Simply your favourite 30 works

[Renfield]

I don't know. In terms of content, you can check: http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/webseries/?ID=collectorsedition&PRODUCT_NR=4778668

Thanks. I'd cast a cursory glance towards the DG site last week, but didn't find it.

[DavidRoss]

My 30 favorite works?  Easy, as long as the piano sonatas of Beethoven count as one work, likewise his symphonies, and those of Sibelius, and Mahler, and Bach's cello suites, and...but you get the idea. 

[WI Dan]

Bach
Goldberg Variations
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2
Concerto for Oboe & Violin, BWV 1060

Haydn
Cello Concerto No. 1
Cello Concerto No. 2
String Quartet, op.76, No.5  “Largo”
String Quartet, op.51  “The Seven Last Words”

Mozart
Clarinet Quintet, K.581
String Quintet, K.515
Sinfonia Concertante, K.364

Beethoven
Symphony No.4
Symphony No.5
Symphony No.9
Piano Concerto No.4
Piano Sonata No.21  “Waldstein”
String Quartet, op.130 w/Grosse Fuge

Schubert
Piano Sonata, D.960
String Quintet, D.956

Bruckner
Symphony No.4
Symphony No.9

Dvorak
Symphony No.8
String Quintet, op.77
Piano Trio No.3
Piano Trio No.4  “Dumky”
Cello Concerto in B minor

Sibelius
Symphony No.6
Symphony No.7

Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No.3
Violin Concerto No.1

[hornteacher]

Well.......Beethoven wrote 9 Symphonies, 16 String Quartets, and 5 Piano Concertos.......done.

[DavidW]

Well.......Beethoven wrote 9 Symphonies, 16 String Quartets, and 5 Piano Concertos.......done.

You know I thought that you said awhile back that you didn't even like Beethoven's symphonies.

[hornteacher]

You know I thought that you said awhile back that you didn't even like Beethoven's symphonies.

  No that wasn't me.  I am on intimate terms with all nine and I listen to LvB more than any other composer.

[DavidW]

  No that wasn't me.  I am on intimate terms with all nine and I listen to LvB more than any other composer.

Maybe I'm thinking of George.

[Papy Oli]

let's have a go....

Mahler sym. # 2
Mahler sym. # 6
Mahler sym. # 5
Mahler sym. # 4
Mahler sym. # 3
Mahler - Ich bin der welt abhanden gekommen
Mahler sym. # 1

Schubert D.899
Schubert D.935
Schubert D.940
Schubert - Arpeggione sonata D.821
Schubert sym. # 8

Beethoven Piano sonata No.4 Op.7
Beethoven Sym. # 9

Arvo Part - Summa
Arvo Part - Berliner Messe

Rameau - Suite in E minor

Satie - Gymnopedie No.3
Satie - Gnossienne No .5

Tallis - Salve Intemerata

Bruckner - Sym. #8
Bruckner - Sym # 9

Byrd - Mass for four voices

Villa Lobos - Choros No.1

Brahms - German Requiem
Brahms - Ballades

Rossini - Stabat Mater

Pergolesi - stabat Mater

Bach - Goldberg Variations
Bach - Tilge, Höchster, Meine Sünden BWV 1083

[schweitzeralan]

In no order:

Sibelius: Tapiola
Copland: Symphony 3
Vaughan Williams: Symphony 6
Miaskovsky: Symphony 6
Honegger: Liturgique Symphony
Walton: Symphony 1
Bruckner: Symphony 9
Novak: The Storm
Bax: Symphony 5
Tubin: Symphony 2 "The Legendary"
Diamond: Symphony 3
Rubbra: Symphony 5
Raid: Symphony 1
Brian: Symphony 8
Alwyn: Symphony 2
Shostakovich: Symphony 4
Moeran: Symphony
Arnell: Symphony 3
Pettersson: Violin Concerto 2
Bliss: Morning Heroes
Lilburn: Symphony 1
Langgaard: Symphony 4
Egge: Symphony 1
Kinsella: Symphony 3
Hadley: The Trees so High
Sainton: Nadir
Rootham: Symphony
Bainton: Symphony 3
Hayasaka: Piano Concerto
Arnold: Symphony 1

Good thread.  You pose an interesting list.  It appears that many of your favorites coincide with my own. For much of my life, starting with my early adolescence, Sibelius has been a very long favorite.  The "Tapiola" is supreme.

[jurajjak]

Okay, in no particular order:

Prokofiev: Gambler
Prokofiev: Seven, they are Seven
Prokofiev: Fiery Angel
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto 2
Prokofiev: Pas D'Acier
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata 6
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe
Ravel: Les Enfants et les Sortileges
Bliss: Morning Heroes
Schnittke: Symphony #3
Ives: Symphony #4
Eshpai: Concerto Grosso
Poulenc: Concerto for 2 Pianos
Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 (if only for the final mvmt.)
Hovhaness: Symphony #50 and Symphony #19 (tie)
Honneger: Joan of Arc at the Stake
Klami: Psalmus
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata #1, op. 80
Barber: Symphony #1
Khachaturian: Symphony #3 (a guilty pleasure)
Bloch: String Quartets (as a set)
Szymanowski: King Roger
Zhukov: Percussion Concerto
Mossolov: Iron Foundry
Grainger: Orchestral Arrangement of Ravel's Valley of the Bells
Myaskovksy: Symphony #27
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
Gubaidulina: Viola Concerto
Schoenberg: Moses and Aaron
Sandstrom: Motorbike Concerto


Andrew

[Air]

Prokofiev: Seven, they are Seven

Interesting, have I been missing something here?  I've Rozhdestvensky's recording downloaded and the work has never struck me as being anything beyond being plain intriguing. Not bad, of course, but we can come to expect decent quality from almost anything by Prokofiev.

[jurajjak]

Interesting, have I been missing something here?  I've Rozhdestvensky's recording downloaded and the work has never struck me as being anything beyond being plain intriguing. Not bad, of course, but we can come to expect decent quality from almost anything by Prokofiev.

It may be a matter of taste, but, along with Fiery Angel, Gambler, and Symphony #2, this is probably Prokofiev's most advanced composition. In my view it is a far more successful example of Prokofiev's modernism than the hot-and-cold Scythian Suite.

[some guy]

I like Maciek's solution on page three (bottom), so here's my favorite 30 decades.

2000-2009
1990-1999
1980-1989
19.... But you get the idea. (And don't point out that 2001-2010 is the real first decade of this century. A decade is a ten year period, and it's just barely 2010, so I haven't had a chance to listen to much music from 2010. The first decade that makes any sense, therefore, is the one going from 2000 to 2009. If this were February 2014, then the first decade I would designate would be the one going from 2004 to 2013. Thank you and good night. )

I wonder, though, what would happen if I really try to identify thirty of my favorite pieces....

Michèle Bokanowski, L'etoile Absinthe
Bronius Kutavičius, Lokys
Robert Ashley, In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven there were men and women
John Cage, Cartridge Music
Jonathan Berger, Meteora
Hector Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini
J.S. Bach, St. Matthew Passion
Camille Saint-Saëns, Samson et Delila
Carl Nielsen, Symphony nr. 6
Bartók Béla, Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hymnen
Helmut Lachenmann, Gran Torso
Sibelius, Kullervo
Zbigniew Karkowski, One and Many
Luc Ferrari, Unheimlich Schön
Beatriz Ferreyra, Un fil invisible
Antonín Dvořák,  Bagatelles, op. 47
Dmitri Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Bartók Béla, Bluebeard's Castle
Antonin Dvořák, Stabat Mater
Michèle Bokanowski, Chant d'Ombre
Luc Ferrari, Société II (Et Si Le Piano Était Un Corps De Femme)
Antonín Dvořák, Rusalka
Hector Berlioz, Roméo et Juliette
Johannes Brahms, Piano quartet, op. 25
Hector Berlioz, La mort d'Orphée
Hector Berlioz, Les Troyens
Iannis Xenakis, Persepolis
Otomo Yoshihide, Turntable solo
Johannes Brahms, Symphony nr. 4

Nope. Too hard. Anyone who knows me would immediately notice that there's no Prokofiev on this list. Say what? No Semyon Kotko? No quintette? No symphony nr. 2? Or nr. 6? No Romeo and Juliet? No On the Dnieper? No piano sonatas nr. 7? No Divertimento? No Scythian suite? Incroyable!! And those piano concertos, especially 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. (Not to mention my three favorite Bartók piano concertos or his very nice violin concerto nr. 2, long time favorite.)

What about Martin Tétreault and eRikm and all the other Karkowski I'm always playing? And no Ludger Brümmer? What the hell! Ludger's one of my very most favorite composers. La Cloches sans Vallées. Thrill. Lizard Point. Wow, that does not make sense!!

And don't even get me started on Stravinsky!

No. This list making is a silly thing. I've decided not to do one.

[Brian]

30. Mozart, Clarinet Concerto
29. Glazunov, String Quintet
28. Bernstein, West Side Story*
27. Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky Cantata
26. Shostakovich, Symphony No 9
25. Dvorak, String Quintet Op. 77
24. Dvorak, Piano Quintet Op. 81
23. Sibelius, Symphony No 3
22. Chopin, Nocturne op. post. in C sharp minor
21. Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 1 "Winter Daydreams"
20. Atterberg, Symphony No 8
19. Sibelius, Symphony No 6
18. Beethoven, Piano Concerto No 5 "Emperor"
17. Ravel, Piano Concerto in G
16. Beethoven, piano sonatas opp. 109-111
15. Brahms, Symphony No 4
14. Chopin, Ballade No 4
13. Dvorak, Cello Concerto
12. Atterberg, Symphony No 3, finale
11. Beethoven, Symphony No 5
10. Beethoven, Symphony No 4
9. Shostakovich, Symphony No 10
8. Beethoven, piano sonata Op 90
7. Janacek, Sinfonietta
6. Sibelius, Symphony No 5
5. Dvorak, Symphony No 8
4. Janacek, Glagolitic Mass
3. Sibelius, Symphony No 7
2. Beethoven, Symphony No 7
1. Smetana, "Vltava" (The Moldau)

Beethoven 6, Sibelius 4, Dvorak 4, Shostakovich/Janacek/Chopin/Atterberg 2

That was tough but kind of fun. I spent a day thinking about it.

I wonder what my list will look like next week! 

*West Side Story would be ranked higher, but I put it at the top of the list for fear somebody will claim it's not classical.

[WI Dan]

Beethoven 6, Sibelius 4, Dvorak 4

Subliminal symphonic messages, there? 

PS - Glad to see the "Vltava" made it!

[Brian]

Subliminal symphonic messages, there? 

PS - Glad to see the "Vltava" made it!

That's funny, because Beethoven 6 and Sib/Dv 4 aren't on the list.    By the way, I am glad to see Dvorak's string quintet made yours! I love the two inner movements - divine.  0:)

[Maciek]

James, are you deleting your posts and then re-posting again? Because I'm pretty sure I've already seen your list about 8 hours ago, but now it showed up as a "new" post from only minutes ago??

[Brian]

James, are you deleting your posts and then re-posting again? Because I'm pretty sure I've already seen your list about 8 hours ago, but now it showed up as a "new" post from only minutes ago??

Yes, that post was originally between mine and Dan's, several places up.

[Maciek]

OK, thanks, I was confused, thought there was maybe something odd going on at my end...

[Guido]

Bartok Divertimento
Barber Cello Concerto
Barber Piano Sonata
Barber Hermit Songs
Schoeck Elegie
Williams Heartwood
Shostakovich Cello Concerto no.2
Shostakovich Symphony no.10
Englund Cello Concerto
Bartok Viola Concerto
Strauss Four Last Songs
Previn Four Songs
Dvorak String Quartet no.13
Dvorak Cello Concerto
Beethoven op.131
Ives Symphony no.4
Ives The Celestial Railroad
Ives Three Places in New England
Ives Piano Trio
Finzi Deis Natalis
Ravel Concerto for Piano Left Hand
Walton Sinfonia Concertante
Bach Cello Suites
Goldschmidt Cello Concerto
Goldschmidt Der Gewaltige Hahnrei
Bernstein Three Meditations from Mass
Faure Piano Quintet no.2
Gruber Cello Concerto
Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
Kurtag Stele

Just off the top of my head. Some I have just been listening to a lot recently, some are all time favourites, some I just included on a whim because I had to include something by that composer!