# Works which perfectly sum up a composer



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Which Works do you think perfectly sum up a particular composer all on their own without needing anything else

Schumann - Piano Concerto
Brahms - Piano Concerto 2
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto 2


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Haydn Symphony #102. The perfect symphony. Pithy and brilliant with an absolutely astonishing fourth movement of composing virtuosity.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

I always thought the opening of Brahms's 2nd symphony 2nd movement is an amplification of the qualities of his music. I think that people who dislike the inherent qualities in his music will dislike this extract the most.




However, I love it :tiphat:


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

It's neither truly representative nor my favorite of his compositions, but the "Adagio for Strings" (or the 1st Essay for Orchestra, also composed in his mid 20s) seems to me to have been what Samuel Barber was all about.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Nielsen ~ Symphony 4
Janacek ~ Taras Bulba
Rimsky-Korsakov ~ Scheherazade
Smetana ~ Ma Vlast
Messiaen ~ Des Canyons aux Etoiles
Dvorak ~ Symphony 9
Mosolov Piano Concerto 1
Magnard Symphony 4


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Ravel - La Valse; this piece has all the Ravelian fingerprints


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I think it is difficult to "perfectly sum up" a composer with a single piece, particularly one that one is enamoured with. With composers one is less familiar with, it seems easier to choose an exemplary piece.

I recently spent some time reading about Franz Liszt in an effort to know more about his important works. Knowing that his primary instrument was the piano and that he wrote the _Années de Pèlerinage_ in three sections that roughly correspond to his middle peak period and his late period, I felt that it could be considered representative, at least for my purposes.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Composers I think of with one musical calling card: Holst - The Planets; R - K Scheherazade; Smetana - Ma Vlast; Vivaldi - Four Seasons; Corelli - Concert Grossi, Op. 6; Handel - The Messiah; Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto; Bruch - Violin Concerto 1; Schumann - Piano Concerto; Schubert - The Trout; Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique; Franck - Symphony in D minor; Goldmark - Violin Concerto; Korngold - Violin Concerto; Grieg - Piano Concerto; Saint-Saens - Symphony 3; de Falla - Nights in the Gardens of Spain; Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez; Albeniz - Iberia; Granados - Goyescas; Barber - Adagio for Strings; Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra; Berg - Violin Concerto; Bernstein - West Side Story; Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue; Copland - Appalachian Spring; Boulez - Piano Sonatas; Britten - War Requiem; Elgar - Cello Concerto; Faure - Requiem; Hohaness - Symphony 50; Janacek - Sinfonietta; Khachaturian - Piano Concerto; Moeran - Symphony in G; Poulenc - Concerto for Two Pianos; Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf; Rachmaninov - Symphony 2; Ravel - Piano Concerto in G; Respighi - Roman Trilogy; R. Strauss - ASZ; Stravinsky - Rite of Spring; Szymanowski - Violin Concerto 1; Takemitsu - Quotation of Dream. :tiphat:


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

^ That is harsh, Vaneyes  I could never reduce most of those composers to a single work!


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> ^ That is harsh, Vaneyes  I could never reduce most of those composers to a single work!


Whoa, jumping to conclusion can be conducive to serious injury. 

I'm simply listing what listeners, critics, performers, etc. have chosen before me. It doesn't mean anything to my collecting/listening choices. I suggest you not take a calling card as an insult, but as a matter of consensus...much like end-of-year radio station listener votes. :tiphat:


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

Except from The Planets is not at all characteristic of Holst, and The Rite of Spring and the Violin Concerto No. 1 are not at all representative of Stravinsky and Szymanowski respectively, for they created pieces in various styles. I agree, though, that these works contain some of the characteristic traits of these composers. I mean, one can hear Stravinsky both in The Rite and, say, the Symphony in C, but they are not really similar. On the other hand, the Violin Concerto of Szymanowski does not contain elements of Polish Highlanders' folk music, which I consider to be a very important element of Szymanowski's oeuvre.


Best regards, Dr


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

DrKilroy said:


> Except from The Planets is not at all characteristic of Holst, and The Rite of Spring and the Violin Concerto No. 1 are not at all representative of Stravinsky and Szymanowski respectively, for they created pieces in various styles. I agree, though, that these works contain some of the characteristic traits of these composers. I mean, one can hear Stravinsky both in The Rite and, say, the Symphony in C, but they are not really similar. On the other hand, the Violin Concerto of Szymanowski does not contain elements of Polish Highlanders' folk music, which I consider to be a very important element of Szymanowski's oeuvre.
> 
> Best regards, Dr


There seem to be primarily two schools of thought on this thread. Those who personally rate the works, and those who perceive what the consensus is. :tiphat:


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Vaneyes said:


> There seem to be primarily two schools of thought on this thread. Those who personally rate the works, and those who perceive what the consensus is. :tiphat:


It's the kind of question to be played with, perhaps--after all, I'm not sure I think a composer's _entire oeuvre_ completely sums him/her up! :lol:

*p.s.* Shosty's late works--especially the viola sonata--come to mind: he's always quoting himself!


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

Charles Ives - Symphony No. 4
Harry Partch - Delusion of the Fury


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

With all the caveats taken into consideration, this is a great thread to give newbies like me a sort of overview of the terrain of classical music.

I suppose it's like wanting to introduce a class to a poet, say, Wordsworth, and choosing a poem which, if you study it in a lesson, will give you the essential point of view and poetic mannerisms. I'd choose his ode, 'Intimations of Immortality'. 

I can't do the same for any 'big' composer, so for Turlough O'Carolan, I will choose 'Separation of Soul & Body' for its moving Celtic plangency, though 'The Honourable Thomas Burke' runs it very close.


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