I know most of us here like classical music and there are some performers here. I have a question: What is the single classical composition that touches you the most deeply?
I'm not a particular sensitive person but I'll start this off by citing a a work that reduces me to a quivering blob of protoplasm. From Jules Massenet's Thaïs, the beautiful Méditation for violin.
--- CHAS
I also thought of Meditation by Massenet, because I'm playing it right now, but I'm not sure. There are so many great pieces of music.
However, I think the one that touched me the most when I first listened to it was the violin concerto in E minor by Mendelssohn. It is fantastic and incredibly difficult to play.
I'm an idiot and don't really know the name but Bach's Cello Suite No. 2(?) moves me to tears. (Its probably his most well known piece, it is in the Soloist trailer and YoYo Ma plays it a lot).
shareI just recently got into classical music. So far, Vivladi's Four Seasons is my favorite. Also, in Handel's Messiah, right before the Hallelujah chorus, just beautiful.
shareThe Nutcracker's Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky
shareTchaikovsky ballet music is always lyrical. The final scene of Swan Lake is especially overpowering. Check out Dracula.
--- CHAS
Saint Saens- Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah
Listz- Hungarian Rhapsodies
Tchaikovsky- the entire Nutcracker; 1812 Overture
Wagner- Siegfried's Funeral March
Bach - Opening Kyrie from Mass in B minor. Hands down the greatest piece of music ever composed. If you disagree, listen to it again. If you still disagree, repeat. The voice of God will eventually sync with your soul. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iukeAubJjn8
shareHere are some of my favorites. I'm a huge opera fan and I am also an aspiring opera singer and music teacher.
Mozart: "Non So Piu Cosa Son," "Sull'aria," "Voi Che Sapete," "Dove Sono"
Haydn: "Gloria" from the Lord Nelson Mass
Vivaldi: "Agitata Da Due Venti," "Domine Filii Unigenite"
Puccini: "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore," "Quando men vo"
Bizet: "Habanera"
Gounod: "Je veux vivre"
Rossini: Overture to "The Barber of Seville," the whole first act of "La Cenerentola"
Delibes: "Dome epais"
Gershwin: "Summertime"
Gilbert & Sullivan: "When A Merry Maiden Marries"
Faure: "Aurore"
Dare you trust the music of the night?
Beethoven's Piano Concerto no 3 2nd mvt is beautiful.
Vivaldi - the four seasons
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Claude deBussy - Clair de Lune
I consider soundtracks nowadays to be somewhat the modern classical works - my favorite being Lord of the Rings the Return of the King and Glory
Captain Dudley Smith: Have you a valediction, boyo?
Jack Vincennes: [gasping out]... Rollo Tomasi.
A few of my favourites...
Mozart - Great Mass in C Minor
Mozart - The Magic Flute
Mozart - Symphony No. 25 in G minor
Schubert - Die Schone Mullerin
J.S. Bach - Magnificat in D Major
J.S. Bach - Partita No. 2 in D Minor
J.S. Bach - St. Matthew Passion
Wagner - Gotterdammerung
Wagner - Parsifal
Bruckner - Te Deum
Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 13
Mahler - Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Tomaso Albinoni's Adagio in G minor, a 1958 composition written by Remo Giazotto. First, because it is a great piece of music. Second, because it reminds me of how stupid humanity can be, to allow the destruction of the Dresden State Library during WWII, and much of Albinioni's work along with it.
shareOde to Joy from Beethoven's Choral Symphony, wonderful work. I love the whole symphony too, and from the same symphony I have to give honourable mention to the fourth movement whose second half is made up of a set of variations on Ode to Joy and the way they are written is extraordinary.
"Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage"- Madeline Kahn(CLUE, 1985)
Some really great pieces listed here. Here are some of my favorites that never fail to affect me emotionally:
Khachaturian - "Adagio" from the Gayane ballet suite
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 5 (particularly the 3rd movement)
Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Barber - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Holst - "Jupiter - Bringer of Jollity" and "Venus - Bringer of Peace" from The Planets
Sibelius - Finlandia
Bruckner - Os Justi
Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Bach, J.S. - Toccata and Fugue in D minor
There are so many other pieces that I enjoy on one level or another, but these ones really pack an emotional punch for me.