Your top ten favourite openings

[Symphonic Addict]

Lately I was thinking of this and since there's no any thread about it...

The first seconds or first ideas that hook you. These are mine in any order:


Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 - From the very first time I heard it, I felt it like singularly elegant and warm with the cello leading the first notes.

Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 - Similar to the Beethoven, but in this work the opening is more insistent and with more drive.

Nielsen: Symphony No. 5 - I could choose the boisterous opening of the Symphony No. 4, but this from the 5th is more enigmatic and more gripping in a totally different way.

Wagner: Die Walküre - An opening that depicts a storm has to be a favorite of mine, and this is tremendously effective and thrilling to my ears.

Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 - For me, it's the most beautiful opening of his symphonies (yes, even more than the one of the 5th). It sounds to me like depicting a cold morning in a snowy landscape being gradually warmed up by tepid yet constant sunrise sunbeams.

Glazunov: Symphony No. 4 - A wistful opening in my favorite key (E-flat minor) has to be in my list. That longing melody that opens the work moves me very much.

Janacek: Glagolitic Mass - Is there any most emphatic, even dramatic, beginning to a mass?

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - Yet another dark opening that features dense strings. It prepares you for quite a journey!

Bax: Tintagel - Glorious, majestic in every possible way!

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 - The most recognizable and distinctive of any opening of any 19th century symphony. When I first listened to this work 20 years or so ago, I was obsessed with that brief pizzicato and melody. A genuine ear-worm.


What about you? Explanations for each are appreciated.

[atardecer]

Some that come to mind:

Bach - St. Matthew Passion: The droning pulse in the opening beautifully sets the mood for this dramatic work

Mozart - Symphony 38: This French Overture style opening is very unique and impactful

Ravel - Piano Trio: There is something I find magical about the opening melody from this work. The end of this movement is also among my favorite endings to any movement

Debussy - Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp: The opening notes immediately take the listener into a fascinating sound world

Stravinsky - Apollo: For similar reasons as the Debussy, one is immediately drawn into this very distinct aesthetic, the two works seem enchanted

[DavidW]

Bax-- symphony 6
Beethoven-- symphony 3
Mahler-- symphony 6
Beethoven SQ Op 59 #1
Bach-- St John Passion
Mozart-- PC 24
Brahms-- PC 1
Bach-- concerto BWV 1052
Dvorak-- cello concerto
Tchaikovsky-- symphony 4

[atardecer]

Some that come to mind:

Bach - St. Matthew Passion: The droning pulse in the opening beautifully sets the mood for this dramatic work

Mozart - Symphony 38: This French Overture style opening is very unique and impactful

Ravel - Piano Trio: There is something I find magical about the opening melody from this work. The end of this movement is also among my favorite endings to any movement

Debussy - Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp: The opening notes immediately take the listener into a fascinating sound world

Stravinsky - Apollo: For similar reasons as the Debussy, one is immediately drawn into this very distinct aesthetic, the two works seem enchanted

Obviously there are plenty of other great openings I could list in addition to these, but one that I missed that I think definitely needs mentioning is the opening of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. For me no explanation of this one is necessary!

[Brian]

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 - From the very first time I heard it, I felt it like singularly elegant and warm with the cello leading the first notes.

Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 - For me, it's the most beautiful opening of his symphonies (yes, even more than the one of the 5th). It sounds to me like depicting a cold morning in a snowy landscape being gradually warmed up by tepid yet constant sunrise sunbeams.

These are great, great choices and immediately go onto my list. The Mendelssohn 4 is also a smart choice!

Nielsen: Symphony No. 5 - I could choose the boisterous opening of the Symphony No. 4, but this from the 5th is more enigmatic and more gripping in a totally different way.

Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 - Similar to the Beethoven, but in this work the opening is more insistent and with more drive.

Here you made me think about two more openings by these composers: the Brahms Sextet No. 2 with that "wavering" uncertainty turned into an epic melody, and the Nielsen Third with its ridiculous repetition.

My list I think...

Haydn: String Quartet Op. 33 No. 5
Haydn: Symphony No. 92
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7
Debussy: Estampes - Pagodes
Debussy: La Damoiselle elue (I especially like the solo piano reduction for its magical opening)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 6
Janacek: Jenufa (that rare piece that could win best beginning AND best ending!)
Ravel: Piano concerto for the left hand
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra (same comment as Jenufa)
Weinberg: Cello Concerto

A very recent discovery of mine with a wonderful opening is something everyone else probably knows...Stravinsky's Orpheus.

And my favorite type of opening to an orchestral work is horn calls. Bruckner 4, Tchaikovsky 4, Weber Oberon, Mahler 3, Vaughan Williams 5.

Followed by violin concertos that begin mid-wing: Sibelius, Barber, Mendelssohn.

[DavidW]

These are great, great choices and immediately go onto my list. The Mendelssohn 4 is also a smart choice!

Ah yes but my ultimate Mendelssohn opener (though he really does opening themes well across the board!) is the Octet.  What a beginning.  I can load it into my brain even if it had been months or years between a listen.

[ritter]

Let's see, let's see...

1) Wagner: Das Rheingold. That E flat that starts ppp and then slowly grows in volume and complexity.
2) Stravinsky: Agon
3) Falla: Atlántida. "The most beautiful succession of chords in modern music", according to Ernest Ansermet.
4) Boulez: Pli selon pli. That explosive chord, followed by the soprano's "Je t'apporte l'enfant d'une nuit d'idumée"
5) Debussy: Reflets dans l'eau, from Images, book 1.
6) Elliott Carter: A Symphony of Three Orchestras.
7) Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (Prélude).
8) Beethoven: Ninth Symphony (allegro ma non troppo). We might have heard it a gazillion times, but it never ceases to amaze me.
9) Enesco: Oedipe.
10) Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (the Tocccata!)

[Jo498]

Obviously there are plenty of other great openings I could list in addition to these, but one that I missed that I think definitely needs mentioning is the opening of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. For me no explanation of this one is necessary!

He uses the same fanfare/toccata in the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, only with a choir singing on top of it, IIRC!

Ravel - Piano Trio: There is something I find magical about the opening melody from this work.

The strange thing is that I always "misremember" the beginning of that trio and think it starts with an upbeat but it doesn't. Probably because the rhythm of that basque dance is not quite matching the typical stresses and barlines.

[(poco) Sforzando]

At the moment:

Schumann, Dichterliebe, Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai
Berg, Lulu prologue
Chopin, 1st etude from op. 10
Wagner, Flying Dutchman overture
Beethoven, op. 127 Quartet
Verdi, Otello storm
Mahler, Symphony 4 with the sleighbells
Beethoven, Symphony 7
Bartok, Quartet 5
Haydn, The Creation

[Luke]

There's this piece by Stravinsky called The Rite of Spring. That's got quite a nifty opening, they say.    probably should be mentioned


Seriously, you could easily populate this list with Stravinsky only. Symphony of Psalms, anyone? Petrouchka?

[Brian]

There's this piece by Stravinsky called The Rite of Spring. That's got quite a nifty opening, they say.    probably should be mentioned

I'm also waiting to see when someone will mention Rhapsody in Blue, Zarathustra, The Planets, Beethoven's Fifth...

"Dichterliebe" is an incredible choice.

[(poco) Sforzando]

There's this piece by Stravinsky called The Rite of Spring. That's got quite a nifty opening, they say.    probably should be mentioned


Seriously, you could easily populate this list with Stravinsky only. Symphony of Psalms, anyone? Petrouchka?

The opening toccata from The Rake's Progress, which I am convinced is an homage to Monterverdi's Orfeo.

[Lisztianwagner]

In no particular order:

Wagner: Das Rheingold
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Mahler: Symphony No.6
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
J. Strauss II: An der schönen blauen Donau
R. Strauss: Don Juan
Schönberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

[Brian]

Oh no, I forgot Dvorak's String Quartet No. 10! Gotta eliminate something.

[AnotherSpin]

Schubert - Im Dorfe (Winterreise)
Chopin - Nocturne in C Sharp Minor
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 16 - 2. Adagio grazioso
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 - Adagio
Mozart - Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C, K.299  - Andantino
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59 - 3. Adagio molto e mesto
Schubert - Trio D. 929, Op. 100 - 2. Andante con motto
Bach - Christmas Oratorio - 1. Chorus
Verdi - La forza del destino - Sinfonia
Brahms - Symphony 1 - Un poco sostenuto - Allegro

[Roasted Swan]

Zadok the Priest
Spirit of England
Walton Symphony 1
Star Wars
Vaughan Williams Symphony 4
Delius Mass of Life
Bruckner 4
The Bartered Bride
Korngold - The Seahawk main title
Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty

[atardecer]

Some that come to mind:

Bach - St. Matthew Passion: The droning pulse in the opening beautifully sets the mood for this dramatic work

Mozart - Symphony 38: This French Overture style opening is very unique and impactful

Ravel - Piano Trio: There is something I find magical about the opening melody from this work. The end of this movement is also among my favorite endings to any movement

Debussy - Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp: The opening notes immediately take the listener into a fascinating sound world

Stravinsky - Apollo: For similar reasons as the Debussy, one is immediately drawn into this very distinct aesthetic, the two works seem enchanted

Obviously there are plenty of other great openings I could list in addition to these, but one that I missed that I think definitely needs mentioning is the opening of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. For me no explanation of this one is necessary!

To complete ten:

Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta: The powerful opening fugue. My favorite interpretation of it (Fricsay): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5MLrtWwPlM

Partch - Delusion of the Fury: Exotic, unique, deep yet playful, unrigid

For the final two I will choose openings of movements within works:

Ravel - String Quartet second movement: Very striking, unique, colorful and brilliant

Rodrigo - Zapateado (final movement) from 3 Spanish Pieces for guitar: The opening is like a lightning strike

[Jo498]

Chopin, 1st etude from op. 10

I much prefer the tender 1st etude A flat from op.25

Beethoven, Symphony 7

It's amazing how one or two chords can be made so distinctive that this is immediately recognizable.

[Luke]

I actually find this question very hard to answer. To me, if a piece really strikes me, then its beginning will be a part of that, and so the candidates are vast. I love Dvorak 3 to a peculiar degree, for example, and listening to its opening bars fills me with a tingle of pleasure at what is to come. So is it a great opening? Well not really, to be honest. It is just inseparable from what follows. The same is true of so many pieces that I find myself flummoxed by this question! Let me try anyway... So, to limit myself, I'm going to stick to some quite unimaginative answers whose openings are a) universal, indubitable classics, b) all be orchestral ones where the instrumental sonority is part of the magic and c) I will only use each composer once, otherwise it'll quickly be all Ravel, or Debussy, or Janacek, or Stravinsky, or someone else...

Schoenberg: Gurrelieder - a single undulating chord of the added sixth so exquisitely orchestrated and extended that it conjures up a whole vista of dusky forests. Speaking of which...

Sibelius: Tapiola. So simple, so powerful. The timps, peremptory yet atmospheric; the strings, searing that runic motive into our minds. I am there in a second.

Ravel: Scheherazade - song cycle version. Asie, Asie, Asie, the voice rising enticingly, drawing us into the exotic picture-book in which We will turn the pages one by one for a series of perfectly imagined images. And, from one French impressionist masterpiece to another...

Debussy: Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. Has no one said it already? Really? A chromatic scale on the flute; a harp glissando;  a distant horn call over a pool of soft string magic. A bar of complete silence. Musical magic.

Janacek: Sinfonietta. It's far from my favourite Janacek piece, but even so it's still one of the greatest things ever written, and its first bars are unique and a primal blast.

Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms. I mentioned it earlier. What a bizarre but compelling opening, that uniquely spaced E minor chord followed by those mechanically angular scurryings in oboe and bassoon.

Boulez: Pli selon pli. Someone said this one already, but they were correct. An explosion of a chord and we are in the dark recesses of some subconscious state. The soprano enunciates an enigmatic melody and then - a nascent, mysterious state from which musical images will rise up that will haunt your mind forever... The orchestration of all this is so subtle and finely imagined, too.

Respighi: Pines of Rome. I didn't expect myself to be writing this one, but when I think of it, the opening is such an extraordinary piece of orchestration, such an astonishing bit of instrumental imagination, that it would be rude to leave it out.

Tippett: Piano Concerto. A less obvious one, admittedly, and less of a game-changer, but the way this adorable piece unfurls its trademark quartal lines so delicately is a very beautiful thing, and unique, I think.

Brian: Symphony 8. I don't care what the sceptics say. This is Brian's finest symphony, IMO, and the beginning the greatest and most potent example of his trademark juxtapositions, deeply mysterious and evocative: an awkward, jerkily-shuffling idea in low brass (where from? why? what does it mean?); softly held string chords shot through with quiet rising horn calls opening the music up to the meditative and the numinous; odd descending scales slowly picked out on harp and piano. Actually, having written the above, I can see an unexpected link to l'apres midi here!

[Roasted Swan]

I actually find this question very hard to answer. To me, if a piece really strikes me, then its beginning will be a part of that, and so the candidates are vast. I love Dvorak 3 to a peculiar degree, for example, and listening to its opening bars fills me with a tingle of pleasure at what is to come. So is it a great opening? Well not really, to be honest. It is just inseparable from what follows. The same is true of so many pieces that I find myself flummoxed by this question! Let me try anyway... So, to limit myself, I'm going to stick to some quite unimaginative answers whose openings are a) universal, indubitable classics, b) all be orchestral ones where the instrumental sonority is part of the magic and c) I will only use each composer once, otherwise it'll quickly be all Ravel, or Debussy, or Janacek, or Stravinsky, or someone else...

Schoenberg: Gurrelieder - a single undulating chord of the added sixth so exquisitely orchestrated and extended that it conjures up a whole vista of dusky forests. Speaking of which...

Sibelius: Tapiola. So simple, so powerful. The timps, peremptory yet atmospheric; the strings, searing that runic motive into our minds. I am there in a second.

Ravel: Scheherazade - song cycle version. Asie, Asie, Asie, the voice rising enticingly, drawing us into the exotic picture-book in which We will turn the pages one by one for a series of perfectly imagined images. And, from one French impressionist masterpiece to another...

Debussy: Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. Has no one said it already? Really? A chromatic scale on the flute; a harp glissando;  a distant horn call over a pool of soft string magic. A bar of complete silence. Musical magic.

Janacek: Sinfonietta. It's far from my favourite Janacek piece, but even so it's still one of the greatest things ever written, and its first bars are unique and a primal blast.

Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms. I mentioned it earlier. What a bizarre but compelling opening, that uniquely spaced E minor chord followed by those mechanically angular scurryings in oboe and bassoon.

Boulez: Pli selon pli. Someone said this one already, but they were correct. An explosion of a chord and we are in the dark recesses of some subconscious state. The soprano enunciates an enigmatic melody and then - a nascent, mysterious state from which musical images will rise up that will haunt your mind forever... The orchestration of all this is so subtle and finely imagined, too.

Respighi: Pines of Rome. I didn't expect myself to be writing this one, but when I think of it, the opening is such an extraordinary piece of orchestration, such an astonishing bit of instrumental imagination, that it would be rude to leave it out.

Tippett: Piano Concerto. A less obvious one, admittedly, and less of a game-changer, but the way this adorable piece unfurls its trademark quartal lines so delicately is a very beautiful thing, and unique, I think.

Brian: Symphony 8. I don't care what the sceptics say. This is Brian's finest symphony, IMO, and the beginning the greatest and most potent example of his trademark juxtapositions, deeply mysterious and evocative: an awkward, jerkily-shuffling idea in low brass (where from? why? what does it mean?); softly held string chords shot through with quiet rising horn calls opening the music up to the meditative and the numinous; odd descending scales slowly picked out on harp and piano. Actually, having written the above, I can see an unexpected link to l'apres midi here!

Both worthy of any list!