Top 10 favorite works, one by each composer

[Henk]

I feel like it's a task for humanity, or maybe not for humanity, but for others like us, that we are searching for beauty in music (according to knowledge theoricean Arnold Cornelis, beauty is like an immune system that protect us against an ugly world). How do you feel about this?

I need to listen to so much music yet, much of my collection, maybe more than the half of it I haven't even listened to seriously (well concentrated and with effort listening to the music). One advantage: I don't need to buy much recordings any more.

So it's a challenge for me to make a list of 10 favorite works that I know now, it's not an easy task because I know yet very little music well enough to do so. So my list comes later.

[Sammy]

Bach - Well Tempered Clavier
Handel - Harpsichord Suite HWV 430
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier"
Brahms - Handel Variations
Schumann - Davidsbundlertanze
Myaskovsky - Violin Concerto
Weinberg - Violin Concerto
Chopin - Op. 28 Preludes
Mozart - Great Mass in C minor
Shostakovich - Op. 87 Preludes and Fugues

[kyjo]

Rachmaninov: PC no. 3
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Mahler: Symphony no. 2
Sibelius: Symphony no. 2
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 5
Bruckner: Symphony no. 9
Holst: The Planets
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe
Elgar: Symphony no. 2
Braga Santos: Symphony no. 4

[DavidW]

I feel like it's a task for humanity, or maybe not for humanity, but for others like us, that we are searching for beauty in music (according to knowledge theoricean Arnold Cornelis, beauty is like an immune system that protect us against an ugly world). How do you feel about this?

Music brings me peace of mind, if only for a short time.

[mahler10th]

Atterberg - Symphony 2
Rott - Symphony 1
Schubert SQ - 'Death and the Maiden'
Bruckner 9
Stravinsky - 'The Firebird'
Shostakovich - Symphony 11
Elgar - Sospiri
Rautavaara - 'Angels and Visitations'
Goldmark - 'Rustic Wedding'
Strauss (R) - Alpine Symphony
Sibelius - Tapiola (esp. under Berglund + HPO)

***groan***

No surprises whatsoever.

[Mirror Image]

Here goes nothing...

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Hartmann: Symphonische Hymnen
Schnittke: Viola Concerto
Ravel: Piano Concerto for left-hand
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin
Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 6
Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night'
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique'
Martinu: Symphony No. 4

[kyjo]

JS Bach - Dona nobis pacem
Wagner - Parsifal Orchestral Prelude
Strauss - Four Last Songs
Fauré - Piano Nocturne #13
Debussy - Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Ravel - String Quartet
Schoenberg - Chamber Symphony #1
Webern - Symphonie op. 21
Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
Stravinsky - Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Ligeti - Melodien
Stockhausen - Kontakte

I imagine much restraint was required to only list one Stockhausen work, James!

[amw]

Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier Book II
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 12, Op. 127
Schumann - Kreisleriana
Schubert - String Quintet D 956 (or Piano Sonata D 960)
Chopin - Polonaise-Fantaisie
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 27, KV 595
Brahms - String Sextet No. 2, Op. 36 (or perhaps Cello Sonata Op. 38)
Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (or String Quartet No. 3)
Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles
Finnissy - Verdi Transcriptions (or North American Spirituals) / Grisey - Les espaces acoustiques / Kagel - Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente / Nono - La lontananza

I can't pick between the last 4 or so, and I'm somewhat annoyed at having to leave out Dvořák, Haydn, Medtner, Webern and Xenakis.

[Sammy]

Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier Book II

Why only Book II?

[DavidW]

Bach Cantata bwv 82
Beethoven Archduke Trio
Schubert String Quintet
Brahms Piano Concerto #2
Handel Messiah
Haydn Nelson Mass
Mahler Symphony #9
Mendelssohn String Quintet #2
Dvorak Symphony #9
Shostakovich String Quartet #8

[amw]

Why only Book II?

If we can consider both books to be part of the same "work" then the point is moot. As an overall achievement I think II outshines I in most respects, in the sense that Angel Falls is slightly higher than Yosemite, so that's the one I'd pick if I had to choose between them.

[Trout]

Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 98 "Pastoral"
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op. 115
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Ives: Symphony No. 4
Ligeti: Musica Ricercata

with Wagner, R Strauss, Atterberg, Mozart, and Finzi bubbling under.

[vandermolen]

Difficult, but here goes:

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 6
Miaskovsky: Symphony No 6
Bruckner: Symphony No 9
Braga Santos: Symphony No 4
Moeran: Symphony
Bax: Symphony No 3
Patrick Hadley: The Trees so High
Shostakovich: Symphony No 4
Walton: Symphony No 1
Copland: Symphony No 3

(+ Sibelius: Tapiola)

[Brahmsian]

Bach - Cello Suite No. 6 in D major
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15 in A minor
Bruckner - Symphony No. 7 in E major
Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Schubert - String Quintet in C major
Mozart - Gran Partita Serenade
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8
Berlioz - Requiem
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet

[vandermolen]

Here goes nothing...

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Hartmann: Symphonische Hymnen
Schnittke: Viola Concerto
Ravel: Piano Concerto for left-hand
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin
Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 6
Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night'
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique'
Martinu: Symphony No. 4

Have ordered the Schnitke Viola Concerto (Regis) on the strength of this. Interesting choices. I should have included the Honegger in my own list. I increasingly like his Symphony No. 4 as well.

[DavidW]

Have ordered the Schnitke Viola Concerto (Regis) on the strength of this.

You won't regret it!

[DaveF]

This thread is very close in conception to the long-running (61 years so far) BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs, which will be familiar to all UK members - celebrity guest talks about his/her life and is required to choose 8 "records" to take to a desert island, plus a book (the scripture of your chosen religion and the complete works of Shakespeare are already provided) and a luxury (something of no practical value, especially of no escaping-from-desert-island value).  What constitutes a "record" has never been precisely defined - at least not to the satisfaction of a nit-picker like me - but I think The Ring or Licht probably count as more than one.

So, would anyone consider adding the book and the luxury to their 10, or 8 pieces?

DF

[North Star]

Ravel: Piano Trio
Janacek: String Quartet no. 2
Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 30 (just about any of opus number, really)
Sibelius: Tapiola
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto no. 2
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Berlioz: Harold en Italie
Bartók: Out of Doors
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'
Bach: Clavier-Übung III
Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887

This thread is very close in conception to the long-running (61 years so far) BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs, which will be familiar to all UK members - celebrity guest talks about his/her life and is required to choose 8 "records" to take to a desert island, plus a book (the scripture of your chosen religion and the complete works of Shakespeare are already provided) and a luxury (something of no practical value, especially of no escaping-from-desert-island value).  What constitutes a "record" has never been precisely defined - at least not to the satisfaction of a nit-picker like me - but I think The Ring or Licht probably count as more than one.

So, would anyone consider adding the book and the luxury to their 10, or 8 pieces?

DF

I'd like to have complete Bach already there, like the Shakespeare.. And could I say that my religion is, e.g., Edgar Allan Poe? 

In any case:
Book: The Complete Calvin & Hobbes
Luxury item: a speedboat..

[DaveF]

Luxury item: a speedboat..

I'm not sure that quite obeys the rule about being of no use to help you escape from the island...

But the complete Bach is a splendid idea (I assume you mean the scores).  "Book" is as undefined an idea as "record" is on this programme, since someone recently chose the complete works of Dickens, which is, er, lots of books.

[North Star]

I'm not sure that quite obeys the rule about being of no use to help you escape from the island...

But the complete Bach is a splendid idea (I assume you mean the scores).  "Book" is as undefined an idea as "record" is on this programme, since someone recently chose the complete works of Dickens, which is, er, lots of books.

Ah yes, I read hastily. A CD player, in that case, then (assuming there is some mysterious source of electricity...)
I would prefer a decent set of recordings, though - seeing that we get the greatest achievement in literary, why not in music. And my score-reading is very elementary indeed.
We ought to get to choose a movie, too, and a painting (or perhaps some book with quality reproductions) and a photo book (Atget automatically included) and...  )