Twelve works that you find most moving.

[Crudblud]

Great choice there...I'm not that keen on the Eighth as a whole, but that finale, exactly from that point you mention, is simply sublime and moving. In my case, it also has some personal connotations: when I was a young boy, and my dad would be driving us around a city or in the country, whenever he wanted us to notice some particular landmark or view, he'd say "Blicket auf! Blicket auf!" 

I do love the 8th, as I love all Mahler's symphonies, but from the brief appearance of Mater Gloriosa it seems to transcend itself. But you know, on a different day I might have picked the 6th, 4th, 2nd; any, really.

That's a nice anecdote, by the way. I don't have really have any memories involving my parents and classical music, but we had a lot of cassette tapes when I was little. I would hear Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and the like very often, and we had some BBC Proms compilations as well—I remember sitting on the floor imagining scenes to accompany the different sections in Rhapsody in Blue. I didn't discover Mahler until I was in my early twenties, and he—for some reason, perhaps their proximity as romantics, perhaps their famed symphonic outputs, and perhaps most stupidly the "ah"—had become connected in my mind with Brahms, who I found turgid. Of course, the best way to remedy such misconceptions is to listen to the music, and gradually Mahler became for me an indispensable composer.

[Mirror Image]

Time to update my list, but keeping with a one work per composer type of list (in no particular order):

Debussy: Préludes, Livre I
Ravel: Miroirs
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3
Fauré: Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 115
Stravinsky: Apollon musagète
Barber: Violin Concerto
Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Janáček: String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters"
Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9
Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9
Poulenc: Oboe Sonata

[NikF4]

Time to update my list, but keeping with a one work per composer type of list (in no particular order):

Debussy: Préludes, Livre I
Ravel: Miroirs
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3
Fauré: Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 115
Stravinsky: Apollon musagète
Barber: Violin Concerto
Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Janáček: String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters"
Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9
Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9
Poulenc: Oboe Sonata

Even after a somewhat cursory glance that certainly seems a moving selection, mate.
I don't know the Durufle, but I'll check it out. 

[Mirror Image]

Even after a somewhat cursory glance that certainly seems a moving selection, mate.
I don't know the Durufle, but I'll check it out. 

Thanks, Nik. All of these works have meant a lot to me and you could say I've finally been able to fine tune the list after much thought. My tastes continue to evolve with many composers I once adored only having a minimal impact on me these days while others, who I probably liked much less, coming into the foreground. I'd say that refinement in taste seems to be what has happened overall. Yes, do check out the Duruflé! If you can, please listen to the Matthew Best performance on Hyperion. That is my own personal favorite.

[NikF4]

Thanks, Nik. All of these works have meant a lot to me and you could say I've finally been able to fine tune the list after much thought. My tastes continue to evolve with many composers I once adored only having a minimal impact on me these days while others, who I probably liked much less, coming into the foreground. I'd say that refinement in taste seems to be what has happened overall. Yes, do check out the Duruflé! If you can, please listen to the Matthew Best performance on Hyperion. That is my own personal favorite.

I'll try to make it that performance - thanks for the recommendation.

Yeah, generally speaking, when it comes to matters of 'taste' I find despite all the talk of good/bad it's more valuable (not to say rewarding) to invest in identifying, developing and then refining one's taste. We all move forward or at least should seek to do so.   

e: more exacty, whenever possible we should seek to move forward in all ways.

[SymphonicAddict]

Schnittke: Cello Concerto #1 - 4th movement
Shostakovich: String Quartet #15

How I could forget these!

[amw]

As much as I don't particularly enjoy lists (or even having favourites) Brahms is probably who I listen to more than any other composer. But this piece is one that still eludes me.

An intimate knowledge of Schumann's piano works (including some fairly obscure ones) may be necessary to fully appreciate it.

[Cato]

Is this topic four years old?!

Two candidates which have not been mentioned:

Mahler's Tenth Symphony, especially the Fifth Movement.

https://www.youtube.com/v/q-ziJ36BDMs

Richard Strauss: Elektra, the recognition scene with Orestes and, especially, the haunting, chilling lamentation that follows, where Elektra summarizes her life since the death of Agamemnon, her real father, and implies certain unthinkable things were done to her by her mother's lover.  And then the crashing agony at the end, where Elektra realizes that her life's purpose (vengeance) is completed, and nothing remains for her in this life.

https://www.youtube.com/v/8pqWSKty5FI&list=RD8pqWSKty5FI&start_radio=1&t=0

[Sergeant Rock]

Mahler's Tenth Symphony, especially the Fifth Movement.

Indeed. I could have (should have) included that in my list. Loved it since hearing Ormandy in the 60s.


Sarge

[kyjo]

Many of mine have already been mentioned:

Arnold - Symphony no. 5
Barber - Violin Concerto
Bloch - Piano Quintet no. 1
Brahms - Intermezzo in A major, op. 118/2
Bruckner - Symphony no. 9
Dvorak - Cello Concerto
Elgar - Symphony no. 2
Finzi - Cello Concerto
Gorecki - Symphony no. 3
Mahler - Symphony no. 9
Schnittke - Cello Concerto no. 1
Schubert - String Quintet
Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio
Vaughan Williams - Symphony no. 5

Oops, that's two too many...

[SymphonicAddict]

Many of mine have already been mentioned:

Arnold - Symphony no. 5
Barber - Violin Concerto
Bloch - Piano Quintet no. 1
Brahms - Intermezzo in A major, op. 118/2
Bruckner - Symphony no. 9
Dvorak - Cello Concerto
Elgar - Symphony no. 2
Finzi - Cello Concerto
Gorecki - Symphony no. 3
Mahler - Symphony no. 9
Schnittke - Cello Concerto no. 1
Schubert - String Quintet
Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio
Vaughan Williams - Symphony no. 5

Oops, that's two too many...

The Finzi and the VW definitely mean much for me too. I remember the Arnold but not as much as I wanted at the moment.

[Mirror Image]

I'll try to make it that performance - thanks for the recommendation.

Yeah, generally speaking, when it comes to matters of 'taste' I find despite all the talk of good/bad it's more valuable (not to say rewarding) to invest in identifying, developing and then refining one's taste. We all move forward or at least should seek to do so.   

e: more exacty, whenever possible we should seek to move forward in all ways.

To the bolded text, you said a mouthful there. This is certainly the truth, but quite difficult for me as I've simply not let things go and can't seem to at the moment. But, I know, it's not healthy to hold onto something that you know is lost forever. It's that moment you look up and they're gone that it finally sinks in and reality rears its' head. Whoops...I've said too much.

[Jackman]

Initially I tried to have only one entry per composer, mainly to prevent Mahler from dominating, since I think at my laziest I could easily have picked nothing but movements from his symphonies, but that would have made for a rather boring list. So here is the hopefully not boring list, in no particular order.

Ives - "General William Booth Enters into Heaven"
Ives - Fugue from Symphony No. 4
Mahler - Symphony No. 8 finale, from "Komm! hebe dich zu höhern Sphären" onward
Mahler - Kindertotenlieder
Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles
Schoenberg - "O alter Duft" from Pierrot Lunaire
Beethoven - Große Fuge
Ravel - La valse
Messiaen - Act III from St. François d'Assise
Froberger - Allemande from Méditation sur ma morte future
Webern - Sechs Stücke für großes Orchester (Op. 6)
Bach arr. Webern - Ricercar a 6

I love your list, that's a very awesome list of pieces, I love them all dearly myself 

[Crudblud]

I love your list, that's a very awesome list of pieces, I love them all dearly myself 

Solidarity!