The Most "MOVING" Pieces for you Personally.

[dave b]

This is a narrowed down version of some previous questions by me. Here I go again, still taking my "surveys". And perhaps asking too many questions, as usual. But now I want to ask which one or two pieces are personally the most moving for you, so when you hear it you want to turn up the volume a bit or a lot. Mine is still Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 2 (III), Dvorak Cello Concerto (in places), some Dvorak Slavonic Dances, Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.
This is not the same question I asked before re your favorite 3 or 4 pieces. This is narrowed down to the one or two most MOVING, i.e. produces the most emotional reaction in you because of the beauty of the piece. Thanks in advance once again.....I am always on the lookout for pieces I haven't heard (which number in the millions, it seems). So I ask these questions, listen to the suggested pieces, and brand new windows have opened, as they have re other answers to questions I have put to you.

[dave b]

I asked for one or two, and I put down three. Good start

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

There are many pieces that move me deeply. But there is one piece that stands out for me - the last movement of Mahler's Tenth, simply the most heart-rending music I know. (And if it's Cooke who is mainly responsible for that, then he had his moment of genius.)

[Varg]

I'll name more than 2 or 3, if you dont mind. That might help you discover new composers.

Bruckner: 5th Symphony. (Celibidache)
Bruckner: 7th Symphony, 2nd movement. (Celibidache)
Bruckner: 9th Symphony, 3rd movement. (Skrowaczewski)
Mahler: 9th Symphony, 4th movement. (Chailly)
Pettersson: Symphonies 6-7-8. (cpo records)
Strauss: Metamorphosen/Death and Transfiguration. (Karajan)
Wagner: Most of his Overtures and Preludes. (Barenboim)
Williams: 5th Symphony, 3rd movement. (Hickox)

There are extremely moving parts in every Bruckner symphonies, those are just my favorites; you'll want to check them all out.

[Novi]

Here are my 'two' as well :

Beethoven op. 111 - especially the Arietta

Wagner, Parsifal

Bruckner 9

[dave b]

Thanks. I wanted to be sure people would not get tired of me asking what might appear to be the same question as yesterday (to name their top 3 or 4 pieces), but this is a little different in that it narrows it down to the most "moving", whatever each of us means by that.  And I ask these questions because I am always on the lookout for really beautiful classical music beyond a regular symphony that is nice but not particularly stunning, melody wise. So naming many pieces is fine with me.

[Varg]

Thanks. The only reason I said one or two was so people would not get tired of me asking what might appear to be the same question as yesterday (to name their top 3 or 4 pieces), but this is a little different in that it narrows it down to the most "moving", whatever each of us means by that.  And I ask these questions because I am always on the lookout for really beautiful classical music beyond a regular symphony that is nice but not particularly stunning, melody wise. So naming many pieces is fine with me.

That's what i tought.

It doesn't bothers me (and others, i'm sure) at all to help you in your quest. And dont be shy to ask exactly what you have in mind when you start a topic; most of us will just be glad to enlight you.

[dave b]

Thanks. And here is another reason I ask. It might be two years before some of the suggested pieces here are played on the radio, so my process of discovery of this music is really haphazard at best. Focusing on it now, allows me to search for it instead of waiting til it comes to me by chance, if at all, so vast is this field.

[mikkeljs]

Granados: the La Maja...something... Aria from Goyescas

Scriabin: Sonata no. 3

Shostakovich: Symphony no. 14

And of cause Petterssons Symphony no. 6, but doesn´t that shake everyone more than most other things?

[DavidW]

Some of the most emotionally driven music is also some of the ugliest.  It's hard for me to really lump beauty and emotion together like you have Dave.  It's kind of how you use the two synonymously as if they were interchangable.  Well which do you want?  Beauty or the Beast?

[Varg]

Thanks. And here is another reason I ask. It might be two years before some of the suggested pieces here are played on the radio, so my process of discovery of this music is really haphazard at best. Focusing on it now, allows me to search for it instead of waiting til it comes to me by chance, if at all, so vast is this field.

That's exactly what you need to do; classical music is such a vast universe. And with the countless perfomers and conductors, it's really easy to get confused. Which reminds me, i did not name those with my suggestions; i'll update it right now.

[dave b]

Maybe I should define "moving" as I am using it. I mean beautifully moving, never moving in such a way as an explosion would "move" someone to distraction. Always in the sense of a beautiful melody. I.e. What pieces, to you, are the most beautiful (moving) melodies? Not which ones jar your brain around in your head as you sit near the cd player or radio. Some of the very loud symphony endings are not moving in the sense in which I am using it. And not all of Dvorak's Cello Concerto is moving, but a few parts are strongly so, same with some of his Slavonic Dances. A particularly beautiful piece of music within a broader work, is what I am looking for. Or even an entire work, although I don't think an entire piece can sustain that uplifting feeling throughout the entire performance. But I hope this clarifies the sense in which I am using the word. I think that is the generally accepted way most people use it.

[dave b]

Re what someone said about lumping beauty and emotion:  I think that beauty and emotion are inextricably connected, wouldn't you say? Lumping beauty with emotion seems to be something that is already done outside of what I am thinking. It is just there. When we see or hear beauty, we automatically associate beauty with good emotional feeling subjectively. It is a natural thing whereby beauty and emotion go hand in hand, even if we would have them go separately. So "lumping beauty with emotion" is not a voluntary act on our parts. Unless we want to distinguish between good and bad emotion. Positive and negative. But beauty causes positive emotion. That is the way in which I am using "moving", a positive experience of the beauty of a certain piece of music.

[dave b]

But, again, to David W, what kind of ugly music would be "moving" in the sense that I have used it throughout these posts? I can't picture an ugly piece of music being moving except in the sense of jarring you off your chair in a negative way due to the noise level and ugliness of it. I don't think ugly can be moving, except in a pitying sort of way. Quasimodo was "moving" to onlookers, but that is not the sense of the word I am using.

[Varg]

Maybe I should define "moving" as I am using it. I mean beautifully moving, never moving in such a way as an explosion would "move" someone to distraction. Always in the sense of a beautiful melody. I.e. What pieces, to you, are the most beautiful (moving) melodies? Not which ones jar your brain around in your head as you sit near the cd player or radio. Some of the very loud symphony endings are not moving in the sense in which I am using it. And not all of Dvorak's Cello Concerto is moving, but a few parts are strongly so, same with some of his Slavonic Dances. A particularly beautiful piece of music within a broader work, is what I am looking for. Or even an entire work, although I don't think an entire piece can sustain that uplifting feeling throughout the entire performance. But I hope this clarifies the sense in which I am using the word. I think that is the generally accepted way most people use it.

That's exactly my cup of tea. All my suggestions will certainly appeals to you.

[DavidW]

I can't picture an ugly piece of music being moving except in the sense of jarring you off your chair in a negative way due to the noise level and ugliness of it. I don't think ugly can be moving, except in a pitying sort of way.

Then forget about it, broaden your horizons sometime I'm outta here.

[Varg]

I'll name more than 2 or 3, if you dont mind. That might help you discover new composers.

Bruckner: 5th Symphony (Celibidache)
Bruckner: 7th Symphony, 2nd movement (Celibidache)
Bruckner: 9th Symphony, 3rd movement (Skrowaczewski)
Chopin: Nocturnes (Barenboim)
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites (Karajan)
Mahler: 9th Symphony, 4th movement (Chailly)
Pettersson: Symphonies 6-7-8 (cpo records)
Strauss: Metamorphosen/Death and Transfiguration (Karajan)
Wagner: Most of his Overtures and Preludes (Barenboim)
Williams: 5th Symphony, 3rd movement (Hickox)

There are extremely moving parts in every Bruckner symphonies, those are just my favorites; you'll want to check them all out.

[The new erato]

Petterson Symphony nr 6 (not many to choose from.....)
Shostakovich Vn concerto nr 1 (Oistrakh)
F Martin Der Cornet. Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets (Zagrosek/Orfeo)

[dave b]

David W  I already forgot about it. Was only answering your question, which began "Well, which do you want...?"

[dave b]

Thank you. I will check out the Bruckner pieces especially because I have not heard that much played by him, at least on the radio.....thanks for those suggestions....I will try to check out all of this. Just saved me a year or two of listening....