# music comes down to a series of moments



## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Music is like life in many ways since they both are temporal we can say that a specific moment in music can touch is more so than another, just like life 

So, I have introduced this thread, in order to hear about specific moments in musical pieces that you love, that make you cry, essentially, *that move you*. You can also mention a performer if seperating the piece from the interpretation would be hard to do.

It could be, for example, the violins in the opening bars of Brahms' 4th or the the timpani rolls to evoke thunder in Berlioz symphonie fantastique or maybe the closing moments of the slow movement of Debussy's string quartet.

I am not looking for a favourite. That would be impossible, right? Just ones that spring to mind. Maybe something you are listening to today.

Maybe a moment that always makes you say 'Oh God, that is beautiful'

I think this is such an important element in the enjoyment of music for all of us. Please be as passionate as you like!

Thanks 

Jaime


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Mahler 2nd - I movement..

there is a huge crescendo orchestral climax which contains the movement towards the recapitulation. There are these huge rhythmic brass figures which produce a huge chord (maybe a polychord, or a 13th chord with various pedals held on) and this dramatically resolves to the tonic in a single beat.

When i get to this point I have butterflies in my stomach.


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## KaerbEmEvig (Dec 15, 2009)

Is this limited to classical music only? (I'm asking this since we do not have a section dedicated to mixed discussions - there's one for classical and one for 'non-classical'.)

I will start with classical examples so as not to breach the thread rules in case there are any. I will have to give several pieces a listen in order to locate those parts. May take some time.

Chopin's Concerto in E minor - when the first two minutes after the piano first comes in. Roughly 14:30 - when the 4:00-6:00 section is 'repeated'.

Chopin's 4th Impromptu, the one he regretted writing for some odd reason.

Chopin's Winter Wind.

Beethoven's Fuer Elise (Therese?), obviously.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

A couple that I like are the Daybreak/Mountain theme from Eine Alpinsinfonie and the Swan theme from Sibelius 5 Mvt 3 .


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

Rachmaninoff, B minor prelude, when the theme comes back and is now accompanied by a pulsing bass. That build up, is, for some reason, very emotional.

Brahms, fourth symphony, fourth movement, the coda. We hear the strings going down and the brass playing three chords full force. It's right before the cadence. I don't know why, but those strings, always give me goosebumps.


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

In the last mvt. of Sibelius 5 where the strings break from their pulsating syncopated repeated notes into the most gorgeous heart-breaking theme. Do you know where I mean?

Also the last couple of bars of Rach's 2nd and 3rd concertos. My god that man can climax!

The "love through redemption" leitmotif from Wagner's Ring

The beginning of the development of Brahms' 3rd (1st mvt.) Also the coda to his 4th (1st mvt.)

A little minor inflection in the slow mvt. of Mozart's clarinet concerto, if you know the bit I mean.

Haydn, 104, last mvt., there is a sudden change of tonal direction that makes me smile every time.

Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe, the first "orgasm" in the 2nd suite.


There may be some more so I'll keep thinking and posting. This is a very good thread btw. Do you ever listen to a piece just to hear that one moment that moves you? What do you prefer, sustained pleasure (a la Beethoven) or little moments of manic joy?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I think I know the part in the haydn that you mean. The E Major arpeggios suddenly become e minor through the flattening of the bass note.


Hmm.. its a good question. I think some intense parts of pieces could stand as climatic on their own through the use of dynamic, speed etc...

but what makes them real CLIMAXES that make you shudder and twitch? for that you need the context. Harmonic context which allows the composer to manipulate the harmony in that specific section so that it becomes a huge resolution or increase in tension.


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## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

The crescendo in the divine adagio for the 7th symphony by Bruckner... The moment when the "gilt es nicht" cymbal should strike (at the climax of the movement) is just too much for me... (I prefer the version WITH the cymbal crash even if Bruckner wrote later that it was not good)

The fugal part at the end of Mozart's 41st Symphony... For all the %&$ saying things about him, please, that moment really makes me wonder what else can be said in music. 

The third semi-fugal movement in the double violin concerto by Bach. Actually, none makes my skin shiver like him. I just collapse at the marvel of his music. Just music. I don't attach any extra-musical meaning here... Just the music by itself, makes me cry (like the ultra-famous air of the third suite)

So many more....


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Ah yes. "The amazing wee bits". A good idea for a thread.

To answer Edward Elgar's question, I prefer a more sustained sort of pleasure. A lasting, complete orgasm. I don't always need "climaxes" to satisfy myself - often my pleasure comes more intellectually, or dare I say it, spritually.

For me, it's just too much to sit through and "wait" for a certain "wee bit". I can't seem to do it to myself because it is too cruel. Composers like Bach understand this - which is but one of the many reasons why I rate him so highly.

Not to say "extraordinary moments" in music don't exist. I used to sit through Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto and wait for the "big melody" at the end, or the "moment of passion" in the first movement. No longer. I can appreciate the whole concerto as a whole now - it is well-wrought, pleasure-full, consistent, even intellectually pleasing (at times) work - a well-deserved masterpiece.

There are too many "big moments" for me to name as I have already suggested. Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Strauss, Prokofiev, Ravel, Brahms, etc. certainly have their share of them. But what about the more obscure "moments" - specific modulations, quieter moments that just light your heart on fire? I feel that these should not be ignored either.

One of my favorite examples is Schubert, the _Piano Sonata, D.960_ - This is a big piano sonata, earth-shattering in every way. It's not the "thunder and lightening" sort of work like Liszt and some of Beethoven's piano sonatas. This is late night music for me - the sort of work that I listen to when it's dark and I'm all alone - and am able to communicate from the inner-most depths of my heart with the God Almighty.

The whole thing is surely wonderful - but there are parts in the first movement development section that just bring your mind, soul, and body to a new level. I suppose these can be considered the "wee bits" of the entire work. Schubert's modulations here are truly visionary - but all in all the subtle changes are just a part of the work, it's the entire work as a whole that makes it so satisfying to me. Perhaps it does not blow the universe off its course with its dynamic power but there's something about it, something that makes piano music so satisfying to me - it's a personal experience, something you can eat off of every day - wish for, hope for.


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Some great answers

I will add a few more

in 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen' by Mahler - the moment on the word Ruh (peace) 

in Strauss' Four Last Songs, the quotation from the same composer's Death and Tranfiguration, composed when he was a young man, in a response to the words 'Is this perchance death?'

The closing of Mahler 9. We keep waiting for the final cadence which is approached a number of times. 

I could go on and on with Mahler  

One more for good luck, grieg's piano concerto, final movement, when the big theme reappears for the final statement on piano except now the seventh has been flattened to making it modal-sounding. Liszt, when he first heard this, was ecstatic, if I recall rightly.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Jaime77 said:


> Music is like life in many ways since they both are temporal we can say that a specific moment in music can touch is more so than another, just like life


Very nice analogy.

Many pieces over the years have moved me. So rather than listing them all (not that I can remember anyway), I thought I shall list the few that moved me very early on when I started out listening to Classical music seriously around 10 to 12 years ago.

Bach: slow movement of concerto for two violins in D minor, without listing many more

Handel: several arias from _Giulio Cesare in Egitto_, without listing many more

Haydn: several arias and choruses from _Die Schopfung_, without listing mny more

Mozart: opening chorus especially when the soprano comes in from Mass in C K.427, without listing many more


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Bach: slow movement of concerto for two violins in D minor


Yes thats lovely that one - also in s similar vein like the slow movement from the violin/oboe Concerto BWV 1060R .


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

I can't believe I forgot this! The return of 'Veni Creator Spiritus' in the first movement of Mahler's 8th symphony. Such a beautiful climax.


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

one jumped into my head.

in Sibelius 5, last movement, when the big violin theme comes in over the pulsing trumpet.

i swear, i cannot not cry when this happens! (sorry, double negative).


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

tgtr0660 said:


> The fugal part at the end of Mozart's 41st Symphony... For all the %&$ saying things about him, please, that moment really makes me wonder what else can be said in music.


That would be one of mine too. Perfect counterpoint using 5 different melodies! The man was a god!

Both Mozart and Haydn's last symphony finales do justice to their entire output (orgasmically speaking).


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

Scott Good said:


> one jumped into my head.
> 
> in Sibelius 5, last movement, when the big violin theme comes in over the pulsing trumpet.
> 
> i swear, i cannot not cry when this happens! (sorry, double negative).


YES YES YES ! ! !

C E F G D F Eb Eb

This motif in the violins is the voice of god!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Jaime77 said:


> Music is like life in many ways since they both are temporal we can say that a specific moment in music can touch is more so than another, just like life
> 
> So, I have introduced this thread, in order to hear about specific moments in musical pieces that you love, that make you cry, essentially, *that move you*. You can also mention a performer if seperating the piece from the interpretation would be hard to do...


I really like pieces that take me to different places, like when I listen to Milhaud's _Scaramouche_ or some of his _Saudades do Brasil_, I feel like I am on a beach in Rio. I was listening to Ippolitov-Ivanov's _Caucasian Sketches_ suites, and they do a similar thing, I am transported to a little village nestled among the mountains in Armenia or Azerbaijan.

Other 'purely abstract/formal' works can be just as atmospheric - take the edgy, restless theme of Berg's _String Quartet_ (the opening), or the closing fast movement of Walton's A minor _String Quartet_. Or the way the end of Dutilleux's _Cello Concerto "A whole remote world"_ peters off into nothingness & silence. These pieces prove that even atonal music can be memorable and (indeed) emotional if one is willing to bring one's perception to the fore when listening. Talking of endings, I find the ending of many of Messiaen's works to be very emotional experiences when listening - eg. the end of the song cycle _Poemes pour Mi_ is just spine tingling (the soprano singing her last note, then a descending musical theme that ends in a shockingly sudden way - bang! - it's quite exhilirating). Would love to see this live, but that's another topic altogether.

Sometimes, a more intimate feeling is what I want, then I listen to works like Janacek's _Piano Sonata "From the street._" In that case, the story behind the work (the death of a worker in an anti-Austrian protest in the composer's home town of Brno) can make the music even more gripping and emotional for the listener...


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

Edward Elgar said:


> That would be one of mine too. Perfect counterpoint using 5 different melodies! The man was a god!
> 
> Both Mozart and Haydn's last symphony finales do justice to their entire output (orgasmically speaking).


Beethoven also fits in that list very nicely.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

Several. 
The beginning of the second movement of the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto, with that magical transposition from c minor to E Major, just before the piano comes in. That's sheer genius, IMO. And Rock Two isn't even my favorite Rachmaninov piano concerto, anyway (that's the 1917 revised First), but it just takes my breath away. 

The finale of Elgar's "Enigma" variations, where suddenly the "Nimrod" theme (slightly disguised) just BLAZES out in the orchestra. Brings me off of my seat every time. 

Two moments in Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" that just stop my heart--the whole 2nd act leadup to the Presentation of the Rose, and of course, the magnificent Trio in Act III. 

The finale of Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro", where all is revealed and set to rest in an ensemble that just keeps growing and growing and becoming more fantastically beautiful as it does. Just absolute heaven, IMO. 

The unexpected, happy explosion in the finale of the Brahms Symphony #2, when the muted 'sotto voce' strings that begin the movment are replaced with the full orchestra and you realize that you're in for the ride of your life, LOL!

That soaring horn theme that comes late in Strauss' "Don Juan" that just jolts me, it's so spectacularly beautiful. A horn playing friend of mine has told me that hornists have put words to it: "Don Juan Makes Love More Than I Do." It's just rattling good, IMO. 

The remarkable introduction to the remarkable "Miller's Dance" in Falla's terrific ballet "El Sombrero des Tres Pico's", which both celebrates and quite possibly gently satirizes the incredible "Machismo" of male Flamenco dancing. It's just brilliant.

Tom


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