Which works excite you from their opening notes?

[Catison]

Prokofiev, Cinderella

You know I love Prokofiev, but that opening interval (whatever it is), always disgusts me.  I have to force myself to keep listening.

My weird tick.

[Wanderer]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Violin Concerto, "Kreutzer" Sonata, Piano Concerto No. 4
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4, Te Deum
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 24
Sibelius: Kullervo, Violin Concerto, Symphony No. 7
Brahms: Symphony No. 1, Piano Concertos, Violin Concerto, Violin Sonata No. 1
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4, Das Lied von der Erde
Wagner: Die Walküre, Der fliegende Holländer
Schreker: Kammersymphonie & Die Gezeichneten
Schumann: Fantasie in C, Piano Sonata No. 2, Symphony No. 2
R. Strauss: Salome, Eine Alpensinfonie, Don Quixote
Medtner: Piano Concerto No. 1, Sonate-Vocalise
Schubert: Symphony No. 8
Korngold: Violanta
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Ravel: Piano Concerto pour la main gauche
Alkan: Grand duo concertant
Stravinsky: Les noces
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast

I could go on. 😎

[vandermolen]

Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No.4
Khachaturian: Symphony No.2
Schulhoff: Symphony No.5
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.6
Walton: Symphony No.1
Bax: Symphony No.5

[Symphonic Addict]

Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No.4
Khachaturian: Symphony No.2
Schulhoff: Symphony No.5
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.6
Walton: Symphony No.1
Bax: Symphony No.5

I don't remember the Schulhoff, but the others are fine choices, Jeffrey.

[Symphonic Addict]

There will be some "obvious" choices from me, so let's see:

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2
Poulenc: Organ Concerto
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Honegger: Symphony No. 5
Strauss: Don Juan, Also sprach Zarathustra

[Olias]

Beethoven 7th
Dvorak 8th
Mozart 41st
Haydn 104th
Shostakovich 5th

More obviously but these came to mind immediately.

[LKB]

Richard Strauss, Ein Heldenleben and Also Sprach Zarathustra

Mahler, Symphony No. 2

Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem

Bruckner, Symphony No. 9

Beethoven, Symphony No. 9

[pjme]

Ravel : pianoconcerto en sol - the whip! 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Off the top of my head:

Janacek's Sinfonietta (Remember my jaw dropping when I first heard the opening of it...lol)
Vaughan Williams' sixth symphony
Shostakovich's fifth symphony
Kodaly's Sonata for Solo Cello

PD

[Florestan]

Otomh

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4
Schubert D960
Chopin Scherzo No. 2
Schumann Piano Concerto
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Mahler 3

and Rossini's overtures, of course. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Otomh

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4
Schubert D960
Chopin Scherzo No. 2
Schumann Piano Concerto
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Mahler 3

and Rossini's overtures, of course. 

Good choice re the Schumann!  Yes, it has a very arresting/dramatic opening.  +1  Grieg's pc also has a lovely, dramatic (and romantic) opening that grabs me from the get-go too. 

Another one for me:  Shostakovich's first cello concerto.

PD

[Florestan]

Grieg's pc also has a lovely, dramatic (and romantic) opening that grabs me from the get-go too. 

Indeed. Tchaikovsky 1 as well --- actually, I fault myself for not nominating them both.

And speaking of PCs, also Mozart (especially but not limited to 9, 20, 21, 24, 27), Chopin (both), Mendelssohn (both), Rachmaninoff 2 and 3...

[Roasted Swan]

You know I love Prokofiev, but that opening interval (whatever it is), always disgusts me.  I have to force myself to keep listening.

My weird tick.

That is quite curious because the opening 2 notes are a straight octave interval - B rising to B over an E minor chord which immediately sours with some added notes....

[Iota]

Good choice re the Schumann!  Yes, it has a very arresting/dramatic opening.  +1  Grieg's pc also has a lovely, dramatic (and romantic) opening that grabs me from the get-go too. 

It's hard not to think that Greig wasn't extensively inspired by Schumann's concerto, and not just in the opening bars, when writing his own, though the outcome is very different.

There are far too many pieces that excite me from the moment they start, to write a list, many already mentioned. But the first that spring to mind as I write are Wagner's Parsifal Prelude, Bruckner 7 and Beethoven 9. I'm pretty sure the first time I ever heard them in my life I knew something special was happening.

[vandermolen]

I don't remember the Schulhoff, but the others are fine choices, Jeffrey.

Thanks Cesar 

[vandermolen]

Off the top of my head:

Janacek's Sinfonietta (Remember my jaw dropping when I first heard the opening of it...lol)
Vaughan Williams' sixth symphony
Shostakovich's fifth symphony
Kodaly's Sonata for Solo Cello

PD

+1 for Janacek, VW and Dmitri.

[Sergeant Rock]

Schmidt Symphony No. 1
Nielsen Symphony No. 3
Bruckner Symphony No. 3
Bruckner Te Deum
Korngold Symphony
Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 4
Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 25
Mahler Symphony No. 6
Brahms Symphony No. 4
Verdi Otello

[pjme]

Panufnik: Sinfonia sacra

[vandermolen]

Panufnik: Sinfonia sacra

+1

[vandermolen]

Schmidt Symphony No. 1
Nielsen Symphony No. 3
Bruckner Symphony No. 3
Bruckner Te Deum
Korngold Symphony
Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 4
Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 25
Mahler Symphony No. 6
Brahms Symphony No. 4
Verdi Otello

+1 for Korngold - especially in Previn's DGG recording - nice choice Sarge.