# What piece or pieces have made you go WOW on first hearing, if any?



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

For me it would be the opening to Brahms' 1st symphony and the last movement of Mahler's 1st sym and the 1st movement of his 2nd sym. I suppose I could add Saint Saens' Organ Symphony with that beautiful opening chord and manic ending, too.

Now I would say Beethoven's 5th sym but I was only young when I first heard it and I assumed everyone was born with it preinstalled in their brains anyway. 

With regards to the Brahms mentioned above I was introduced to it by a teacher when I was doing GCSE music when I was 14. I remember nearly crying and getting huge goosebumps with tingling all over. I put my head in my hands and wondered why I had never heard it before.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Aside from some of my very earliest experiences of classical music, when the "WOW!" was about the very discovery of classical music, I think of my first hearings of the operas of Wagner, the late quartets of Beethoven, and Bach's B-minor Mass. I'm still going "WOW!" over them.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Of course I don't remember the first time I heard most works, but among the ones I can remember being really impressed by the first time: 

Albéniz: Iberia

Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus

Bach: Cantata #82 "Ich habe genug" 

Bruch: Violin Concerto #1 

Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne 

Crumb: Black Angels 

Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Feldman: Three Voices for Joan La Barbara 

Glass: Aguas da Amazonia 

Haydn: Symphony #104 "London" 

Kodály: Háry János, op. 15 

Ligeti: Lux Aeterna 

Lucier: I Am Sitting in a Room

Martinů: Field Mass, H. 279 

Purcell: King Arthur, Z. 628 

Rebel: Les Élémens 

Reich: WTC 9/11 

Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms 

Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, op. 53


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

An early one was Debussy's Preludes. Also Rach's 2nd piano concerto. I'm quite a measured person really and don't 'wow' quite as much as I probably ought to.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Most recently, Abrahamsen's "Schnee." I remember thinking upon first listening, "this is a masterpiece." It seems basically to have disappeared from the current repertoire, however. 

But I still like it anyway.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

The "WOW" factor started up for me about three years ago. After purchasing a new audio system, I decided to venture into choral music written after the turn of the century.
Ola Gjeilo's "Dark Night of the Soul" was the first. This was quickly followed by works from Paul Mealor, Erik Esenvalds, Karl Jenkins, Will Todd, and others.
Most recently I've been"WOW'ed" by Rebecca Dale's "Requiem for My Mother" and Kim Arnesen's "Magnificat".
I also experience the "WOW" with orchestral and chamber music as well, though not as often. William Grant Still's "Mother and Child" blew me away the first time I heard it.....and every time since.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Bach Mass in B Minor

Wagner Ring Cycle

Every Mahler Symphony

Tallis Spem in Alium

Messiaen The Birth of the Lord

Mozart Requiem

Shostakovich Symphony 10

Rite of Spring

Mozart Marriage of Figaro


Those are only a couple of the many works I have "Wowed" at on first listening.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Best wows that I can remember:

Mahler's last movement of 2nd symphony - last movement of 4th - last movement of Das Lied von der Erde.
Shostakovich's 10th symphony.
Bach's St. Matthew Passion - Mass in B minor - WTC (a three to four hour wow).
Mozart's Oboe Quartet (1st movement) - Requiem - Mass in C minor
Weber's Duo Concertante for Clarinet and Piano (1st movement)
Vaughan Williams - Symphony no. 9
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I have distinct memories of being wowed by:

Rachmaninoff 2nd PC
Beethoven's 3rd, 7th, and 9th as well as the VC
Dvorak's Cello Concerto, VC, and Symphonies 7, 8, 9
Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Clarinet Concerto, and Marriage of Figaro
Mendelssohn's VC
Holst's Planets
Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man
Shostakovich 5


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## Pure Fool (Jul 30, 2018)

The Overture to Tannhauser.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

If I go Wow on the tenth listen, I know it's a good piece.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

The first piece that ever made me go "WOW", was "The Rite of Spring". Followed soon after by "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta". 

I am still discovering new music that makes me go "WOW!".


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

Mozart - Queen of Night aria Der Hölle Rache

Beethoven - Choral Fantasy

Pachelbel Canon in D

Handel - Hallelujah Chorus

The bigger question is what is a "wow" factor for you? I think everyone is different!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Many, many over the years. But an initial "Wow!" does not necessarily guarantee longevity of appreciation.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

MarkW said:


> Many, many over the years. But an initial "Wow!" does not necessarily guarantee longevity of appreciation.


So true. A few months ago I heard Khachaturian's 3rd symphony for the first time, and my response was a "wow". After a few additional listenings, I've become rather bored with the work.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

The true classics are the ones where you say "Wow!" on the hundredth hearing, with more enthusiasm than ever before. There are actually quite a few of those!


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

beetzart said:


> For me it would be the opening to Brahms' 1st symphony and the last movement of Mahler's 1st sym and the 1st movement of his 2nd sym. I suppose I could add Saint Saens' Organ Symphony with that beautiful opening chord and manic ending, too.
> 
> Now I would say Beethoven's 5th sym but I was only young when I first heard it and I assumed everyone was born with it preinstalled in their brains anyway.
> 
> With regards to the Brahms mentioned above I was introduced to it by a teacher when I was doing GCSE music when I was 14. I remember nearly crying and getting huge goosebumps with tingling all over. I put my head in my hands and wondered why I had never heard it before.


I'm pretty sure that I have never liked any music on the first listen.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

janxharris said:


> I'm pretty sure that I have never liked any music on the first listen.


What motivates you to try again?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> What motivates you to try again?


Generally I will play a piece a few times and might notice something that piques my curiosity; and from that, I might come to understand the rest of the piece.


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Definitely Beethoven's 7th, particularly the final movement and still feel the same way. Also Vaughan Williams's Oboe Concerto and Bruckner's 9th. All three are unique.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I remember hearing the famous trio from Cosi fan Tutte and wondering whether music could be more beautiful


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

starthrower said:


> If I go Wow on the tenth listen, I know it's a good piece.


I get that. First impressions can be so wrong and it has been quite a while that I have been very suspicious of music I like on first hearing. Few make it to tenth hearing! This causes difficulties, of course, because if I don't like something why should I listen to it again? I think I am slowly getting a sense of when and where it might be worth my time listening to a piece a few times. And, sometimes, it is reputation: people who I respect and tend to agree with like it so I invest time seeing if I do, too.

Anyway, there is a lot of contemporary music that I would happily sit in a concert listening to for the first time but which is boring me after five or so hearings.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

The "wow factor" on first hearing hasn't happened for quite a long time, and as a couple of people above have said, absolutely correctly, a tenth-listen "wow" is almost certainly more valuable.

That said, the ones I can really remember as having knocked me for six first time in my youthful days would be the Beethoven symphonies - most likely No.7 - and the Bartok Second Piano Concerto. With the latter, it was the beginning of a lifelong affection and affiliation, with the former, it was the beginning of a lifelong affection and affiliation!

I should add that Shostakovich 5 and the Janacek Sinfonietta had nearly as strong an effect......


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^ Yes, that's right. It used to happen in my earlier listening days and I guess as one learns, and becomes very attuned to, a composer's language it is more likely.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

In no order:

Brahms PC No. 1
Prokofiev PC No. 2
Prokofiev PC No. 3
Bach Keyboard Concerto No. 1
Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand
Sibelius En Saga
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Prokofiev Symphony No. 3
Martinů Symphony No. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter)
Hovhaness PC No. 1
Hovhaness VC No. 2
More.....


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I'm like "WOW!" right now, while I listen for the first times the _Missa Pange Lingua_ by Josquin. My impression is that it must be the most beautiful music with choir a capella that I've listened to. I had previously tried some sacred works by Machaut and Palestrina but none had this effect on me.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Besides the most known and deservedly hailed examples, these are some of my "WOW!" experiences:

Bruckner - Symphony No. 4: It was the first symphony I ever heard by him, and the experience was overwhelming. Such a level of grandeur in music blowed me away (I was 16 IIRC).

Lutoslawski - Cello concerto

Alwyn - Concerto for harp and string orchestra _Lyra Angelica_

Bantock - A Celtic Symphony

Tchaikovsky - Piano trio

Strauss - An Alpine Symphony, Death and Transfiguration

Chausson - Concert for violin, piano and string quartet


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## GSHAPIROY (Oct 25, 2017)

Mozart's Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major K. 449


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

The prelude to Parsifal had a massive 'wow' factor on first listen, and continues to do so. It's just so beautiful and intriguing and feels like it _really_ matters. I listened to it many times over a short period to really let it sink in before giving the whole opera a go and am now hooked. It seems to alter the feeling of time in a way that's a bit similar to Bruckner. First experience of listening to the whole opera was also a big 'wow', and also continues to be.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Most of my favorite music did not make me go WOW on first hearing. But sure, there are some examples: 
Mozart Symphony No. 41, particularly movement 4; I don't think I've ever been more instantly floored by any piece of music.
Rachmaninoff PC No. 2
Handel's Dixit Dominus
And quite a lot of solo piano music, such as Chopin's Etudes, Rachmaninoff's Preludes...
Jon Leifs - Hekla


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

DeepR said:


> Most of my favorite music did not make me go WOW on first hearing. But sure, there are some examples:
> Mozart Symphony No. 41, particularly movement 4; I don't think I've ever been more instantly floored by any piece of music.
> Rachmaninoff PC No. 2
> Handel's Dixit Dominus
> ...


Hekla is so cool! I just heard it a couple weeks ago when someone nominated it for the angry music game, and I loved it.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Tchaikov6 said:


> Hekla is so cool! I just heard it a couple weeks ago when someone nominated it for the angry music game, and I loved it.


About 2 months ago I watched the Hekla volcano on location in Iceland while listening to this piece. Sadly, no eruption, but still, wow!


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. And it still makes me 'Wow'


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ Yes, that's right. It should continue to make you think "wow" ... it isn't just the first time or whenever you first get it.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Rite of Spring, every time


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Mozart Figaro
Mozart symphony 40
Beethoven symphony 7
Mozart /requiem


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

The first time that I heard Martha Argerich play Prokofiev's third piano concerto, it just blew me away. I have heard others play this piece very well. But none of the other renditions hits me like Argerich's performance.


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## rodrigaj (Dec 11, 2016)

Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor, Op34

Wow, indeed!


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

For me it was the first time I heard Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jongen. 

Another wow is the Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor by Francis Poulanc. 

Of course any of the organ works of Messiaen.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Schoenberg - Erwartung, Lied Der Waldtaube, violin concerto, string quartet no.2


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Some I remember being "wowed" by include the Glagolitic Mass, Durufle's Requiem, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, when I first heard more of Swan Lake than just the famous parts, Turangalila-Symphonie, Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto, Shostakovich's 4th, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy...

The earliest "wow" I can remember is Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture. I heard it on a cassette tape at my grandparents' house when I was 8. I was blown away. Had never heard anything like it. 

And yes, I still love all of these works.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Yes, a lot. But here are the most important ones for me

*Josquin*'s Stabat Mater dolorosa: my gateway to Renaissance music. Still probably my most favorite choral piece
*Dufay*'s Lamentatio sanctae matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae: Even earlier music!
*Byrd*'s Pavan & Galliard, as played by Glenn Gould: for Renaissance keyboard music.
*Louis* Couperin's Suite in F: for early baroque keyboard music
*Bach*'s Violin Sonata in C major, played by Szigeti
*Gluck*'s selected music from Orfeo ed Euridice
*Mozart*'s Piano Concerto 17,20, and 24, String Quartet No.23 in F major, K.590
*Beethoven*'s Bagatelle Op.119 and 126
*Donizetti*'s Lucia di Lammermoor (Callas/Karajan)
*Schubert*'s String Quintet
*Schumann*'s Gesange der Frühe, a pretty unique masterpiece. 
*Brahms*' Piano Quintet, Clarinet Trio and Quintet, Nänie, Gesange der Parzen, Schicksalslied and Intermezzi op. 117
*Wagner*'s Die Walkure (Act 2) and Die Meistersinger (Act 3)
*Dvorak*'s Cello Concerto and Symphony no. 7
*Verdi*'s Falstaff and Don Carlo (Act 4)
*Debussy*'s first movement of La Mer
*Sibelius*' Symphonies no.2,4,5,6, and 7
*Poulenc*'s Piano Concerto and oboe sonata


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Kurtag's Kafka Fragments


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

Chopin first ballade, nocturne op 27.2, barcarolle
Beethoven Kreutzer sonata, appasionata, violin concerto, pianoconcerto 4 
Mozart Don Giovanni, pianoconcerto 20 and 23, a minor pianosonata
Wagner Tristan 
Brahms Symphony 1
Schubert Unfinished symphony, Die Stadt, Der Doppelganger, string quintet
JS Bach: Chacone
Ravel: Left hand concerto
Prokofiev: piano concerto 2
Probably forgetting a lot


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Not my first listen, but Rudolf Firkusny playing Janacek's On The Overgrown Path had me humming along in a Gouldian like rhapsodic state. If you haven't listened to this classic DG recording, do yourself a favor and find the time. Firkusny (who studied with the composer from age five) and Janacek are a match made in heaven. Sublime music making.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Beethoven's Fifth is one of them. After 6758392 listenings, it's definitely still "WOW!". I think that I'll nickname it as the _"WOW!" symphony_ from now on.


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## adrien (Sep 12, 2016)

Most recently the piece that I went Wow to was (yesterday) "Become Ocean" by John Luther Adams.

A long time ago I remember going WOW on first listen to Pink Floyd's record "Animals". There have been a lot of others in between and prior.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Recently, Thomas Adès' _Totentanz_ for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra. I heard it live, and it absolutely took my breath away. Can't wait for it to be recorded at some point...


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

The two I remember from my early teens (many decades ago now!) are the opening of the Brahms Second Symphony, and a pirated version of the Mahler 3rd Symphony dating from the early 1950s.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Two Hungarian masterpieces: The Miraculous Mandarin and Kafka Fragments.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Zoltán Kodály - Sonata for Solo Cello
Schubert - String Quartet 15


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Philip Glass - Violin Concerto
Schubert - String Quintet in C major, D 956

Both made me go Wow on first hearing. 
Both were discovered through Bulldog's voting games, and I'd never have known otherwise. :tiphat:


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Jacck said:


> Zoltán Kodály - Sonata for Solo Cello
> Schubert - String Quartet 15


But in most instances I need repeated listenings to really appreciate the music. One such case is Suk's Asrael symphony. It was not that interesting the first 3-4 listens, but now it is amazing. I did not like Beethoven at first listening either, especially his late quartets need some time to sink in. But when they do, they are some of the best and deepest music ever composed. So while the WOW effect wasn't there on first listening, it is there now everytime I listen to these masterpieces.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Jacck said:


> Zoltán Kodály - Sonata for Solo Cello


That's one of the only pieces I knew by Zoltán Kodály, but fairly recently I discovered his "Peacock Variations" (in part because of another member's mentions of it in a forum "project"). It's a very attractive set of orchestral variations.


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## Brucknerphile (Sep 5, 2018)

There have a bunch of "wows!" in my life. Three that that I remember are:

1) Just out of high school (in the mid 1960s) and have gotten my first component amplifier with FM radio, turntable, large speakers, etc...stayed up late in the middle of the night to listen to my first moments of FM stereo radio through headphones...it was late and didn't want to keep siblings and family awake...wanted to listen to just a few minutes before toddling off to sleep. Well it turns out that I had just missed the opening announcement of the Budapest Quartet version of the Ravel String Quartet. Was totally entranced I guess as much as by the first moments of stereo headphone listening as by the music. Well I HAD to stay up to hear the announcement of what the music was and who played it. As I remember the other three movements were good but not as grabbing as that first movement...what a beautiful theme!

2) Alan Hovanhess' (spelling may be off of his name) "Mysterious Mountain" lush, grabbing harmonies that fill a brain with pictures of mountains, mist, etc.

3) John Adams "Harmonielehrer" First heard through late night headphones shortly after its release. Couldn't sleep much that night after hearing it. An amazing piece.


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## emegele12 (Dec 12, 2018)

I used to get very frustratred with not liking music (that I knew was marvelous) on the first listen. I always only start to appreciate it on the fourth, fifth time maybe. And, what is weirder, I never listen to a piece if I haven't felt that "the time has come" for me to go explore it - and it feels like the composer/the piece chooses the time to be known and listened to by me, not the opposite. I know it's weird, but everytime I tried to force myself into a piece, I ended up rejecting it.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

emegele12 said:


> I used to get very frustratred with not liking music (that I knew was marvelous) on the first listen. I always only start to appreciate it on the fourth, fifth time maybe. And, what is weirder, I never listen to a piece if I haven't felt that "the time has come" for me to go explore it - and it feels like the composer/the piece chooses the time to be known and listened to by me, not the opposite. I know it's weird, but everytime I tried to force myself into a piece, I ended up rejecting it.


Not weird. It's the same for me. A lot has to do with how you feel at the time, the sound sometimes, the era it was written in. I rarely love something from the beginning, and those I do usually fizzle away from memory more quickly than those that took more time to appreciate.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Beethoven Symphony 9 finale
Beethoven Symphony 5
Schubert String Quartet No. 15
Beethoven String Quartet No. 12
Bach Sheep May Safely Graze
Handel Messiah
Bruckner Symphony 7 Scherzo
Haydn Surprise Symphony Second Movement
Mozart Piano Concerto 27 Second Movement
Brahms Op 117/1
Brahms Piano Concerto 1
Dvorak Symphony 9


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2020)

Shostakovich 11
Sibelius 5
Beethoven 6

Just to be pedantic for a moment, I didn't actually go "Wow!", but the pieces I've noted provoked a strong emotional reaction and, perhaps more importantly, the kind of instant comprehension or connection that doesn't happen very often. For example, I really like the Eroica, but I became accustomed to it, rather than ever reaching a "Wow" moment.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Jacck said:


> Zoltán Kodály - Sonata for Solo Cello
> Schubert - String Quartet 15


I took to Schubert String Quartet 15 immediately as well, perhaps because I was a Bruckner fan.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Mahler 3
Bach Johannes Passion, Hohe Messe, Fantasia & Fuga in g BWV 542, Chaconne
Beethoven, Grosse Fuge, Arietta from op. 111 
Monteverdi, L'Orfeo
Messiaen, Turangalila


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## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

I know many people here don't like this piece but..
Gorecki: Symphony 3.
I impatiently skipped part of the first movement to when the soprano finished singing and the strings played the melody. And the sound that was produced was so emotionally moving that I just listened to the rest of the movement for 10 minutes, in an almost hypnotic trance. This had never happened to me before, and it convinced be that this piece was the most emotionally moving piece I had ever heard.


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2020)

NLAdriaan said:


> Mahler 3
> 
> Messiaen, Turangalila


You reminded me - yes to Turangalila, and also Mahler 6.


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## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> I rarely love something from the beginning, and those I do usually fizzle away from memory more quickly than those that took more time to appreciate.


Yes, it's like a painting - you often need to look at it multiple times to understand it and appreciate the musical elements.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> You reminded me - yes to Turangalila, and also Mahler 6.


Both for me too.
I'd still like to know what sort of brothel Boulez had in mind when he called the Messiaen "brothel music". Imagine that piece being piped when you are in a room!!!!


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2020)

mikeh375 said:


> Both for me too.
> I'd still like to know what sort of brothel Boulez had in mind when he called the Messiaen "brothel music". Imagine that piece being piped when you are in a room!!!!


Er...well...struggling to envisage being in such a room in the first place, of course...but as long as it was Pt 6 - Jardin du sommiel d'amour - I guess that would be bearable!

Apparently, he also called it vomit. I guess he wasn't keen!


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

One modern work that had me gripped from the first (I even played it to my wife who doesn't do avant garde) was Grisey's _Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil_. There are many other pieces that have gripped me from first hearing but I was reminded of this one by another thread.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

That's a fairly rare phenomenon for me when it comes to classical music. Usually takes multiple listens, for me to feel as if I'm really coming into intellectual/emotional contact with the music. That said, Bruckner 7 was a an unceasing succession of internal 'WOWS' from first contact. As was Beethoven's 10th string quartet. 

Good jazz on the other hand strikes me with greater immediacy (due to its improvisational nature), so when a band is really tight and a soloist is really burning, I'm just listening to the flow of the present moment, not focusing on the broader architectural design of the music like I am when I'm listening to a symphony.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

The first one that comes to my mind is Beethoven 9th! Mainly because of the final choral movement.


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## Superflumina (Jun 19, 2020)

Sibelius' 5th symphony comes to mind.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Most recently: Penderecki's 6th symphony.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Parade Erik Satie


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Way back when I was a kid, it was that stomping beginning of Liszt's Totentanz that I heard on the local classical music station. It still has that effect.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)

There were definitely more, but I have a strong memory of my first listening to Brahms's Piano Concerto #2


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

Boito Mefistofele
Wagner Parsifal
Franck Violin Sonata

I saw these two operas in my first season 6 years ago. I heard Franck's work in a student concert for the first time.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

I actually just heard this work for the first time a few weeks ago:


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Janacek's Sinfonietta. Hugely impressed on first hearing, and a full-blooded performance still wows me.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Most classical music requires multiple listens for one to appreciate it, but there are some exceptions:
Schubert String Quartet 15
Dvorak Symphony 9
Dvorak The Water Goblin
Handel Messiah
Bach B Minor Mass
Bruckner Symphony 7
Beethoven Symphony 5
Beethoven Symphony 9
Vivaldi Four Seasons
Max Richter-- Vivaldi Recomposed
Monteverdi L'Orfeo
Haydn Cello Concerto 1
Beethoven Grosse Fuge


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Sibelius's 5th. Mahler's 4th, and 1st, and 2nd. Boulez's Répons. Stravinsky's Le Sacre.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

*Sibelius: Symphony No. 7.* This work clicked on me this year. I had been overlooking a work of elevated majesty and ineffable beauty.

*Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15.* I want this work played at my funeral, particularly the bitter 1st movement.

*Strauss: An Alpine Symphony.* For many this is a "bombastic" work, but not for me. The journey it represents has a transcendent and completely convincing and pictorial narrative.

*Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1.* Quite likely my favorite violin sonata ever, and one of the Prokofiev's most inspired works IMO.

*Nielsen: Symphony No. 5.* I have a special sympathy for Nordic composers, being Nielsen and Sibelius the composers who stand out the most. This symphony is quite frankly superb. I remember my first acquaintance with this work more than 10 years ago. I didn't understand it that much, but with more listens it was blossoming till I realized it's a towering masterpiece.

*Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio.* An incredibly expressive piece. If Tchaikovsky had only composed this work, it would have been enough to say he was a composer of major stature.

*Pettersson: Violin Concerto No. 2.* If I had to describe this concerto by using only two words, they would be: achingly draining.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Vaughan Williams' "Lark Ascending" and "5th Symphony".
Both of them were love at first three bars.


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

flamencosketches said:


> Sibelius's 5th. Mahler's 4th, and 1st, and 2nd. Boulez's Répons. Stravinsky's Le Sacre.


I agree wholeheartedly on the Sibelius. It was the first piece I thought of upon seeing the title of the thread. I remember distinctly the first time I heard the symphony. I was not into Sibelius yet at the time, but I was absolutely stunned by the final movement. My eyes might have been a bit watery.


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## trbl0001 (Sep 13, 2020)

Two pieces spring to mind:

Prelude to Löhengrin. I'd been listening to classical music for a couple of years at the time, but didn't really know any Wagner, thinking it would be too intense, something to save for later. When it came on the radio it sounded like nothing I'd ever heard. I never really became a Wagner disciple, but still love this piece.

Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto. I'd just treated myself to a keyboard - decided to pick up piano again after 20 years and this was when I started. I was keen to get going, but put the radio on while I was unpacking and was so taken up with what I heard that I had to listen to the end before I could start playing. Can't remember which movement it was when I put the radio on, first I think , but it played to the end.


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## Gothos (Jan 11, 2018)

Schubert's 5th symphony.First heard it in the 80's on my Walkman.
It was a beautiful early April morning and the music seemed to fit the day.


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## Geoff48 (Aug 15, 2020)

It’s going back many years when I didn’t know much classical music but was beginning to appreciate it I remember one of the first concerts I attended. From memory it was the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, probably with John Pritchard. It included the Mendelssohn 1st piano concerto played by a distant relative of the composer. And the work made an immediate impression. Then in the second half they performed Mozart’s 40th Symphony. And that opening movement was also incredible. Coincidentally both pieces in G minor. And still two of my favourite works.
Only one other work made such an immediate impression over the next few years. I bought a cheap LP for a Vivaldi two violin concerto. On the other side was a concerto by Nardini. Probably not an original work. No idea who was performing it and the record has long done. But I played it three times in succession that night.


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## Christine (Sep 29, 2020)

Shostakovich Symphony #11, #7 and #8


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2020)

Nino Rota, Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

"Liebestod" of Tristan und Isolde
Adagio of Bruckner 7
Lots of Bach cantata movements
Final climax and coda of Mahler 2

And an honorable mention - the second movement of Shostakovich 10. I laughed hysterically throughout; I thought it was the most over-the-top, satirical, neutoric, wacky off-the-wall thing I've ever heard. I still listen to it whenever I want to have some fun.


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## Posauner (Nov 8, 2020)

Most pieces, I either don't recall my first listen, or more often, it takes several listens to get a feel for the piece. Sometimes I reach a WOW eventually, sometimes not.

But there are a few I remember having an immediate visceral reaction to the first time I heard them.

Sibelius: 5th Symphony. What a finale, and those isolated crashing chords to end it!

Wagner: Ring and Parsifal. Latest additions to this list, within the last couple of years. The first time I listened to the full operas, I couldn't believe I had lived for 47 years missing out on them.

Mahler: 2nd Symphony. I was about 18. Those transcendent final moments had me in tears in my darkened bedroom.

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring. I was first exposed to this in the chopped-up Fantasia version, but was so blown away I went and found a recording of it. I went through a period where I was listening to it 3-4 times a day for weeks on end.

Strauss: Alpine Symphony. From the opening dark chords, to the glory of the summit and back, it swept me along on remarkable journey.


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## Bella33 (Oct 22, 2020)

This is my favourite, i can listen hours


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Just from this year


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

In terms of *listening* I'd also say Strauss's Ein Heldenleben and the final scene from _Salome_, and the Rosenkavalier Trio. Also the last 10 minutes or so of Shostakovich's 7th AND the ending of Prokofiev's _ Alexander Nevsky_.

I'd say though that the biggest "WOW!" piece for me is the six part Ricercar from Bach's Musical Offering. It never ceases to amaze me.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

*Mahler Symphony #2*: SO good I still remember sitting in the beach parking lot with my toddler son (he was 2 then, he's 10 now) blown away listening to it. The down side? The experience was so perfect that I have only listened to it three more times because no other experience could have topped that initial perfection and I want to preserve it.
*
Verdi: Don Carlo*. Blown freaking away


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## AY Goat (May 26, 2021)

WOW. I saw your title and was about to write Brahms no 1... Then saw that it's given u the _wow_ too! Well, Wow! Maybe there's something really special about this peace.


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## Symphonic (Apr 27, 2015)

John Adams' 'Harmonielehre'.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I have probably posted this earlier (but am too lazy to check through the pages) but it is not uncommon for me to find that music that makes me think "wow" on first hearing often makes me think "urgh" after a few hearings. But my first impressions of new-to-me _performances _of works I know well can often be reliable (to me!) even if the initial thrill gets tempered and put into perspective after a while.


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## Charlie Mac (May 23, 2015)

Im Abendrot always gets to me (not the too slow Norman/Masur version, though) and the second movement of Brahms' Op. 15, which is about as perfect as a piano concerto's slow movement can get, for me. Oh, and Mozart's KV 478 and Beethoven's Ninth.


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## Clinicalyabrasiv (Apr 21, 2021)

Sergei Prokofiev's 1st symphony in D major conducted by the London Symphony Orchestra


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## bluto32 (Apr 25, 2015)

Five that spring to my mind most of all, in the order I first heard them:

Rachmaninov - PC No. 2
Brahms - PC No. 1 (especially 1st movement)
Tchaikovsky - Manfred Symphony
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8
Bruckner - Symphony No. 8


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I think my biggest wow was on first hearing Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog'. A very close second was hearing Beethoven's Pastoral the first time. 

My two biggest musical wows.


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## Auntie Lynn (Feb 23, 2014)

Akutagawa - Music for String Orchestra


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Beethoven: Symphonies III, V, VI, IX
Wagner: The Ring Cycle
Wagner: Lohengrin
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Bruckner: Symphony no. VIII
Bruckner: Symphony no. IX
Bruckner: Symphony no. VII
Mahler: Symphonies I, II, III, IX
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. V
Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence
Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
Glazunov: Raymonda
Glazunov: The Seasons
Glazunov: Symphony no. II
Glazunov: Symphony no. VI
Glazunov: The Sea
Glazunov: Stenka Razin
Glazunov: Piano Sonata I
Rimsky-Korsakov: Opera "Sadko"
Rimsky-Korsakov: Opera "Mlada"
Rachmaninoff: The Miserly Knight
Rachmaninoff: Symphony no. I
Scriabin: Symphonies I & III
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Myaskovsky: Symphonies VI, XVI, XXVII
Myaskovsky: Prelude and Rondo for piano, op. 58
Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Shostakovich: Symphonies IV, V, VII, VIII, XI
Popov: Symphonies I and V
Knipper: Symphony IV "Poem of the Konsomol Soldier"
Lysenko: Taras Bulba
Revutsky: Symphony no. II
Gliere: Symphonies I & III
Lyatoshynsky: Symphonies I & III
Lyatoshynsky: Piano Trio I
Lyatoshynsky: Ukrainian Quintet
Dankevich: Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Brusilovsky: Symphony no. V
Skulte: Symphonies I, IV, V
Skulte: Ballet "Sarka, Brooch of Freedom"
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Amirov: Arabian Nights (ballet)
Kazhlayev: Gorianka (Maiden of the Mountains)
Taktakishvili: Symphonic Poem "Mtsyri"
Khachaturian: Spartacus
Khachaturian: Symphony no. I
Makarova, Nina: Symphony
Busoni: Piano Concerto
Verdi: Otello
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Puccini: Tosca
Puccini: The Girl of the Golden West
Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Lehar: Der Zarewitsch
Lehar: Giuditta
Atterberg: Symphonies II & III
Nielsen: Symphonies III, IV, & V
Sibelius: Kullervo
Sibelius: Symphonies I, II, V
Alfven: Symphony no. IV
Melartin: Symphony no. IV
Melartin: Six Pieces for Pianoforte, op. 7
Merikanto: Juha
Tubin: Symphonies I - IV, VIII
Kapp, Artur: Symphony no. I
Auster, Lydia: Piano Concerto
Strauss: Salome
Liszt: Totentanz
Liszt: Dante and Faust Symphonies
Dohnanyi: Symphony no. I
Bartok: Kossuth
Dvorak: Symphony no. IX
Suk: Asrael Symphony
Suk: Ripening
Novak: In the Tatra Mountains
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Schmitt: Anthony et Cleopatra
Schmitt: La tragédie de Salome
Dukas: Le Peri
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Massenet: Herodiade
Massenet: Esclarmonde
Enescu: Oedipe
Magnard: Guercœur
Franck: Symphony in D
Chausson: Symphony in B-flat
Bax: Symphonies II, III, VI
Bax: Christmas Eve
Elgar: Symphony no. II
Walton: Symphony no. I
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
Leighton: Cello Concerto
Leighton: Piano Sonata I
Moeran: Violin Concerto
Vaughan-Williams: Symphonies I, II, V, VI
Coleridge-Taylor: Variations on an African Air
Ives: Symphony no. II
Creston: Symphony no. II
Diamond: Symphony no. I
Braga-Santos: Symphony no. IV
Paderewski: Piano Sonata
Karlowicz: Rebirth Symphony


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Orfeo said:


> Beethoven: Symphonies III, V, VI, IX
> Wagner: The Ring Cycle
> Wagner: Lohengrin
> Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
> ...


Wow! But some of those are _meh _:lol:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

HenryPenfold said:


> Wow! But some of those are _meh _:lol:


Which ones, I'm curious.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Fortunately, plenty. But the pieces that come to mind right now are the last 3 sonatas by Debussy: the Cello sonata, the sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp and the Violin sonata. I almost get an urge to cry every time I think that Debussy was there at the height of his creativity and had projected made plans to write 3 more sonatas with the last one bringing together all of the instruments of the first 5.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Prokofiev's Toccata. Fortunately Horowitz's was the first version I heard and still makes me think wow.






I'm sure I heard this long before I paid attention to it, but I thought wow when I learned the piece, and again when I heard Debussy himself play it. No other version comes close in my mind.






First movement of Mozart's Symphony 39. Especially in the hands of Britten.






The Commendatore Scene in Don Giovanni.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 2 recording; Vienna Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov, which I have listened to many times over. It was my introduction to the "neglected composers" issue.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Recently, I listened to Corigliano's piano concerto and thought, yeah, that's got something....


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Come to think of it, the opening of Ravel's Piano Trio was a Wow moment first time I heard it. And it still is.


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## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

As far as I remember:

~1999: Smetana: The Moldau
2003: Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5
2004: Schubert: Symphony No. 9: Scherzo
2004: Wagner: Siegfried, 2nd+3rd Act
~2005: Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Biggest WOW: ~2008: Bruckner: Symphony No 9: Finale (Eichhorn 1992 recording)
2014: Sviridov: Time Forward
~2018: Herrmann: Vertigo
2020: Sviridov: Music for Chamber Orchestra
2021: Herrmann: Symphony No. 1


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## amadeus1928 (Jun 16, 2021)

Beethoven's symphonies 3-9 (especially the 9)
Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor
Mozart's Requiem
Verdi's Requiem
Actually all of Verdi's stuff
Also all of Puccini's stuff
Rossini's Stabat Mater
Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
Handel's oratorios
Bach's Passions (but especially Matthew)
Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass
Beethoven's masses
Bach's Mass in B minor
Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim
Liszt's Figaro/Don Giovanni fantasy
Liszt's La Campanella
Mahler's 2nd symphony
Dvorak's Requiem
Dvorak's Stabat Mater (but not to the same extent as the Requiem)
Requiem for Rossini


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