6 favourite works in B minor

[Maestro267]

I absolutely love the key of B minor. To me, it has heroic and epic feelings. And a lot of my favourite themes I've later found out to be in this key. So what are six of your favourite works in B minor (they don't necessarily have to be listed as "...in B minor", if you know by ear that they are predominantly in that key).

Mine are all orchestral, but yours don't have to be.

- Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony
- Gliere Symphony No. 3 ("Ilya Muromets")
- Paderewski's Symphony ("Polonia")
- Bantock's Thalaba the Destroyer
- Elgar's Violin Concerto
- Dvorak's Cello Concerto

[Turner]

Pretty conventional taste for my part, at least where I´ve noticed the key mentioned:

Elgar V Cto
Liszt Piano Sonata
Bach Mass
Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony
Dvorak Cello Cto
Tchaikovsky Manfred

Wiki has a list of some symphonies in that key
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_B_minor

EDIT: Wiklund Piano Cto no. 2 is also very good.

[Mahlerian]

I absolutely love the key of B minor. To me, it has heroic and epic feelings. And a lot of my favourite themes I've later found out to be in this key. So what are six of your favourite works in B minor (they don't necessarily have to be listed as "...in B minor", if you know by ear that they are predominantly in that key).

Wait...I didn't create this thread?  Really?  There's someone other than myself obsessed with the key of B minor?

...

Bach - Mass in B minor
Berg - Piano Sonata Op. 1
Chopin - Scherzo No. 1 in B minor
Mozart - Adagio in B minor
Schubert - Unfinished Symphony
Sibelius - Tapiola

(And yes, I'm perfectly aware that none of Mahler's Symphonies or even any of their movements are in B minor.  Two of them begin in B minor through!)

[Jo498]

Handel: Concerto op.6,12
Bach: French Suite #3, P&F from WTC I
Haydn: Quartet op.64,2
Beethoven: Bagatelle op.126,4 Presto
Dvorak: Cello concerto

[Sergeant Rock]

Shostakovich Symphony No.6
Vivaldi Cello Concerto RV 424
Strauss Piano Sonata op.5
Tubin Symphony No.5 (1946)
Atterberg Symphony No.1
Miaskovsky Symphony No.7 op.24

[Spineur]

Brahms Clarinet Quintet Op 115 B minor
Liszt B minor sonata
Schubert unfinished symphony no 8 B minor
Mozart adagio for piano K540
Brahms rapsody Op 79 B minor
E lucevan le stelle, 3rd act of Tosca sung by Mario Cavaradossi

This last one fits best the "epic" feeling mentioned in the initial post.  I am not a fan of Luciano Pavarotti, but I dont think I have heard anybody sing this aria more convincingly.

https://www.youtube.com/v/4mX7ugJ5NM8

[Mahlerian]

I amend my last post for stupidly forgetting the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.  I'll replace the Schubert Symphony, fine work though it certainly is.

[Jo498]

yeah, the Brahms quintet should have topped my list. I don't know how I could forget it. I actually thought about some piano piece by Brahms and that there must be more important chamber music in that key but missed the clarinet quintet...

[Keep Going]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Rachmaninov: Prelude (Op. 32, No. 10)
Turina: Piano Trio No. 2
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6
Barber: String Quartet, Op. 11
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Mozart's Adagio in B minor for solo piano, K540. My favorite piece of all time.

[SymphonicAddict]

Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet
Brahms' Clarinet quintet
Dvorák's Cello concerto
Saint-Saëns's 3rd Violin concerto
Glière's 3rd Symphony
Mendelssohn's The Hebrides, op. 26

[71 dB]

Elgar VC
Bach mass
Berg sonata
Lizst sonata
Fuck the rest -difficult!!!!!!

Why these!!! Fed up! don't make these favourte top ajfjlkfjakfhahf!!!"#####

[amw]

May be worth pointing out that Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze is pretty indisputably (according to most accounts anyway) in B minor, despite beginning in G major (with Clara's motto) and ending in C major (with Eusebius's "superfluous" addition)—there are more pieces in B minor than in any other key, and No. 17 "Wie aus der Ferne" musically completes the cycle with a very strong cadence in B minor, the final piece being genuinely unnecessary for closure and seeming to take place after the work is strictly over.

Nielsen's 2nd and Martinů's 1st symphonies both begin in B minor but end in other keys (A major and B-flat major respectively).

There aren't a lot of significant string quartets in B minor: two by Haydn, one by Bloch (No. 1) and one by Barber and I'm not aware of any others off the top of my head. Obviously, B minor isn't a great key for string instruments since the tonic note falls a semitone below the lowest strings of the viola and cello.


Also favourites, counting DBT:
Mozart Adagio
Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2
Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3
Medtner Violin Sonata No. 1
Brahms Clarinet Quintet
Shostakovich Piano Sonata No. 2
Bach Partita BWV 1002

I am arbitrarily disqualifying the Bach Mass because most of it is actually in D major >_>

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich Symphony No.6
Vivaldi Cello Concerto RV 424
Strauss Piano Sonata op.5
Tubin Symphony No.5 (1946)
Atterberg Symphony No.1
Miaskovsky Symphony No.7 op.24

Better than the Concerto in b minor for four violins and violoncello, RV580, Sarge? 

[Jo498]

the one in b minor is maybe my favorite from Bach's violin/harpsichord sonatas. Whereas I am not too fond of the respective solo partita but/because it is probably the one I know least well.
Apparently it was a favored key for the baroque traverse flute.

Yes, I also discounted that mass because while the first Kyrie is certainly a most impressive piece very little in what follows is in b minor...

When I was a beginner I read about Beethoven calling b minor "black key" in the context of op.106 and while I am far too tone deaf to recognize keys of pieces I can't shake that prejudice against pieces in this key. Which is odd because while there are exceptions (like the highly chromatic last fugue from WTK I) a lot of b minor pieces (at least in the baroque) are rather playful and not all that dark.

[Sergeant Rock]

Better than the Concerto in b minor for four violins and violoncello, RV580, Sarge? 

RV580 is a good one too but I prefer RV424's deep and mournfully singing Largo. RV580's Largo is more like shallow 18th century minimalism.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

RV580's Largo is more like shallow 18th century minimalism.

Sarge

Oh, you are harsh, I think.  That movement makes more sense to the ear with the spatial dimension of the four players, I perceive.

[Sergeant Rock]

Oh, you are harsh, I think.

I agree...well, maybe I'd call my judgment shallow rather than harsh 

Sarge

[Brian]

So...no Borodin fans here?

[Overtones]

Liszt, Piano sonata
Schubert, Unfinished symphony
Bach, Mass
Scarlatti, Keyboard sonata K87
Dvorak, Cello concerto
Kodaly, Sonata for solo cello