st movement of Brahms 4th symphony, I like the rest as well, but it took me longer to like it so that's the point of this thread


It is a very interesting topic! I sometimes fall in love with a composition by listening to it for only once, but I normally have to listen to 1-5 times for a Classical Era composition to like it or 5-10 times for a Romantic/20th century composition to like it. For most Mozart's compositions, I can almost understand and like them by listening to them for only once! For example, I learned Magic Flute in a theater instead of a recording online. I never listened to it before, but I started to like almost every single song in it immediately in the theater. Same for some of his violin compositions like Duo for Violin and Viola K.423 and his seven Violin Concertos. For Romantic pieces, I remember I immediately liked Brahms 4th as well, along with compositions like Brahms Violin Concerto and Sibelius Symphony No. 7. However, I would say liking a composition at the first time of listening rarely happens to me aside from Mozart Compositions.


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Weirdly, I don't get Beethoven quite well. I know Beethoven Violin Concerto and his Symphonies 3,5,9 are really good stuff, but it took me almost 10 times to like Beethoven 3/5/9 and even more times (maybe around 20) for Beethoven VC. I liked his Symphony No. 1 and 2 quite quickly, though. :lol:


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## ansfelden (Jan 11, 2022)

The Gymnopédies by Satie - not sadness, not melancholia, not joy, a bit of everything maybe - immediately touching something.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

I could list all sorts of works, but this rendition of Stokowski's Handel Saul Deadmarch is one that instantly struck me a few years ago:


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

KevinW said:


> Weirdly, I don't get Beethoven quite well. I know Beethoven Violin Concerto and his Symphonies 3,5,9 are really good stuff, but it took me almost 10 times to like Beethoven 3/5/9 and even more times (maybe around 20) for Beethoven VC. I liked his Symphony No. 1 and 2 quite quickly, though. :lol:


_Twenty times?!_ Now your reason for liking Mozart-- that you can like many of his pieces almost immediately-- makes sense. I often sort of like some compositions on first listen, and truly like them on repeated listens. Other times, I like one part of a work (one melody, perhaps, or one motivic fragment) on first listen, and grow to like more of the piece later. Sometimes, I do not like a composition at first-- but even then, after a couple listens, I start to enjoy phrases if not entire movements after a few listens (if I have any chance of liking the work at all). If I didn't like Beethoven's violin concerto after several listens (instead of just a few listens), I would have given up on it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

If it's only a question of "liking," there are hundreds of works that pleased me first time around. Discovering music was an integral part of everyday life, and almost everything I heard was fascinating, from Caruso to grandma's lye soap and the purple people eater (those who grew up in the fifties will know). But there are some works that had a powerful impact at certain points in my life.

_On the Beautiful Blue Danube_ and other music of the Strauss family, my real entryway to "classical" music (at about age 10)
Tchaikovsky: _Piano Concerto #1_ and _Swan Lake_ (about age 12)
Wagner: "Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey" from _Gotterdammerung_ (about age 13)
Beethoven: the late quartets, especially String Quartet in A minor, op. 132, and symphonies #3 and #9 (about age 14)
Wagner: _Tristan und Isolde_ and _Parsifal_ (about age 15-16)
Sibelius: Symphony #7 (about age 17)
Bach: _B-Minor Mass_ (about age 17)


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> If it's only a question of "liking," there are hundreds of works that pleased me first time around. Discovering music was an integral part of everyday life, and almost everything I heard was fascinating, from Caruso to grandma's lye soap and the purple people eater (those who grew up in the fifties will know). But there are some works that had a powerful impact at certain points in my life.
> 
> _On the Beautiful Blue Danube_ and other music of the Strauss family, my real entryway to "classical" music (at about age 10)
> Tchaikovsky: _Piano Concerto #1_ and _Swan Lake_ (about age 12)
> ...


I admire your precocity as a listener. I'm older than 17 and still have difficulty with Sibelius' #7. Could you please recommend me your favorite performance of it?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

EvaBaron said:


> Are there any pieces that when listening for the first time you immediately liked?* For me it's the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony and the 1st movement of Brahms 4th symphony*, I like the rest as well, but it took me longer to like it so that's the point of this thread


Two great choices. I agree heartily.

For me, there have been so many instances where I was captivated immediately upon first hearing that to list them would take the remainder of space on this Forum. Which is probably _why_ I am the great music lover I am!

I will mention (again) my immediate captivation with Tchaikovsky's _Capriccio Italien_, the piece that brought me into classical music. Early on I recall hearing the opening of Brahms's First Symphony and never getting over it, and the same for the opening of Carl Nielsen's "Inextinguishable" Symphony. Many of the pieces already listed on this thread, as well as Howard Hanson's Second Symphony, Barber's and Korngold's Violin Concertos, Cecil Effinger's "Little Symphony", Ned Rorem's Third Symphony, Roy Harris's Third Symphony, Copland's Fanfare, the Rodrigo "Aranjuez" Guitar Concerto, Beethoven's Fifth, Schubert's Fifth, Gunther Schuller's Symphony 1965, Penderecki's _Threnody_, Ives's "Holidays", Finzi's Cello Concerto ... again, so many, too too many to name ....


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## verandai (Dec 10, 2021)

Some of the few pieces I remember liking them at the first hearing:

long ago:
- 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony
- César Franck sonata for violin and piano
- Dvorak 9th symphony

recently:
- 1st movement of Scriabin's 3rd sonata

But generally if it takes several hearings of a piece until I really appreciate it, it's not worth less for me. Therefore the majority of pieces that I really like, I can't remember if it was "love at first sight"


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Xisten267 said:


> I admire your precocity as a listener. I'm older than 17 and still have difficulty with Sibelius' #7. Could you please recommend me your favorite performance of it?


I can't say I have a favorite. I always liked Karajan, Davis, Bernstein and Koussevitzky doing it, but there are dozens now I haven't even heard. I'm sure others here could make (and have made) some recommendations.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

EvaBaron said:


> Are there any pieces that when listening for the first time you immediately liked? For me it's the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony and the 1st movement of Brahms 4th symphony, I like the rest as well, but it took me longer to like it so that's the point of this thread


Somehow, it's unlikely to me to enjoy pieces on my first listening. Usually I need two, three, or even four or more listens to "assimilate" them. This said, here are some works that I remember to have enjoyed in my first encounter with (I put some links in case you want to hear what I heard - the performances are the same as those I listened to at my first time with these pieces):

Bach*** - Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565****
Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain
Beethoven - Sonata no. 14, Op. 27 no. 2 - Movement 1*****
Beethoven - Fur Elise
Beethoven - Sonata no. 17, Op. 31 no. 2 - Movement 3
Beethoven - Mass in C, Op. 86 - Kyrie (Movement 1)
Bach - Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
Chopin - Rondo à la Krakowiak, Op. 14
Bach - Cantata BWV 209 - Movement 1
F. Couperin - Domine, salvum fac regem
F. Couperin - Lauda Sion Salvatorem

These were the first twelve pieces that came to mind, all early discoveries by me, some happening when I was still a child. Not necessarily I would think of these performances as my favorites nowadays, but at the time they all surely sounded very good!

*: This piece may actually be by other composer, not J.S. Bach.
**: This performance is adapted for orchestra. The words are in castilian as this is the only complete version with the cartoon I found on Youtube. 
***: This performance is adapted for orchestra and with cuts.



Woodduck said:


> I can't say I have a favorite. I always liked Karajan, Davis, Bernstein and Koussevitzky doing it, but there are dozens now I haven't even heard. I'm sure others here could make (and have made) some recommendations.


I see. Thank you. :tiphat:


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## 4chamberedklavier (12 mo ago)

I'm in my Bach phase right now, currently listening to his instrumental keyboard works. At the top of my head, the ones I remember liking immediately were the organ fugues BWV 544, BWV 548, and the F minor prelude & fugue from WTC book II.
















Anthony Newman's probably my favorite interpreter of Bach. I just like it fast


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## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

oh god,,, this brings a lot of pleasant precious memories

I remember 20 or 15 years ago, windows xp had some musical samples that comes with it by default, among them was the 2nd movement of the 9th, I used to play it in a loop and wonder what the rest of it??


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I've had a few instant "sit up and take notice" pieces on the first hearing:

Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto - 3rd mvt
Beethoven 7th Symphony - 2nd mvt
Dvorak 4th Symphony - 3rd mvt
Haydn 88th Symphony - 4th mvt
Marriage of Figaro Overture
Shostakovich 5th Symphony - 4th mvt
Holst Planets - Jupiter
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto - 1st mvt


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I remember hearing Joan Sutherlands for the very first time, I thought : I do hope that all angels are singing like that .


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## Gothos (Jan 11, 2018)

The first thing that came to mind is the first movement of Schubert's fifth symphony.I can remember where I was,what I was doing,and the thrill it gave me.Up until that point I had only dabbled in Classical music.It made me realize that this genre of music was worthy of further exploration.
Thirty-odd years later and I'm glad I decided to expand my musical horizons.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 - These are what got me started with CM at about 14 years of age more than 40 years ago.
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Tchaikovsky 5th and 6th Symphonies
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Grieg Piano Concerto - Love at first "sight" and it remains my favorite piano concerto
Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 'Italian'
Kalinnikov both symphonies - An instant delight when I first heard them only 10 years ago - I thought I knew all the Russian Romantic era composers by then, but boy was I wrong!
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Elgar Cello Concerto
Grieg Peer Gynt Suite

And quite a few others. There are a few composers that grew on me over time like Sibelius and Shostakovich, but in general most of my all time favorite compositions were in fact love at first "sight".


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Olias said:


> Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto - 3rd mvt


I had the same thing but then with the 1st movement of the 3rd piano concerto. I thought the opening was really good so I wanted to listen to all of it. I have had that with more compositions, just by hearing the first 30 seconds I want to hear the whole piece, that's why the intro is so important. So I had it with Schubert's 8th symphony, Beethoven's 4th and 9th symphony and Mozart's don Giovanni overture


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Stabat Mater - Paul Mealor 
Symphony #3 - Gorecki
Requiem - John Rutter
Requiem for My Mother - Rebecca Dale 
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace - Karl Jenkins


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## Jogaga (Nov 24, 2021)

Tchaikovsky - Violin concerto op.35

Liszt -Consolation No.3

Vivaldi - Flautino Concerto RV.445

and many more... But this I'm still in love with


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Dvorák Symphony 9
Beethoven 4th and 5th piano concertos 
Tchaikovsky violin concerto
Schubert's 8th Symphony "Unvollendete"
Shostakovich 5th, 10th Symphonies

There's quite a few more...


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

The first movement of Beethoven's 1st comes to mind right away.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

The Goldberg Variations performed by Lang Lang clicked with me the first time I heard it. I don't love Gould's versions, but his are the first ones I heard.

So if that counts...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

One particularly striking memory is hearing Farben from Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra. I only heard it once, didn't get the name, but it stayed with me. In fact, I tried to track it down, but how do you track down something like that? I remember 20 years later hearing it for the second time, and I immediately recognized it and made sure I wrote the name down. 

The same thing happened when I heard the Kyrie of Schubert's Mass No. 2. I heard it once, didn't get the name, but 20 years later (when I got back into classical music) I recognized it. 

I'd say something I remembered after 20 years would qualify for an immediate like. Shucks, I've heard a lot of pieces that I've forgotten after 20 minutes.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I am exploring Ludovico Einaudi on the moment , so far I like what I heard .


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

JS Bach partitas, English and French suites, Goldberg Variations, Cello solo suites, Brandenburg Concertos, violin solo sonatas, violin sonatas with harpsichord.

Henry Purcell`s organ and harpsichord music, secular songs.

Handel`s conerti grossi.

Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd`s consort music.

Louis Couperin and Froberger`s organ pieces and harpsichord suites. 

Almost all kinds of baroque instrumental music have been immediate hits with me.


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