Most original opening of a piece of music

[Maciek]

How about Penderecki's first symphony : whip and flexatone?

I think most of the pieces by Penderecki from that period would fit the bill.

[pjme]

 

Ok - here's a last one : Darius Milhaud ballet " l'Homme et son désir" : the score starts in the percussion, with wooden and metal castanets. The whole score is original & beautiful!



Moroccan metal castanets" karkabou" or qarqabu

[alkan]

Ok - here's a last one : Darius Milhaud ballet " l'Homme et son désir" : the score starts in the percussion, with wooden and metal castanets. The whole score is original & beautiful!



Moroccan metal castanets" karkabou" or qarqabu

And the winner is .................   Darius Milhaud for "l'Homme et son desir", starring George Clooney on metal castanets and Julia Roberts on wooden castanets, directed by Tim Burton and produced by Paramount.

[pjme]

Sure, a great movie, but admitedly, they were no longer in their prime. Still, cool stuff!

[Timmyb]

Has someone mentioned the obvious R. Strauss choice yet? 

There are 2001 reasons not to forget that one.

[Kullervo]

Although come to think of it, that's exactly the way that Shostakovich starts his 15th symphony  ..... I hearby add this to the list !!

Nielsen's 6th begins in the exact same way... so, maybe not so original after all.

[snyprrr]

after reading about The Whale, I retract anything I said.  no, pettersson was just a fav.  However, for the string qrt repr., I still can't think of anything as "original" as Xenakis Tetras (maybe Black Angels).  But no, I didn't mean to use either as a WTF...I've always tried to stay away from the Fluxus-y...maybe i was thinking of the 60s!

One thing that popped into my head:

YURI KASPAROV- oboe concerto.

This whole disc on Olympia is pretty interesting...to see what happened in Moscow post Schnittke.  But the oboe cto. just has a lot of those flexy-synthy "moon landscape" kind of sounds.  Not THEE most orig., but very "fun".

[karlhenning]

Nielsen's 6th begins in the exact same way... so, maybe not so original after all.

Yes, I like the similar ending to the two composers' final symphonies!

Thread duty:

Ravel, L'heure espagnole . . . way ahead of Ligeti on this one!

[mc ukrneal]

Strauss, Ein Heldenleben

Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie

Brahms, first Symphony

!

Cannot believe it took until the middle of the third page to name the only piece that came to me - Brahms Symphony No 1. I cannot think of a more unusual or surprising start to a piece. It's a contender for sure.

[techniquest]

Ravels Piano Concerto in G (the only other piece of music I can think of which opens with a whip is 'The Legend of Xanadu' by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch!)
Also, Khachaturians 2nd Symphony which has a thunderous loud opening and Prokofievs' 3rd which does the same.

[jlaurson]

Has someone mentioned the obvious R. Strauss choice yet? 

No one has, yet. But that's what I'm here for! 

It is, of course, the String Sextet opening from


Capriccio.


That, especially next to the other very original "slapped in the face and off-we-go-screaming" opening of Elektra, is staggeringly radical.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Sibelius' "Night Ride and Sunrise" starts with an unusual orchestral climax...

[rappy]

Cannot believe it took until the middle of the third page to name the only piece that came to me - Brahms Symphony No 1. I cannot think of a more unusual or surprising start to a piece. It's a contender for sure.

It's not only original and unusual, but also extremely jolting.

[DavidRoss]

Off the top of my head, the following original openings spring to mind

1. The clarinet in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue

See Sibelius's first symphony.

[pjme]

  The timpani : Bach's Weihnachts oratorium.