# Which is the most original but still beautiful piece you've ever heard?



## Kajmanen (Jun 30, 2017)

I recently discovered Lieutenant Kije Romance by Prokofiev and found it to be very original, to me, but it was still very beautiful and sweeping. Not just experimental and weird.

What is the most original piece you've heard that keep this nice balance between beauty and uniqueness?


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

A piece which strikes a nice balance between beauty and uniqueness for me is *Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune* by Debussy.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I have an issue with the "original but still beautiful" concept - why should originality tend to preclude beauty?

But anyway, the first one I can think of is Michael Gordon's _Rushes_. You don't often hear music for 7 bassoons!


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I didn't know originality and beauty were in eternal conflict


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I also reject the premise of this question and am tempted to say something slightly trollish like Stockhausen's _Kontakte_.

But instead I will say Riley's _In C_.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Which is the most unoriginal but still ugly piece you've ever heard?


Doesn't work does it :lol:


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

isorhythm said:


> I also reject the premise of this question and am tempted to say something slightly trollish like Stockhausen's _Kontakte_.
> 
> But instead I will say Riley's _In C_.


Trollish?


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## Kajmanen (Jun 30, 2017)

ST4 said:


> Which is the most unoriginal but still ugly piece you've ever heard?
> 
> Doesn't work does it :lol:


Hahaha! What about : Which is the most original & beutiful piece you've heard?


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

ST4 said:


> Trollish?


I do think _Kontakte_ is beautiful, but I generously decided to interpret the question as meaning something like "conventionally pretty" rather than "beautiful" because I think that's what OP was getting at.

(Also, to be honest, I don't know enough about electroacoustic music to say how original _Kontakte_ really was.)


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## malvinrisan (Feb 17, 2017)

Hey ST4. What chord is that in your profile pic it looks advanced.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

The massive, ethereal (but obviously dissonant) chord spread out through the orchestra after 11 minutes through this (little-known) masterpiece: :kiss:


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

If anything is the "emperors new clothes" (that pathetic phrase), it is the idea of beauty which is quite literally synonymous with "IMO" or "in my opinion". 

Same with the idea of something being (or having to be) "pleasing", whatever that means. 

Think about these terms a little more:

Nice
Beautiful
Pleasing
Fine
Great

If you ever wanted to say nothing ever more than simply not saying anything, then you've said it by using these terms. 

The only way I could express the frustration with this would likely be through memes of gifs, it's hard to articulate this but I will elaborate


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

The prelude of Tristan und Isolde. Original? Yes, it changed the course of music. Beautiful, even more so:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The best is yet to come. :angel:


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pugg said:


> The *worst* is yet to come. :angel:


Fixed it :devil:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ST4 said:


> Fixed it :devil:


You removed it yourself from the internet .


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

I'll probably die before all the secrets of the cosmos are discovered anyway, I'm just some dude right? :lol: 

We are living on a rock floating in space, I don't think earth cares about us humans and what we think is "beautiful"


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ST4 said:


> I'll probably die before all the secrets of the cosmos are discovered anyway, I'm just some dude right? :lol:
> 
> We are living on a rock floating in space, I don't think earth cares about us humans and what we think is "beautiful"


It's all part of the greater/ bigger plan.......


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

Ravel's Piano trio, or the concerto for left hand


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Melvin said:


> Ravel's Piano trio, or the concerto for left hand


The concerto for the left hand is a good choice. It was not the very first of its kind, but unusual enough at the time to qualify, and it is a really beautiful work.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Schumann's Symphonic Etudes.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Kajmanen said:


> I recently discovered Lieutenant Kije Romance by Prokofiev and found it to be very original, to me, but it was still very beautiful and sweeping. Not just experimental and weird.
> 
> What is the most original piece you've heard that keep this nice balance between beauty and uniqueness?


I'm not sure I understand your premise. Are you stating or implying that originality can't be beautiful?


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Omicron9 said:


> I'm not sure I understand your premise. Are you stating or implying that originality can't be beautiful?


I think the premise was restated here:



Kajmanen said:


> Hahaha! What about : Which is the most original & beutiful piece you've heard?


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

mmsbls said:


> I think the premise was restated here:


Ah, thank you..............


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

I second Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2017)

Georg Friedrich Haas _Limited Approximations_

Probably the best piece of music of this millennium thus far.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

isorhythm said:


> I also reject the premise of this question and am tempted to say something slightly trollish like Stockhausen's _Kontakte_.
> 
> But instead I will say Riley's _In C_.


Why would that be trollish? That's a great piece.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

A scientific panel has determined that there are 7,516 correct replies to this question. Here is one of those correct replies:


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

ST4 said:


> Think about these terms a little more:
> 
> Nice
> Beautiful
> ...


You're a tough cookie, ST4! How else is someone to explain whether something was pleasing or not?

"I found the piece adequate for my needs. It did not repulse me." doesn't quite have the same ring as saying, "it was beautiful", does it?


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

ST4 said:


> If anything is the "emperors new clothes" (that pathetic phrase), it is the idea of beauty which is quite literally synonymous with "IMO" or "in my opinion".
> 
> Same with the idea of something being (or having to be) "pleasing", whatever that means.
> 
> ...


The concept of beauty has been with us for many thousands of years. It's never, ever going anywhere. It would probably be more fruitful to try to reach a deeper understanding of it than to reject it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The Ives Concord Piano Sonata.

Nothing more original than that incredible work, which reaches the heights of pure poetry.

It takes a bit of an effort because the work is so startling unique, but it is well worth it.


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