What piece of music evokes the strongest emotions in you?

[val]

BEETHOVEN:     Sonatas opus 10/3, 106,110, 111 / Quartets opus  59/1, 127, 130, 132 / Diabelli Variations

MOZART:  String Quintet K 516 / Piano Concerto 19 / Clarinet Concerto

BRUCKNER:  Symphonies 8 and 9

WAGNER:  Parsifal

JS BACH:  Mass in B minor

SCHUBERT: Quartet in G major / String Quintet / Lied Af dem Wasser zu singen

SCHÖNBERG: Moses und Aaron

ENESCU:  Oedipe

[Sydney Grew]

What an excellent topic this is!

Here are the works which evoke the strongest passions within our breast:

1) Schoenberg's Gurrelieder

2) Tristan and Isolde (strange because we dislike the rest of Wagner)

3) The opening chorus of Bach's St. John Passion (as well as a few passages in the cantatas when sung by pure and quavery boy sopranos)

4) Parts of Mozart's Requiem

5) The final movement of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony

6) Parts of Mozart's later efforts, particularly of his string quartets and quintets

7) The first movement of Beethoven's Third Symphony, and particularly the loud dissonant passage towards the end of its development section.

What common factor do these works which move us possess? It is we think that they contain sequential passages. It is the clash between mind and mechanism that is there operative is it not? The mechanical nature of the sequence somehow permits the composer to go further off the harmonic rails than he would otherwise dare to essay. He is able thus to impose order upon an area of chaos never before tamed or conquered, and to incorporate it into his Work of Art.

[Haffner]

LvB op.132, 3rd Movement


A life-Affirming experience that tends to leave me not wanting to listen to anything else for a long period afterward. And I'm going to be bold and highlight the Borodin SQ performance as being the most emotion-provoking and intense.

[71 dB]

Perhaps Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38

[greg]

Gorecki - Symphony No. 3
Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

0:)

[mikkeljs]

Granados: the La maja "something" from Goyescas.

[Kullervo]

There are many moments in Sibelius that cause the tears to well-up: The 7th, the beginning of the 6th (get chills thinking about it), 3rd movement of the 4th, the end of the 3rd and 5th

Beethoven: last movement of the 5th symphony, slow movement of the Op. 135 quartet, the Cavatina from Op. 130, the first movement of the Op. 111 sonata

[BachQ]

These evoke strong emotions:

Pelléas et Mélisande
Tristan und Isolde
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

[George]

LvB op.132, 3rd Movement


A life-Affirming experience that tends to leave me not wanting to listen to anything else for a long period afterward. And I'm going to be bold and highlight the Borodin SQ performance as being the most emotion-provoking and intense.

Seconded, though the final assertion has yet to be determined by this listener.

[jwinter]

A few leap immediately to mind:

Bach -- Passacaglia & Fugue, Mass in B Minor
Vivaldi -- Mandolin Concerto RV93: Largo
Purcell -- Dido's Lament
Mozart -- Ave Verum Corpus, parts of the Requiem, several piano concerti
Beethoven -- fugue from the Eroica, last mvt of Sym#6, Moonlight sonata, sonata#27, I could go on all day
Brahms -- finale of 1st symphony, opening of 1st piano concerto, All Flesh is Grass from Requiem, violin concerto
Chopin -- many of the preludes and nocturnes, lots of others
Mahler -- finale 3rd, adagietto 5th, andante 6th, finale 9th
Bruckner -- yes
Strauss -- Death & Transfiguration
Tchaikovsky -- Swan Lake, 6th symphony
Prokofiev -- Romeo & Juliet, 5th symphony (particularly the finale), Alexander Nevsky
Stravinsky -- Rite of Spring
Sibelius -- 2nd symphony
Wagner -- Siegfried's funeral music; Tannhauser ovt., Parsifal

[sidoze]

Granados: the La maja "something" from Goyescas.

this is wonderful. it's the 4th, I just listened to it.

I'd include Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen, which I've been listening to quite a lot recently.

[rappy]

Some examples:

joy: Mozart K488, 3rd movement closing section; Haydn, 98th symphony first movement
beauty: Strauss, Death & Transfiguration (as jwinter mentioned. if you are ill or sad, listen to that!); Brahms 1st piano concerto; Dvorak Op. 104
power, euphoria: Schubert, 2nd symphony and 4th symphony (last movement) [Harnoncourt]; Dvorak 8th symphony

etc. etc.

[MahlerSnob]

Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde comes to mind.

[Brian]

Brahms: Symphony No 4 (especially Kleiber, Vienna)

Puccini: La boheme

Also, the CD "Wladyslaw Szpilman: Original Recordings of The Pianist", particularly the concluding one-two punch of Bach's D minor Chaconne and Chopin's posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor. Wow ... almost reduces me to tears.

[Symphonien]

I'd include Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen, which I've been listening to quite a lot recently.

Yes, that's a great one! One of the very few R. Strauss works that I actually like.

[max]

Anything by any composer whose name begins with 'B'.

[jjfan]

Sadness
- Mozart Sonata in E minor (K304) for Violin and Piano, 2nd movement

Excitement
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3

Contentment
- Vivaldi Four Seasons - Winter, 2nd movement

[O Delvig]

Beethoven, Opus 130-133 and Sonatas 29-32 (1st Juilliard Quartet and Arrau or Gilels)

Sibelius Symphonies 4-6 and Tapiola (Vanska/Lahti Orchestra)

Bach - 6th Cello Suite (Starker), Goldbergs (Gould 1981)

Dvorak Cello Concerto (Du Pre/Barenboim)

That's a start!

[Ten thumbs]

Lili Boulanger  -- D'un soir triste
Seems to sum up man's struggle for immortality against death.
Never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

[LVB_opus.125]

Beethoven's 9th is the only work that has ever drawn tears from me, and always in the last movement.