# Favorite Classical "Snacks"



## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

What are your favorite pieces of Art Music that are what I call "Snacks", meaning something performed as a self standing work that lasts say under 7 minutes or so.

My favorites as an example:

Norwegian Dance #2 - Grieg
Marriage of Figaro Overture - Mozart
Fanfare for the Common Man - Copland
Danse Bacchanale - Saint Saens
Slavonic Dance #7 - Dvorak


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Most Chopin nocturnes.
Sibelius - Valse triste.
Without checking running times, these were the first that came to mind.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

This is harder than I thought, because not many things in classical can be described as "self standing." Inevitably, most things are part of something else (take Sibelius' _Valse Triste_ mentioned above, wasn't that part of the incidental music to the play _Kuolema_?). Anyway, here are a few that I can think of (Beecham called some of the lighter ones among these "lollipops") -

Rachmaninov - Vocalise
Beethoven - Minuet in G major; Fur Elise
Messiaen - Le Merle Noir (The Blackbird) for flute & piano
Elgar - Sospiri
Varese - Ionisation (this is a very filling "snack!")
Ravel - Pavane for a Dead Princess
Cage - Imaginary Landscape No. 1

& some stuff that are similarly in the public consciousness, but in reality are part of larger pieces:

Saint-Saens - The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals)
Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca (from Piano Sonata No. 11)
Debussy - Golliwog's Cake-Walk (from Children's Corner)
Prokofiev - March (from The Love For Three Oranges)
Shostakovich - Romance (from The Gadfly)
Mendelssohn - Wedding March (from A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Offenbach - Can-Can (from Orpheus in the Underworld)
& the list can go on and on...


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Some of my favourite classical 'snacks' (some of which duplicate previous suggestions):

Adams - _A Short Ride in a Fast Machine_
Beethoven - Overture to _Prometheus_
Bernstein - Overture to _Candide_
Frank Bridge - _Sir Roger de Coverley (A Christmas Dance)_
Grainger - _Green Bushes_ (Passacaglia on an English Folksong)( A true 'mini-masterpiece)
Griffes - _The White Peacock_
Honegger - _Pacific 231_
Ibert - _Bacchanale_
Ives - _The Unanswered Question_
Ives - _Central Park in the Dark_
Ives - _Country Band March_
Kabalevsky - Overture to _Colas Breugnon_
Kraus - Overture to _Olympia_
Lyadov - _Kikimora_
Lyadov - _Baba-Yaga_
Martinů - _Le jazz_
Martland - _Principia_
Mozart - Overture to _The Marriage of Figaro_
Mozart - Overture to _Il seraglio_
Mozart - _Tantum ergo_ K 197
Nielsen - _Serenata in vano_
Pärt - _Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten_
Marcel Poot - _Vrolijke Ouverture_ (Comedy Overture)
Rezniček - Overture to _Donna Diana_
Rossini - Overture to _La scala di seta_ (The Silken Ladder)
Shchedrin - _Humoreske_ for piano
Shostakovich - _Tahiti Trot_
Smetana - Overture to _The Bartered Bride_
Stravinsky - _Ragtime_
Tavener - _The Lamb_
Walton - Overture _Portsmouth Point_
Weber - Overture to _The Ruler of the Spirits_
Eric Whitacre - _Sleep_


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Elegie by Gabriel Faure, chamber version for cello and piano.


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## Lipatti (Oct 9, 2010)

I guess Schubert's Lieder fit well into this description, don't they? In that case, they would be my pick.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

all Chopin mazurkas, waltzes
Kreisler - Liebesleid, for solo violin
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 4, 7
Ravel - Pavane pour un enfante defunte, Jeux d'eau
Satie - Gymnopedie No. 1
Rachmaninov - Vocalise
Sulek - Trombone sonata
Vivaldi - Double Trumpet concerto


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Lipatti said:


> I guess Schubert's Lieder fit well into this description, don't they? In that case, they would be my pick.


Sure, any particular favorite? Gretchen and the Spinning Wheel? Erl King?


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

Not all stand-alone pieces, but I listen to them on their own quite often.

Mozart - Das Kinderspiel
Mozart - the emperor's march from La Clemenza di Tito
Mozart - Epistle Sonata in C (sometimes played as part of the Coronation Mass)
Schubert - Heidenröslein
Bach - Mein freunde ist mein BWV 140
Bach - Freue dich, erlöste Schar BWV 30
Josquin - Qui habitat
Monteverdi - Laudate Dominum
Various Scarlatti sonatas
Various Debussy preludes


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*mmm*

Allegro Barbaro (Bartók)

Martin


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## robertsica (Jan 2, 2011)

Bela Bartok - Allegro Barbaro
L.V. Beethoven - Prometheus 
Arthur Honegger - Pacific 231
Darius Milhaud - Sonatine for clarinet and piano 
Justin Taylor - The Light House for 4 trombones


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Individual Goldberg Variations, particularly the Fughetta, the "Black Pearl" variation, and the Quodlibet.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

There's about a hundred and forty-seven thousand baroque and early music pieces that have a lot of development and take you on a musical journey in under seven minutes due to the density of the texture. They may be part of larger works but I listen to them as stand alones as mentioned above.

Bach: All of the Well Tempered Clavier pieces (though I do still keep the preludes and fugues together as one listen). Also other short keyboard pieces of his. Even the various Suites could be taken out of context as stand alones. This latter is not so true with other baroque composers, especially Handel, who would make the final note of many movements voice lead into the next movement.

D. Scarlatti: All of the sonatas as mentioned above.

Praetorius - any of the Terpsichore selections (okay, they all sound alike.)

John Dowland - any of his songs, galliards, fancies, and whatnot.

Anonymous - Branls, Jigs, Saltarellos, and more whatnot.

Beethoven - most of the WoO pieces, Bagatelles, etc.

Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia.

Brahms - Ballade, Op. 118, No. 3 in G minor. Somehow I really enjoy this more than his other short piano works.

Debussy - The Children's Corner works as stand alone pieces.

Faure - Pavane, Op. 50 and Sicilienne, Op. 78 both with the same almost bittersweet feeling.

Holst - I have no problem taking any of the The Planets as stand alones.

Herbert Howells - Penguinski. Here's a little rare piece for piano and orchestra not even mentioned in the All Music guide. It's epic and comical and just over four minutes. I enjoy the heck out of it. But there is only one recording I am aware of and it's a good one.
http://www.amazon.com/Howells-Piano...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1294087223&sr=8-2

Mendelssohn - the Songs Without Words piano pieces, especially the Venetian Boat-Song No. 1

Rachmaninov - Prelude in C# minor. I know he hated how ubiquitous this became, or said he did, but it's fine piece full of drama.

Schumann - Album for the Young: Mignon

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - Variations on "Mein junges Leben hat ein End "

Vaughan-Williams - Fantasia on Greensleeves.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Allegro Barbaro (Bartók)


I thought I knew Bartok but don't seem to have this, is this a standalone piece or from some larger work?


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

robertsica said:


> Justin Taylor - The Light House for 4 trombones


I must find this!


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Delicious Manager said:


> Some of my favourite classical 'snacks' (some of which duplicate previous suggestions):
> 
> Adams - _A Short Ride in a Fast Machine_
> Beethoven - Overture to _Prometheus_
> ...


I forgot one of the most delightful snacks of all in my list above:

Lyadov - _A Musical Snuffbox_


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

About time someone mentioned Delius...


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

bassClef said:


> I thought I knew Bartok but don't seem to have this, is this a standalone piece or from some larger work?


It's a standalone work. It's one of his most famous pieces, and so it's a little surprising you haven't come across it yet.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Delicious Manager said:


> I forgot one of the most delightful snacks of all in my list above:
> 
> Lyadov - _A Musical Snuffbox_


I was just gonna post that one!!! I love that, especially orchestral arrangement.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Delicious Manager said:


> It's a standalone work. It's one of his most famous pieces, and so it's a little surprising you haven't come across it yet.


Ah it's probably because I don't seek out solo piano pieces - I focus mainly on orchestral.


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