The Most "MOVING" Pieces for you Personally.

[amw]

I feel like I've answered very similar thread topics in the past.

At the moment I would name the slow movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.22 & Brahms's Variations on an Original Theme Op.21 no.1.

Trying to think if there's anything I would add to this. Schumann's Kerner-Lieder for sure. Eastman's Gay Guerrilla, if you're into that sort of thing, and Berio's Laborintus II, if you're not. And plenty of individual moments that are only moving (affecting, electrifying, etc) in the context of listening to an entire, often very long piece: the big payoff in the last movement of Mahler 3, the last two pages of the slow movement of Bruckner 8, the 1-2-3 combination of Aus Liebe, Können Tränen meiner Wangen and Komm, süßes Kreuz in BWV 244, and the similar but different 1-2-3 combination of Zerfließe, mein Herze, Ruht wohl and Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein at the very end of BWV 245. Others are very performance-dependent; the very last piece of Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze can be extremely moving or it can just be a fun little aside after the main body of the piece is over, depending on the pianist, the instrument and the interpretation.

Mozart likely deserves a category of his own; in addition to the movement mentioned, the slow movements of the Piano Concertos No.17, 21, 23 & 27 cannot avoid deep feeling in any performance, and it's very difficult to achieve an unfeeling performance of e.g. the Quintets D515 or D516, the Rondo D511, etc. That's without even getting into the operas. Our perception of Mozart as a light composer who doesn't deal with heavy emotions is largely because we have forgotten how to listen to his music (or perform it, in many cases).

[Symphonic Addict]

Another go:
Bloch: Sacred Service
Bloch: Symphony in C sharp minor (Conclusion)
Bax: Christmas Eve
Sainton: Nadir
Miaskovsky: Symphony 27
Diamond: Symphony 3 (slow movement)
Braga-Santos: Symphony 4
Moeran: Cello Concerto (conclusion)
Bruckner: 9th Symphony
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet
Sibelius: Tapiola
Bax: Piano Quintet
Alwyn: Violin Concerto
Howells: Hymnus Paradisi
Finzi: Dies Natalis/In Terra Pax
Tubin: Symphony 4
Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony (conclusion 1913 and 1920 version, not 1936 version)
Stanley Bate: Symphony 3 and Symphony 4
Rootham: Symphony No.2 (conclusion)
Arnell: Symphony No.5 and No.3
Pettersson: Symphony No.6 'The long struggle towards the sunrise' at the end - I find that terribly moving - a kind of hard-won acceptance after an hour of turbulence and suffering.
+ Violin Concerto No.2 (ending)

Interesting list, Jeffrey. The only work I don't know is the Rootham IIRC.

[vandermolen]

Interesting list, Jeffrey. The only work I don't know is the Rootham IIRC.

Worth hunting down Cesar (Lyrita CD). He completed it just before he died and his student, the loyal Patrick Hadley was there to help him (transcribing what Rootham was telling him). I find the closing sequence unbearably moving:

PS I had to look up what 'IIRC' means 

[Symphonic Addict]

Worth hunting down Cesar (Lyrita CD). He completed it just before he died and his student, the loyal Patrick Hadley was there to help him (transcribing what Rootham was telling him). I find the closing sequence unbearably moving:

PS I had to look up what 'IIRC' means 

It must be a quite poignant work, Jeffrey. I'll make sure to give it a listen in this week.

Haha sorry for that word (if I remember correctly).

[vandermolen]

It must be a quite poignant work, Jeffrey. I'll make sure to give it a listen in this week.

Haha sorry for that word (if I remember correctly).

I'd be interested to hear what you think of it Cesar. It's very different from his First Symphony, which I also think very highly of.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

A couple of ones which always get to me:

*Finzi's Cello Concerto
Elgar's Cello Concerto (particularly if played by du Pré)...and, oh!  Brain kicked in a bit more now....some others....

Vaughan Williams A London Symphony, Symphony No. 5, A Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus....
a lot of Mozart hits at the old heart..particularly some of his piano concertos and some of the arias from certain operas
Puccini - arias and duets from La Boheme
R. Strauss' - arias and music from Der Rosenkavalier
various oboe concertos (there's just something about the oboe which often touches me in a kind of melancholic way)
Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings
Purcell's Dido's Lament
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 (Cortot and Barbirolli a particular favorite)
Dvorak's Cello Concerto

Well that's for starters!   

*I'll have to check out Finzi's Dies Natalis!

PD

[krummholz]

In no particular order:

Beethoven: Op. 132 Slow movement "Heiliger Dankgesang"
Mahler: "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"
Mahler: Symphony #3 Adagio, Symphony #9 Adagio (Finale), Symphony #10 Finale (Coda especially), Symphony #6 Andante
Vaughan Williams: Symphony #5 3rd movement (Lento?)
Schoenberg: String Quartet #2 (Ich fuhle Luft von anderem Planeten)
Pettersson: Symphony #7 (long hymnlike passage about 2/3 of the way through)

I'm sure others will come to me...

[Pohjolas Daughter]

In no particular order:

Beethoven: Op. 132 Slow movement "Heiliger Dankgesang"
Mahler: "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"
Mahler: Symphony #3 Adagio, Symphony #9 Adagio (Finale), Symphony #10 Finale (Coda especially), Symphony #6 Andante
Vaughan Williams: Symphony #5 3rd movement (Lento?)
Schoenberg: String Quartet #2 (Ich fuhle Luft von anderem Planeten)
Pettersson: Symphony #7 (long hymnlike passage about 2/3 of the way through)

I'm sure others will come to me...

Must admit, I need to check out Mahler better.  Will look to see what all I might have of his (hidden in those sets) and explore further.  Schoenberg I have a little of (will dig again).  Pettersson I've heard of but don't know at all.  Would you say that his seventh is a good place to dive in?

PD

[krummholz]

Must admit, I need to check out Mahler better.  Will look to see what all I might have of his (hidden in those sets) and explore further.  Schoenberg I have a little of (will dig again).  Pettersson I've heard of but don't know at all.  Would you say that his seventh is a good place to dive in?

PD

Yes! It is certainly the best known and most popular of his symphonies, and the one that really put him on the map, so to speak. I am not otherwise a huge Pettersson fan - much of his music seems static to me, and too long-winded to boot. But I love the 3rd and the 7th, and found the 6th engaging the last time I listened to it (Alun Francis reading I believe). He definitely is worth delving into if you can stomach hour-long angst-ridden confessionals composed in an astringent but very tonal idiom.

[André]

Yes! It is certainly the best known and most popular of his symphonies, and the one that really put him on the map, so to speak. I am not otherwise a huge Pettersson fan - much of his music seems static to me, and too long-winded to boot. But I love the 3rd and the 7th, and found the 6th engaging the last time I listened to it (Alun Francis reading I believe). He definitely is worth delving into if you can stomach hour-long angst-ridden confessionals composed in an astringent but very tonal idiom.

This sounds like a pharmaceutical warning notice about possible side effects  .

Personally I don't find Pettersson's music to be static at all. There is a dark but powerful undercurrent that runs beneath the surface, like lava flowing under the cracks of a thick black crust.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Will check out Pettersson's seventh then...thank you both! 

PD

[foxandpeng]

This sounds like a pharmaceutical warning notice about possible side effects  .

Personally I don't find Pettersson's music to be static at all. There is a dark but powerful undercurrent that runs beneath the surface, like lava flowing under the cracks of a thick black crust.

I love your imagery!

[krummholz]

This sounds like a pharmaceutical warning notice about possible side effects  .

Personally I don't find Pettersson's music to be static at all. There is a dark but powerful undercurrent that runs beneath the surface, like lava flowing under the cracks of a thick black crust.

I like the imagery there and find it apt - but remember that lava often flows very very slowly... and that's the impression I have of much of Pettersson's output.

De gustibus and all... but I can wholeheartedly recommend the 7th Symphony.

[Xenophanes]

Right now, the most moving piece of music for me is "Erbarme dich" from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, with Julia Hamari and Otto Büchner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPAiH9XhTHc

Historically, these are a couple that will move me.

Beethoven Symphony no. 3, 2nd movement, funeral march.  Ansermet, SRO. Climax of the fuge, actually.

Mozart, Symphony no. 41, 2nd movement.  Leibowitz, Colin Davis . . .

[relm1]

Lepo Sumera Symphony No. 2
Kevin Puts Symphony No. 2
Mahler Symphony No. 2*, 3, 9, 10
Shostakovich Symphony No. 13
Haug Symphony No. 1
Finzi Fall of the Leaf
Tippett A Child of Our Time
RVW: Symphony No. 9 (really all the symphonies), Pilgrims Progress
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (especially ending)
Handel: The Messiah (Worthy Is the Lamb and Amen are especially moving culmination)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 and Swan Lake (especially life where you're fully involved with the three hour spectacle)
Gorecki Symphony No. 3
Elgar Cello Concerto, Violin Concerto, Dream of Gerontius
Part Berliner messe

* This will forever hold a very special place in my life because it was the first professional orchestral performance I attended and I was so moved by the experience.  I wish I could email the conductor who is still alive to tell him that it changed my life but I don't know how to find him.

[gprengel]

One of the most moving pieces of music I know is this song which formerly was attributed to Handel, but actually was written about only 100 years ago. Here sung by one of my favourite singers Aafje Heynis and with the moving pictures of the liberation of the Netherlands which we so much wish also for the Ukraine: https://youtu.be/YWc3li358v0

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Another work that comes to my mind is the cantata "Ich habe genug" (Bach).  I enjoy it as sung by a number of people.  Some favorite recordings of it are with:  Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, D F-D and Gérard Souzay.

PD

[DavidW]

Another work that comes to my mind is the cantata "Ich habe genug" (Bach).  I enjoy it as sung by a number of people.  Some favorite recordings of it are with:  Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, D F-D and Gérard Souzay.

PD

Lieberson's recording is a desert island recording for me, on my short list of favorite recordings of anything.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Lieberson's recording is a desert island recording for me, on my short list of favorite recordings of anything.

  This emoji doesn't describe my feelings enough.  I'm so glad that you appreciate it.  I so wish that I had heard her when she was still alive.  Like so many lives:  way too short. 

PD

[atardecer]

Here are five movements I find very moving:

Bach - Ciaccona
Mozart - Dies Irae
Ravel - La Vallée des Cloches
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Brahms - Intermezzo in Bm Op. 119