# Favorite Glamorous Classical Movements



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

What are some of your favorite movements you would consider glamorous. I know this is a tough question on how to define glamourous music. I think of it as flashy, epic, fascinating, and etc. Here are some movements I think fit this definition that I really like. 
Strauss II - The Blue Danube 



Strauss II - Tales from the Vienna Woods 



Tchaikovsky - First Movement of PC 1 



Tchaikovsky - Basically all of the Nutcracker.
Sibelius - Valse Triste 



Sibelius - Andante Festival


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Glamorous? Hmm, let me see... how about the slow movement from Brahms' clarinet quintet?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

" . . . flashy, epic, fascinating, and etc."

That reminds me of a part of Rameau's _Dardanus Suite_ or possibly the opera itself. I haven't heard or acquired a copy of this in decades, but I remember a section portraying a battle or a charge of mounted soldiers when the drums and so forth sound like the rattling of sabres or spears against shields. (Well, I don't know if that's exactly what it is meant to portray.) It's pretty amazing for a baroque work and was of course an entire lifetime before Beethoven's dreadful _Wellington's Victory_. I think a lot of Rameau stage pieces sound flashy and over-the-top and that is part of their charm. Modern movie composers think they are inventing soundtracks in which one cannot tell sound effect from music, but they've got nothing on Rameau.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Rachmaninov's piano concertos (I don't know them quite well enough to be specific), say the first and second, are quite glamorous. The first time I heard them, I immediately thought of Liberace


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I don't consider any music glamorous at all....I never have and I can never see "glamour" in music.


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## nightscape (Jun 22, 2013)

The first thing I thought of when I saw the word Glamorous was the sweeping version of the love theme from Tchaikovsky's _Romeo and Juliet_. Not sure if that meets your criteria, but there you have it.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I would not consider Sibelius' Valse Triste (which I love) even remotely flashy, epic, or fascinating. To me it is intimate and melancholy.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

The splendid waltz from Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin'


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

Most of Gershwin's orchestral works, eg. American in Paris, Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, Variations on 'I Got Rhythm'. 

Best regards, Dr


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Not sure I know what glamorous music is or how the Nutcracker fits that but I am listening to Glière's symphonies and they have a glitzy, exotic, Fabergé egg quality about them.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I don't consider any music glamorous at all....I never have and I can never see "glamour" in music.


Roxy Music with Brian Eno "playing" a VCS 3 processing unit with sequined gloves, leopard skin jacket and ostrich feathers was before your time I guess. It almost has to be seen to be believed.


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## niv (Apr 9, 2013)

nightscape said:


> The first thing I thought of when I saw the word Glamorous was the sweeping version of the love theme from Tchaikovsky's _Romeo and Juliet_. Not sure if that meets your criteria, but there you have it.


I thought of a different romeo and juliet: prokofiev's


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Ooh perhaps the first movement of Glass's first violin concerto.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I don't associate glamorous with anything positive....soo...no.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Maybe the term Grand would be better. But I think of grand as being partially glamorous in a positive way. Here's a few more..
Beethoven - Symphony 5 last movement 



Mozart PC 17 First Movement 



Mozart Symphony 40 First Movement


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> Maybe the term Grand would be better.


Malcolm Arnold's A Grand Grand Overture is the winner!


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Mozart - Overture to the Magic Flute .


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