Pieces that you enjoyed on first listening and still enjoy

[marvinbrown]

Usually, the pieces I enjoy most are the ones that take some time to come to terms with, but there are some that I loved from the start and still do.  Here are a few examples.

Puccini - La Boheme.  I was immediately drawn into the rich emotional world of this opera, and it hasn't yet lost its appeal.
Puccini - Suor Angelica.  Again, I was drawn in immediately and I still love it.

Heather

 Yes, well done Heather and I would like to give opera a boost here with:
1) Puccini's Tosca (heartaching music),
2) Bizet's Carmen (unforgettable music gets better with every listen),  and
3) Mozart's Don Giovanni (so many memorable arias and ensembles, that opera never looses its luster)

 4) Finally and with regards to Wagner the Prize Song off of Meistersinger von Nurnberg never disappoints with every listen and who can forget La donne e mobile from Verdi's Rigoletto.

 marvin

marvin

[m_gigena]

3) Mozart's Don Giovanni

Definitely. In my case it was love at first... sight?

Turandot. Particularly... that Naxos recording from the 30's with Cigna, Olivero and Ghione. It was the first Turandot I ever listened to and it blew my head away (from "indietro cani...", onwards.)

Music is never perfect. Art is never perfect.

No. You are wrong.
Perfection is possible, and that 5th concerto proves it. *STOP*

[Bonehelm]

Definitely. In my case it was love at first... sight?

Turandot. Particularly... that Naxos recording from the 30's with Cigna, Olivero and Ghione. It was the first Turandot I ever listened to and it blew my head away (from "indietro cani...", onwards.)

No. You are wrong.
Perfection is possible, and that 5th concerto proves it. *STOP*

Perfection itself is imperfect. Imperfection is imperfect. To achieve perfection, perfection must be imperfected.

Got that, noob? 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Wagners Preludes & Overtures were a 'gateway' for me into classical music and I still love 'em. Although I don't play them very often. Must discover the operas that they come from...

[marvinbrown]

Wagners Preludes & Overtures were a 'gateway' for me into classical music and I still love 'em. Although I don't play them very often. Must discover the operas that they come from...

   Certainly, I am the other way actually, I can not wait for the overture and preludes to end and the singing and opera to start.  If I may give some advice to a Wagner opera newbie, do not start with Tristan und Isolde.....I found I appreciated its greatness more after I got accustomed to Wagner's other operas. Just a thought, (Others might disagree with me).

  marvin

[Iago]

Overture to "William Tell"-Rossini
Marche Slav - Tschaikovsky
1812 Overture - Tschaikovsky
Leonore #3 - Beethoven
Fifth Symphony - Beethoven
"Carnival" Overture- Dvorak
Final Pages of Gotterdammerung (after the Immolation) - Wagner
The Moldau - Smetana
"Air Power" - Norman Dello Joio- especially as played by Ormandy and the Philadelphians.
Every Overture written by Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter. Irving Berlin or George Gershwin
Victory at Sea - Richard Rodgers

POT BOILERS. ALL. So what??

[m_gigena]

1812 Overture - Tschaikovsky

By the great Arthur Fiedler and his Boston Pops.

[karlhenning]

Didn't Tom Jones sing "After the Immolation"?

[PSmith08]

Didn't Tom Jones sing "After the Immolation"?

And Siegfried at the quickly withdrawn 1997 Michael Bay Ring at Bayreuth. Alberich broke into "I Would Do Anything For Love" in the first scene, which - in retrospect - seems not-entirely-inappropriate.

My works:

Mahler's 2nd
Beethoven's 9th
All of Wagner's major works from Holländer to Parsifal
Bartók's 1st piano concerto
Ligeti's Musica ricercata

There are more, to be sure, but that's what jumped to mind immediately.

[karlhenning]

"Just . help . your . self to my ring, to my gold . . . ."

[PSmith08]

"Just . help . your . self to my ring, to my gold . . . ."

Were always told repeatedly
The Rheingold is free, weialala
And if you want to prove its true
Alberich, Im telling you
This is what you should do
Just forswear love and make a Ring
To my Gold just say the word, and it is yours
Just help yourself to the Gold and make a Ring,
In Chéreau's Ring, a door opens in a dam,
The greatest wealth that exists in the world,
Could never buy what I can give, presuming you have cursed love
Just help yourself to my Rheingold
To my Ring, and then let's really start to rule

[Maciek]

The ones that come to mind immediately:

Penderecki's Threnody
Gorecki's Symphony No. 2 and Harpsichord Concerto
Lutoslawski's Symphony No. 3 and Paganini Variations ( )
Szymanowski's Stabat Mater
Szymanski's Quasi una sinfonietta
Beethoven's 5th Symphony
Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's Triptykon
Kulenty's Violin Concerto
Lason's Concerto festivo
Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
ten Holt's Canto Ostinato
Schumann's Piano Quintet
Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms

What a random set! But I could go on, of course...

[Solitary Wanderer]

   Certainly, I am the other way actually, I can not wait for the overture and preludes to end and the singing and opera to start.  If I may give some advice to a Wagner opera newbie, do not start with Tristan und Isolde.....I found I appreciated its greatness more after I got accustomed to Wagner's other operas. Just a thought, (Others might disagree with me).

  marvin

Yep, Marvin.

I'm thinking of starting with Dutchman, Lohengrin or Tannhauser. I have the Met Ring Cycle on DVD so may view that;haven't opened it yet

[PSmith08]

Yep, Marvin.

I'm thinking of starting with Dutchman, Lohengrin or Tannhauser. I have the Met Ring Cycle on DVD so may view that;haven't opened it yet

Der fliegende Holländer is a good place to start. It's the beginning of Wagner's migration from grand opera to music-drama.

[Kullervo]

Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's Triptykon

Is there anything else you could recommend by Gudmensen-Holmgreen?

[mahlertitan]

Mahler's Titan symphony of course

[Maciek]

Is there anything else you could recommend by Gudmensen-Holmgreen?

I've got 3 or 4 discs more but, to be frank, nothing really stands comparison with that little masterpiece.

[marvinbrown]

Yep, Marvin.

I'm thinking of starting with Dutchman, Lohengrin or Tannhauser. I have the Met Ring Cycle on DVD so may view that;haven't opened it yet

  These three operas are a good place to start.....either one of the 3 will do but you might as well start at the beginning with The Flying Dutchman.  These operas are relatively short (well shorter than Wagner's mature operas) and touch upon recurring themes (love, death, redemption) used in all of Wagner's other works, except for, or to a lesser extent Meistersingers von Nurnberg, which should ease the transition into these later masterpieces.


  Good Luck and enjoy.......
   PS.: What do you mean you still haven't opened the MET Ring???  What are you waiting for  ?

  marvin 

[Mark G. Simon]

When I listen to a piece of music for the first time, I'll usually have one of the following reactions:

1) Yuck! What was this guy thinking??
2) Zzzzzzz. Boring. Nothing particularly bad, mind you, but overall why bother.
3) Hmm. Shows promise. Worth another listen.
4) Yowee zowee! This is really cool stuff!

Pieces that fall in category 1) stay there. Always.
Once in a great while a category 2) piece will jump up into category 3 or 4, but it's rare. I rarely give category 1) or 2) pieces a second hearing.
Pieces in category 3) stand a very good chance of being upgraded to category 4) upon subsequent listenings.
Pieces in category 4) will get a lot of play for a while, then I'll put them aside with warm memories of the pleasure these pieces have given me. I never hold it against the music that I inevitably want to move on.

[not edward]

When I listen to a piece of music for the first time, I'll usually have one of the following reactions:

1) Yuck! What was this guy thinking??
2) Zzzzzzz. Boring. Nothing particularly bad, mind you, but overall why bother.
3) Hmm. Shows promise. Worth another listen.
4) Yowee zowee! This is really cool stuff!

Pieces that fall in category 1) stay there. Always.
Once in a great while a category 2) piece will jump up into category 3 or 4, but it's rare. I rarely give category 1) or 2) pieces a second hearing.
Pieces in category 3) stand a very good chance of being upgraded to category 4) upon subsequent listenings.
Pieces in category 4) will get a lot of play for a while, then I'll put them aside with warm memories of the pleasure these pieces have given me. I never hold it against the music that I inevitably want to move on.

Hm. This is pretty close to how I assess pieces instantly, except that the category 2 pieces almost never move up, and the category 1 pieces sometimes do. If I have a recording that falls into category 1, I tend to leave it a year or so, try again, leave it another year, try it again, then give up on it if it's not moved into 3 or 4.

Category 1 composers who have moved to 3 or 4 for me have included Nono and Torke (there's an odd couple for you).