I have two polar opposites. "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The most beautiful, upbeat, lyrical piece I've ever heard for chamber orchestra. I heard it done live once, and it was like spending twenty minutes in heaven. "Metamorphosen" by Richard Strauss. This was written after the end of WWII, his eulogy to his beloved Germany after it died from a virulent infection. The most moving, sad, introspective piece. It was written for an odd assortment of a dozen or so stringed instruments, each playing a solo part. I heard it done live once. When it was over, the audience sat quietly, stunned, without even thinking to applaud. Depending on my mood, I've got the best song for it.
rachmaninoff? I don’t really like his stuff, I am a Vivaldi guy when it comes to full symphony. for a sonata I should have to go with Beethoven’s Sonata no. 8 in c minor, op. 13 'Pathetique'. although, Gustav Holst's Mars, bringer of war is a good one. (Not sonata)
Anything baroque like Händel or Vivaldi - peaceful, relaxing like "Water Music" or "Four Seasons". Spare me the German Sturm und Drang.
i dont know about the classical era really i was never terribly ford of it really . i like stuff from the renaissance and modern and contempory times but if you mean classical as in general style of music.. i still dont know heh. of course i love spanish guitar because i play it. so whatever. but my fav all time song with piano and apparently a smalll chorus is green bird by yoko kanno. check out a listen if youd like http://www.msnusers.com/vossistcarvings/mymusic.msnw?fc_a=0&fc_p=/My Music
I've tried to listen to some G. F. Handel and haven't really enjoyed his music as much as other baroque composers. Do you have any specific recommendations from him?
I've been listening to a lot of Copland recently. Usually it's Debussy and Gershwin (although he's not really "classical"), with Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens and Liszt. They form up the majority of my favorites. I like a lot from a lot of different composers, though.
definetly Fortuna. Mozart's Requirum is right up there too, it's used brilliantly in the first scene of X-men 2. Stan Lee has a tendancy to use good classics in his works.
OK. I'm a nitpicking bastard, but more than half the pieces people are nominating are not songs. Songs have words or lyrics. Otherwise they are pieces or music or melodies or tunes or works. But not songs. Everybody got that now. And since I think you meant the latter, then for me anything by Bach, but especially the Brandenburg Concertoes - any and all of them. Although, I will pause to listen to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony when conducted by Herbert von Karajan, Sir Alexander Gibson, or any conductor who understands the value of a stop watch when performing this particular work. They've stopped making albums!!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
For me, it's Beethoven's 7th Symphony (in any key between A and E min.) allegretto, no contest. Impressive. Do you have any advice on how to practice the third?
I realize that it isn't considered Classical (yet) .... but I would put Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue up there with the best of them! ------------------------------------------------------------------- “I had a rational idea this morning but I didn’t like it.”