Favourite pieces

tSubh Dearg

~nop~ wrote:

Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue

The clarinet solo at the beginning of that piece is one of my favourite bits ever! I only wish I could play that myself, but my playing is too far below par.

giddyup

Great call by il gatto on Gorecki's 3rd.

Would also be a fan of:
Prokofiev - Montagues & Capulets??
Eric Satie - Three Gymnopedies???

Rustar

The Gymnopedies rock. I can just see ancient Greeks dancing in an amphitheater, holding masks in front of their faces in the primaeval dawn.

Doshea3

I really love Satie. Gymnopédie No. 3 is probably my favourite of the three, but my very favourite Satie piece has to be Sarabande No. 1. Maybe it's just the memories I associate it with, but I still think it's incredibly simple yet beautiful. (Though it's a pain to try sight-reading—curse Satie's overuse of double-flats! It's not very difficult once you practise it a few times though.)

Kevster

Rustar wrote:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Man.....
..........

Holst's 'Jupiter' from 'The Planets' (good call, Kevster)
..........

What do you mean by The Man? 'Jupiter' is my favourite piece right now. It's just awesome throughout. I'm only getting to know the rest of The Planets now though.

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giddyup wrote:

Great call by il gatto on Gorecki's 3rd.

Would also be a fan of:
Prokofiev - Montagues & Capulets??
Eric Satie - Three Gymnopedies???

Yeh, Montagues & Capulets was definately by Sergei Prokofiev.

Kevster

il gatto wrote:

I'm sorry to see this forum so underused. I've just stumbled across the classical forum just now. I don't know a whole pile about the field and I wouldn't even pass myself off as an enthusiast but I do love some particular pieces. My current favourites are:
Nessun Dorma from Puccinis Turandot
Sheep May Safely Graze from Bachs Cantata No.2 (The Hunting Cantata)
Synphony of Sorrowful Songs Goreckis Synphony No.3
Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss
Overture to the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart (My current ringtone for my girlfriend, saddly:D )

Good choices: Nessun Dorma (From the Turandot opera) by Giacomo Puccini is excellent and would be familiar to many that heard it. It isn't well-known by it's title though.

Kevster

Tar.Aldarion, you might like this particular piano piece by Michael Nyman:

It's from his The Piano collection and is called 'The Heart Asks Pleasure First'

Kevster.

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Oh here's another thing too: It was written originally by Patrick Gilmore and is called 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home'. It will be familiar to ye all.

Schlemm

Listening to a lot of John Field at the mo, especially the nocturnes. Ya gotta love em.

Also a big fan of Mozart's k331 (I think that's the number of it...the one in A).

I also love Debussy's Clare de Lune...it never gets old (even when I see it all the time on those Chanel ads!).

Chopin's Grand Valse in A minor.

Paganini.

And also Penderecki.....:eek:

Tar.Aldarion

Thanks Kevster, I'll try to find them.

Calina

Tar,

you'll find The Piano under film soundtracks. You'll probably recognise the piece when you hear it though.

I'd still recommend some of the stuff from Marinelli's score for Pride & Prejudice over it though.

Rustar

Kevster wrote:

What do you mean by The Man?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov

Amazingly, the article doesn't even mention the Antar Symphony, which I consider to be the greatest example of Russian Romantic Period music.
I used to have an old version by Zubin Mehta & the L.A. Philharmonic, it was awesome.

Doshea3

Schlemm—Good call on the piano music. I love Field: almost all the nocturnes are great...concertos 2 and 3 are also worth a look.

K331 (you got it ) is a great sonata, though it's a pity there are so many awful interpretations floating around. You'll find a very unusual version in Glenn Gould's recording, particularly in the first movement in which he ignores Mozart's tempo markings (taking one adagio—such a special indication for Mozart—as an allegretto, with interesting results). A recording I acquired more recently is that of Vladimir Horowitz: what little Mozart he recorded was really very good. His third movement (the "alla turca") is not really as virtuosic as you might expect from Vlad, but his rather "classical" style of Mozart-playing is sure to appeal.

I can't really recommend any Debussy except for the Preludes Book I as played by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It's Debussy (as one critic memorably put it) "bathed in a harsh Mediterranean light".

As regards Paganini, I haven't listened to much more of his stuff than the 24 Caprices, which are all fabulous, especially when played by the master, Itzhak Perlman.

Civilian_Target

When it comes to short pieces, I think a firm favourite has to be Vaughan-Williams's "Fantasia on a theme from Thomas Talis," it's amazingly lyrical and not overcomplicated...

InFront

Chopin, Nocturnes

Listening to op. 9 no 2 atm, depressingly beautiful.

sdep

Time to disinter an old thread. I'm never going to make Desert Island Discs, so this is the next best thing.

Bach -
Cello suites, No 6 especially
Violin Partita No 2 - mainly for the phenomenal last movement chaconne

Beethoven -
Last 3 piano sonatas (30-32)
Symphonies 3,5,7

Bruckner -
Symphony 9

Hermy

One of my all time favourites in any genre - I've loved it since childhood - J.S. Bachs Tocata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565. - the ultimate organ work.

My interest in classical music centres on concertos and I would have to say that there is none better to my ears than Shostakovich 1st Violin Concerto in A Minor. My recording is a Chandos one with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Scottish National Orchestra and Lydia Mordkovitch in the lead role. Absolutely stunning!

Calina

Civilian_Target wrote: »

When it comes to short pieces, I think a firm favourite has to be Vaughan-Williams's "Fantasia on a theme from Thomas Talis," it's amazingly lyrical and not overcomplicated...

Agreed. His Lark Ascending, on the other hand, wrecks my head a bit.

sdep

Hermy wrote: »

My interest in classical music centres on concertos and I would have to say that there is none better to my ears than Shostakovich 1st Violin Concerto in A Minor. My recording is a Chandos one with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Scottish National Orchestra and Lydia Mordkovitch in the lead role. Absolutely stunning!

His first cello conc is pretty good too

Hermy

Thanks sdep,
The cello isn't always to my liking but I think I may have heard some of that work on Lyric and I liked it very much.
Last thing I bought was Bartok's piano concertos on Duetsche Grammaphon with Géza Anda and Ferenc Fricsay - a lot to listen to in that one.
Next up might be Gershwin's piano concerto.

thusspakeblixa

My favourites are Mars and Jupiter from Holst's planet suite, Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, and.... again not really ''classical'' but Stockhausens' Kontakte