Your 10 favorite joyful works

Started by kyjo, August 24, 2021, 07:24:35 PM

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Karl Henning

I suppose I earn the designation of post to elicit the least interest in the thread.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Brian

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 26, 2021, 09:36:56 AM
I suppose I earn the designation of post to elicit the least interest in the thread.
Well, when I saw it last night, I thought "shoot, I ought to plan a whole day of listening around this post."

Karl Henning

Quote from: Brian on August 26, 2021, 11:27:40 AM
Well, when I saw it last night, I thought "shoot, I ought to plan a whole day of listening around this post."

Hah! :)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

DavidW

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 26, 2021, 09:36:56 AM
I suppose I earn the designation of post to elicit the least interest in the thread.

Well you didn't have any Pettersson on your list, and you know that he is the most joyful composer that ever lived.  His music is like painting rainbows and unicorns.

Karl Henning

Quote from: DavidW on August 26, 2021, 02:49:16 PM
Well you didn't have any Pettersson on your list, and you know that he is the most joyful composer that ever lived.  His music is like painting rainbows and unicorns.

Balloons! You forgot the balloons!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Symphonic Addict

Nielsen: Symphony No. 3

How could anyone forget this beauty?
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on August 28, 2021, 07:43:22 PM
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3

How could anyone forget this beauty?

I couldn't! An amazing work. The third movement, Allegretto un poco, always reminded me of Janáček. Also, if that finale doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will!

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 28, 2021, 08:34:52 PM
I couldn't! An amazing work. The third movement, Allegretto un poco, always reminded me of Janáček. Also, if that finale doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will!

I see your point about the Janacek connection. Nobody can resist its charms.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

vandermolen

Ravel: 'Mother Goose Suite' which I just heard on the radio. I should have included it in my original list.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Roasted Swan

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 26, 2021, 09:36:56 AM
I suppose I earn the designation of post to elicit the least interest in the thread.

GREAT CHOICES ALL!!!  I often praise the old Readers Digest box sets - some great programming angenuinely fine performances.  They did a whole series of 3-disc "Mood" boxes - Calm/Mystery/Tranquil/Dreams etc.  One was "Jubilation" and it includes some crackers


Karl Henning

Quote from: Roasted Swan on September 09, 2021, 06:51:19 AM
GREAT CHOICES ALL!!!  I often praise the old Readers Digest box sets - some great programming angenuinely fine performances.  They did a whole series of 3-disc "Mood" boxes - Calm/Mystery/Tranquil/Dreams etc.  One was "Jubilation" and it includes some crackers



Thanks!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Symphonic Addict

Being quite sincere and honest, I don't think any composer could beat Dvorak as the king of joyful and tuneful composers. That combination is not to be found in the musical history that often. Maybe on par with Haydn, I'd say. His life wasn't that tragic (Dvorak), and that does resemble the music. It's a mix of them, along with truly sense of rusticism, depth and Slavonic longing, mastery and ease to create perfect melodies that make the ear fall in love with it.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

ritter

One of the greatest examples ever of a joyful work (in my book): Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg:)

Florestan

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 09, 2021, 04:27:25 PM
Being quite sincere and honest, I don't think any composer could beat Dvorak as the king of joyful and tuneful composers. That combination is not to be found in the musical history that often. Maybe on par with Haydn, I'd say.

Here's my quite sincere and honest reply.

If you mean composers whose music is mostly cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful (with numerous but occasional, temporary, brief outbursts of melancholy, anger or despair), the list is very long. Otomh and in no particular order, Vivaldi, Cimarosa, D. Scarlatti, Boccherini, Mozart, Myslivecek, Krommer, Dittersdorf, Kozeluch, Pleyel, Rossini, Paganini, Hummel, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, Vieuxtemps, Henri Herz, Sigismond Thalberg, Liszt in his virtuoso-pre-Weimar-years, Saint-Saens, Lalo, Gouvy, the Lachner bros, Onslow, Raff, Julius Roentgen, Glazunov, Grieg, Svendsen, Halvorsen, Bortkiewicz, Milhaud, Jean Francaix, Poulenc, Gershwin, Granados, Turina, Rodrigo, Albeniz, Scott Joplin, Ernesto Nazareth, Pablo de Sarasate etc etc etc --- I'm sure the list could be expanded forever and ever, with a particular nod to Classicism, imho THE most cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful era in the whole history of "classical" music.

If you mean composers who never ever in their whole life wrote a single sad, dark, bleak and depressing work, I'm sorry to say that Haydn and Dvorak are not among them --- exhibit A: Stabat Mater (both), Requiem (Dvorak), The Seven Last Words of Christ (Haydn). Yet, there are many composers who never ever in their whole life wrote a single sad, dark, bleak and depressing work; otomh and in no particular order: the Strauss family, Joseph Lanner, Jacques Offenbach, Juventino Rosas, Emile Waldteufel, Franz Lehar, Imre Kalman, Gilbert & Sullivan etc etc etc.

Now, why here on GMG composers of exclusively cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful music are generally held in much less esteem, and are much less commented upon, than composers of exclusively sad, dark, bleak and depressing music is another, albeit related, discussion.

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Florestan on September 11, 2021, 11:43:08 AM
Here's my quite sincere and honest reply.

If you mean composers whose music is mostly cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful (with numerous but occasional, temporary, brief outbursts of melancholy, anger or despair), the list is very long. Otomh and in no particular order, Vivaldi, Cimarosa, D. Scarlatti, Boccherini, Mozart, Myslivecek, Krommer, Dittersdorf, Kozeluch, Pleyel, Rossini, Paganini, Hummel, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, Vieuxtemps, Henri Herz, Sigismond Thalberg, Liszt in his virtuoso-pre-Weimar-years, Saint-Saens, Lalo, Gouvy, the Lachner bros, Onslow, Raff, Julius Roentgen, Glazunov, Grieg, Svendsen, Halvorsen, Bortkiewicz, Milhaud, Jean Francaix, Poulenc, Gershwin, Granados, Turina, Rodrigo, Albeniz, Scott Joplin, Ernesto Nazareth, Pablo de Sarasate etc etc etc --- I'm sure the list could be expanded forever and ever, with a particular nod to Classicism, imho THE most cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful era in the whole history of "classical" music.

If you mean composers who never ever in their whole life wrote a single sad, dark, bleak and depressing work, I'm sorry to say that Haydn and Dvorak are not among them --- exhibit A: Stabat Mater (both), Requiem (Dvorak), The Seven Last Words of Christ (Haydn). Yet, there are many composers who never ever in their whole life wrote a single sad, dark, bleak and depressing work; otomh and in no particular order: the Strauss family, Joseph Lanner, Jacques Offenbach, Juventino Rosas, Emile Waldteufel, Franz Lehar, Imre Kalman, Gilbert & Sullivan etc etc etc.

Now, why here on GMG composers of exclusively cheerful, joyful, sunny, life-affirming and tuneful music are generally held in much less esteem, and are much less commented upon, than composers of exclusively sad, dark, bleak and depressing music is another, albeit related, discussion.

Oh, yes. I get your points. It's impossible to avoid any composer could not feel sadness, melancholy, more poignant lyricism in their lives. That makes us human entities.

BTW, some important and kind of "obvious" candidates I forgot about. Silly me!
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

kyjo

Quote from: kyjo on August 24, 2021, 07:24:35 PM
Alfvén: Symphony no. 3
Anderson, Leroy: Piano Concerto in C major
Braga Santos: Symphony no. 4
Brahms: Serenade no. 1
Dubois: Quintette for oboe, violin, viola, cello, and piano
Dvořák: Symphony no. 8
Martinů: Symphony no. 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 17
Poulenc: Cello Sonata
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto no. 1

List #2, because one can never have too much joy in their life! :D

Alnaes: Piano Concerto
Arensky: the 5 Suites for two pianos
Falla: El sombrero de tres picos (particularly for the Danza final)
Glazunov: Symphony no. 5
Kalinnikov: Symphony no. 2
Lloyd: Symphony no. 6
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no. 2
Peterson-Berger: Törnrosasagan (The Story of the Sleeping Beauty)
Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances
Suk: Symphony no. 1 in E major
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

relm1

How can I not say Holst' Jupiter: Bringer of Jolity?
Torke's Bright Blue Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF4QBX0Ku88
Bernstein's Candide Overture
Handel: Royal Fireworks
Copeland's Rodeo (especially Hoe Down)
Rossini tends to be joyful to me
Lots of stuff from Mozart