Top 50 "Classical" Works - Currently: Scorpion 47-48, Splent Addenda

[nicmos]

Wow, what a great start to the list proper!

Danse Macabre is one of those rare pieces where I feel like there's not a single note wasted.  Perfection for what it is.

Elijah is not something at the top of my personal list but it is a very nice choral piece and Mendelssohn is I feel underrated if that's possible.  I mean he's clearly one of the top 25 composers that people mention, but I think he's that good consistently.

[Elite]

Btw, gave the Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima piece a listen. Damn, so atonal, dark, and abrasive. Right up my alley.

I would have thought you knew that piece. We used to make fun of it in my class (even though the subject matter is obviously not something to joke about), because it's so otherworldly compared to even a lot of music from the same era. It's almost as if someone recorded nails on a chalkboard 200 times and put that all together.

[Onno]

Just did a looooot of catching up.

Debussy was awesome, I need to listen to his music more. The Ravel piece was pretty cool as well. The Pines of Rome was good but not spectacular, though that might change with more listens. The Satie piece needs more listens as well. Stravinsky was good but needs way more listens, although I kind of expected that. The John Cage Sonata was okay, but not something I'd listen to. I actually had never heard Britten's 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' before but thought it's pretty good for what it is. I hated the Stockhausen piece, I wouldn't classify that as classical music. 'Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima' was really good, sounded like a horror movie soundtrack but better. I thought Music for 18 Musicians was boring, there are minimal pieces that are way more interesting IMO. Glass's 'Another Way to Look at Harmony Part IV', on the other hand, was more interesting. At least interesting enough for me to want to listen to it again.

And that's basically how far I came. Bit ironical that I wrote so much lame comments about that much music in such a short time and I haven't even listened to the rest yet 

[Sacul]

Btw, gave the Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima piece a listen. Damn, so atonal, dark, and abrasive. Right up my alley.

I would have thought you knew that piece.

I know very little of contemporary/modern music of this kind, so I hope this list will open my ears to new stuff 

[Tomislav95]

Wow, Danse Macabre is something. Listening to it second time in row. I'm following this thread even more now

[splent]

I love the fact that I get to teach about Danse macabre to my students this time of year. He did such a good job. You can just close your eyes and envision all those ghosts and skeletons just partying it up with death playing his violin. I think Saint saens is very underrated; I need to listen to more of his music.

I'm not home and posting from my phone so I'll get to 47 and 48 tomorrow.

[Kilgore Trout]

49. Camille Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre (1874)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpqcJ1IfoA

This interpretation is pretty bad.

[RoeDent]

50. Felix Mendelssohn - Elijah (1846)

Arguably Mendelssohn's most popular and famous work

Really? More popular/famous than the Wedding March? The 'Italian' Symphony (No. 4)? The Hebrides Overture?

[Kilgore Trout]

Really? More popular/famous than the Wedding March? The 'Italian' Symphony (No. 4)? The Hebrides Overture?

Or A Midsummer Night's Dream or the violin concerto, or, or, etc. Splent is probably influenced by his choral background. Oratorios aren't really famous nowadays, in general (unless they are in the US, with all the choirs you've got? I'm not american).

[Scorpion]

"For he shall give his angels" has been the set closer for many a show that I have done with my choir, and it - like the entirety of the Elijah - is definitely exceptional music. Mendelssohn has always been a favourite of mine, and the Elijah ranks near the top for me as well.

[splent]

50. Felix Mendelssohn - Elijah (1846)

Arguably Mendelssohn's most popular and famous work

Really? More popular/famous than the Wedding March? The 'Italian' Symphony (No. 4)? The Hebrides Overture?

[splent]

Really? More popular/famous than the Wedding March? The 'Italian' Symphony (No. 4)? The Hebrides Overture?

Or A Midsummer Night's Dream or the violin concerto, or, or, etc. Splent is probably influenced by his choral background. Oratorios aren't really famous nowadays, in general (unless they are in the US, with all the choirs you've got? I'm not american).

I did several oratorios with the choir I was formally in, and so yes I have a little bit of knowledge of oratorios; I've performed parts of Elijah, and a few of Handel's oratorios in their entirety. Not so much of Bach's cantatas though (other than the famous instrumental, choral, and solo movements used for weddings, sacred holiday music, and the like)... that's something I would love to jump into.

Anyways, the key word there was ARGUABLY. I know he's done a lot of other beautiful music; he's one composer I'm ashamed to say I'm not too familiar with other than his "hits" (Song Without Words, anyone?), so I'll be diving into a couple of those suggestions soon (I'm keeping a list).

[splent]

49. Camille Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre (1874)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpqcJ1IfoA

This interpretation is pretty bad.

Yeah I was in a hurry when I posted; just took a listen and yeah it's not the best. There are better versions out there.

[splent]

48. Steve Reich - Clapping Music (1972)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4bL_bO8sA

OK, OK, OK... Yeah I know I may get a little flack for this piece being as high as it is, but it was an ongoing internal "joke" that I and several of my friends in college had... spontaneous mini-performances in the music building hallway and the like, references in class discussions... yeah we were nerds. It was fun. This inclusion is more sentimental. If not for that it probably wouldn't be so high. The "performance" I posted is kind of silly, but it works rather well.

47. Georg Telemann - Wassermusik (Water Music) (1724)

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

I don't know what it is about Baroque composers and music having to do with water... but it happens a lot. I enjoy this music because it incorporates elements of program music, something that didn't really happen a whole lot until almost a century later with Beethoven's 6th symphony (and then really was put into practice throughout the Romantic period).  It doesn't surprise me that the program music is mythology based... but it totally fits. The music sounds SO happy and care free, and just has the FEEL of water flowing. Just makes me feel happy listening to it.

[Nihil-Morari]

Just caught up on 50 and 49. The Mendelssohn piece is lovely, really peaceful, but therefor not really interesting in my book.
Saint Saens' piece is one I've heard a couple of times. I didn't really find a good version, I've tried a couple now, either too fast, or with wrong instrumentation. The melodies are great though.

I got the impression that I'm the only one that loves Music For 18 Musicians. I really think that's one of Reich's best pieces. The clapping music works I guess, but I always get the idea that it's a piece for students to perform. I mean it sounds so thin and easy.

I love that Telemann uses program-elements in his piece. But as soon as the Baroque-ness takes off it's over for me. Like at 4:42, all instruments performing 16ths, and I'm just in a mess of notes. I bet I'm not trained enough to hear it, but I get really turned off by that.

[splent]

46. W.A. Mozart - Sonata in Bb Major K.333 (1783)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbAF0tWX53Q Mvt 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh0jhUw7eaM Mvt 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNPyUz82JZU Mvt 3

I love several of Mozart's sonatas but this is probably one of my favorites. I put Lang Lang's performance here because he has so much fun while playing (yes I know some of it is probably affected, but that's not the point)... I can imagine that Mozart probably was similar to this in his performances, especially if he was having fun with his friends. I especially like the 3rd movement with that theme being changed up several times (Mozart was a pro at this). For some it's kind of a formulaic Mozart sonata, but I like this one in particular.

45. Carlo Gesualdo - O Vos Omnes (1603)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pNln_X4rTg

Gesualdo was so ahead of his time musically; so many of his harmonic interludes and transitions were not seen again until the mid-Romantic era. But it works. So mysterious, beautiful, and tense. Gesualdo was a troubled man; he killed his wife and his lover in a crime of passion and got off; you have to think that event had some impact on his writing to some extent throughout his life. I'm just starting to get familiar with Gesulado and his works so I expect more of him to enter my top 50 at some point.

[splent]

Two choral pieces today.

44. O Magnum Mysterium - Morten Lauridsen (1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ch7uottHU

One of the most beautiful pieces of music written in the last 25 years. Mysterious, but angelic. The chordal clusters just ebb and flow, the tensions and releases... work so well here. A perfect piece of music to be performed around Christmas Eve...

43. Lamentations of Jeremiah - Thomas Tallis (1569)

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

Ebbing and flowing once again, thematic material overlapping each other... you can hear the tension in this piece, and it's so prevelant from the first notes. Another beautiful piece. This is from the first setting.

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm not sure if we're supposed to comment... Lamentations of Jeremiah is a beautiful piece for sure. So is pretty much everything Gesualdo wrote.
I didn't know this work by Lauridsen. I don't like it. It's too easy on the ears for me, and quite cliché overall. There are a lot of great choral music written these days, and I think a lot of it is much more interesting than this.

[nicmos]

I prefer Lux Aeterna to O Magnum Mysterium.  You're right though, Lauridsen is some of the best music post 1970.  Tallis is also great churchy music.  I can listen to church music all day, it is so beautiful.

[splent]

I'm not sure if we're supposed to comment... Lamentations of Jeremiah is a beautiful piece for sure. So is pretty much everything Gesualdo wrote.
I didn't know this work by Lauridsen. I don't like it. It's too easy on the ears for me, and quite cliché overall. There are a lot of great choral music written these days, and I think a lot of it is much more interesting than this.

Comment away. I can see how one can see it being cliche; I just think it encompasses the text very well in a much different way than many others (esp in the Renaissance era).

As far as today's choral music, there is so much and it's so varied that I think most people would cater to some choral music in some way.

I prefer Lux Aeterna to O Magnum Mysterium.  You're right though, Lauridsen is some of the best music post 1970.  Tallis is also great churchy music.  I can listen to church music all day, it is so beautiful.

Lux Aeterna is good too. In fact there is a lot that he has written that I enjoy. I am going to do a top 25 or top 50 choral pieces at some point similar to this (but without the honorable mentions) and Lauridsen will be represented.

[Big Hath]

Two choral pieces today.

44. O Magnum Mysterium - Morten Lauridsen (1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ch7uottHU

One of the most beautiful pieces of music written in the last 25 years. Mysterious, but angelic. The chordal clusters just ebb and flow, the tensions and releases... work so well here. A perfect piece of music to be performed around Christmas Eve...

YES!  Love this one.  Performed it at least twice with the select chorale in college.  On the tension/release comment, there is one dissonant note the altos hit a couple of times that just about makes my knees buckle every time I hear it.  Then the crescendo into the resolve is just masterful.

I will say that the rendition you linked is not one of my favorites, however.  It's a bit too "in your face" and a bit too, I don't know, proper?  Is that the right term?  It seems too overly pronounced and has too much flair or ornamentation in style.  I like it better starting and ending as a whisper and being much more "mysterious".

There is an arrangement of this for a brass choir that is quite spectacular as well.


Will we see any other contemporary choral composers on the list by chance?

[splent]

42. Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXy50exHjes

Mussorgsky wrote this piece for his friend Victor Hartmann, who was an artist and an architect. He died a year before the piece was written, and to honor him, he wrote a suite of 10 movements, each movement representing one of Hartmann's works. In between the listener hears a promenade connecting the two pieces. The piece was originally written for solo piano; in 1922 Maurice Ravel orchestrated it, and that's probably the way most people hear it today (and what I posted here). The movement most people are familiar with is probably the final movement, "The Great Gate of Kiev"... the majestic theme has been used many times in mass media for everything from advertising burgers to showing pristine beauty. I imagine St. Basil's Cathedral in moonlight when I hear it.

41. Steve Reich - Piano Phase (1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnQdP03iYIo

I promise this will be the last phasing piece I post . But seriously, when I first heard this piece I was like... what...? And then hearing the melody pull apart and create a new version of harmony and rhythm just always draws me in, almost like a tension/release of a renaissance piece. It does get monotonous for a lot of people, but I hear the rhythm and harmony break through each "phase". This particular performance is especially impressive because it's by one performer (Mr. Reich was in the audience)... do you understand the control you need to play this piece by yourself!?! Man....

***Keep following this post... I'm trying to control myself from posting any more than 2 at a time, at least right now... but I may post more than two if I know I'm going to be busy or unable to post; usually that happens on Mondays as well as weekends (especially next weekend, as my daughter's birthday party is next Sunday... plust with the Cubbies in the NLCS who knows if I'll have time to post on THOSE nights). I'm going to keep posting 2 at a time until I get to the top ten.

[Lucien]

I know most people's favorite movement on Pictures at an Exhibition is The Great Gate of Kiev, but there's something about the down-to-earth nature of Bydlo that makes me like it more than any other part of the piece.

[splent]

40. Ludwig Von Beethoven - Sonata #14 in C#minor (Moonlight) (1801)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNtm3O4bfz4

spoilers - the other beethoven piano sonata is #14 

You called it, Lucien... the piece speaks for itself. Everyone knows the 1st movement, but I love the complexity of the 3rd as well. The stark contrast between movements.... the first is the dark, mysterious nature of the moon. The second is the playful, light, and fun part of the moon. The third is the vengeful, angry part. (On the recording... I've only played the first movement, but I prefer it a little slower; however, I think Beethoven's written tempo is more like what's shown)

39. William Byrd - Mass for 5 Voices (1594)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZSB0WTyIrg

Byrd was probably Britain's most prolific composer during the Renaissance. He completed several masses; his two most well known are Mass for 4 voices and Mass for 5 voices. I performed the Agnus Dei in college and fell in love with it immediately. Keep an ear open at the opening theme for the Kyrie... it comes back at the beginning of the Agnus Dei (standard practice for the time) So serene... and then BOOM... and then falls back... so often.

[Kilgore Trout]

40. Ludwig Von Beethoven - Sonata #14 in C#minor (Moonlight) (1801)

You called it, Lucien... the piece speaks for itself. Everyone knows the 1st movement, but I love the complexity of the 3rd as well. The stark contrast between movements.... the first is the dark, mysterious nature of the moon. The second is the playful, light, and fun part of the moon. The third is the vengeful, angry part.

Except the subtitle "moonlight" was given by the german poet Ludwig Rellstab five years after Beethoven's death... the piece has nothing to do with the moon at all. We should listen to it without these kind of imagery in mind, because they overshadow the true nature of the pieces (like several other classical pieces which have been nicknamed with no reason by others people than the composer).

[Kilgore Trout]

40. Ludwig Von Beethoven - Sonata #14 in C#minor (Moonlight) (1801)

You called it, Lucien... the piece speaks for itself. Everyone knows the 1st movement, but I love the complexity of the 3rd as well. The stark contrast between movements.... the first is the dark, mysterious nature of the moon. The second is the playful, light, and fun part of the moon. The third is the vengeful, angry part.

Except the subtitle "moonlight" was given by the german poet Ludwig Rellstab five years after Beethoven's death... the piece has nothing to do with the moon at all. We should listen to it without these kind of imagery in mind, because they overshadow the true nature of the pieces (like several other classical pieces which have been nicknamed with no reason by people other than the composer).

[Sacul]

OH YES I FUCKING LOVE SONATA #14. The first movement is my favorite piano piece by any composer, and learning it was tough (for a beginner I mean), but playing it, surreal. A dark, sad and very emotional song that doesn't get played with enough passion imo. At least most interpretations I've heard sound way too flat.

[RoeDent]

Re. Pictures at an Exhibition:

Over the last 18 months or so, I've been looking into different orchestrations of Pictures besides Ravel's. This started when I purchased a "compilation" version, where each movement is orchestrated by a different composer. Since then I have bought recordings of the work arranged by Sir Henry Wood (founder of the world-famous BBC Proms concerts) and Peter Breiner. It is fascinating to hear music I am already familiar with, but dressed in different orchestral clothes. For example, in Catacombae, Wood adds bass drum rolls, tam-tam strikes and deep organ pedal notes to Ravel's heavy brass. Also, the ending of The Great Gate of Kiev works much better and is much more powerful when the full organ joins the orchestral forces.

[splent]

Re. Pictures at an Exhibition:

Over the last 18 months or so, I've been looking into different orchestrations of Pictures besides Ravel's. This started when I purchased a "compilation" version, where each movement is orchestrated by a different composer. Since then I have bought recordings of the work arranged by Sir Henry Wood (founder of the world-famous BBC Proms concerts) and Peter Breiner. It is fascinating to hear music I am already familiar with, but dressed in different orchestral clothes. For example, in Catacombae, Wood adds bass drum rolls, tam-tam strikes and deep organ pedal notes to Ravel's heavy brass. Also, the ending of The Great Gate of Kiev works much better and is much more powerful when the full organ joins the orchestral forces.

Yeah before I did this I relistened to Mussorgsky's original piano version... It was interesting but just lacked the depth that I would expect from Mussorgsky (I mean the wall of sound as was his music; I sang a chorus from Boris Gudonov in college and I LOVED it). I should check out some of the other orchestration arrangements.

URRRG did I really just post today? That's how long my day was... I want to post 37 and 38

[Kilgore Trout]

I happen to think the original version is much better and much more interesting than any orchestration, and that Ravel's orchestration is an overblown travesty of the original work .

[splent]

38. George Frederic Handel - Zadok the Priest (1727)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcfR4utkASo

This was originally composed for the coronation of George II, and has been sung at every coronation since... so we haven't heard it in that regard since Queen Elizabeth II was coronated forever ago. I've sung it a few times, and yes the regality is totally there (singing about King Solomon, rejoicing, etc). The hallelujah, amen, repetition does seem to go on and on, as is the case of Handel sometimes, but every time it is sung it is JUST different enough to maintain interest (at least in my opinion).

The video I have here is sung in Westminster Abbey, probably where this was sung the first time, and where Handel is buried, so I think it's appropriate.

37. Carl Orff - Carmina Burana (1936)

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

EVERYONE knows the O Fortuna. Get past that and you get a very secular, earthy, piece in 4 parts... the first part is about Spring, the second part is about the Meadow, the third part is about men in a Tavern (including a countertenor drunk!), and the fourth part is about two people having sex (yes, that is correct... the guys singing veni veni venias meaning come come come and then the soprano soloist singing dulCIIIIIISIME (so sweet) so high... you know what's happening there!  )

Anyways, I love this piece, and it's so much fun to perform.

[Kilgore Trout]

I can't stand Carmina Burana. It wouldn't be much if it was only the cheap rip-off of "Les noces" by Stravinsky that is it, but it's also a piece linked to the nazi ideology, written by a composer who tried as much as he could to please the nazi regime. The fact that, at the end of the war, he tried to pass as a resistant when a was collaborator doesn't play in his favor. The "fun" of this piece is a tainted one. Despicable piece.

[Elite]

48. Steve Reich - Clapping Music (1972)

Nice one! I have a similar story regarding this one

[Big Hath]

38. George Frederic Handel - Zadok the Priest (1727)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcfR4utkASo

This was originally composed for the coronation of George II, and has been sung at every coronation since... so we haven't heard it in that regard since Queen Elizabeth II was coronated forever ago. I've sung it a few times, and yes the regality is totally there (singing about King Solomon, rejoicing, etc). The hallelujah, amen, repetition does seem to go on and on, as is the case of Handel sometimes, but every time it is sung it is JUST different enough to maintain interest (at least in my opinion).

The video I have here is sung in Westminster Abbey, probably where this was sung the first time, and where Handel is buried, so I think it's appropriate.

good stuff.  I've sung this a few times as well.  VERY REGAL!

[splent]

I can't stand Carmina Burana. It wouldn't be much if it was only the cheap rip-off of "Les noces" by Stravinsky that is it, but it's also a piece linked to the nazi ideology, written by a composer who tried as much as he could to please the nazi regime. The fact that, at the end of the war, he tried to pass as a resistant when a was collaborator doesn't play in his favor. The "fun" of this piece is a tainted one. Despicable piece.

I'm playing devil's advocate here, but if he had written music not pleasing to the Nazis, he probably would have been arrested, especially since it was his first major success. I wonder how many people "agreed" with the Nazi philosophy out of fear. I don't see how it's linked to the Nazi ideology at all, since it's based on a medieval work, and the subject matter I believe is still relevant today.

As a music teacher I'm always going to defend Orff, because his pedagogy in elementary music education is still used widely today, and given the resources I love teaching it.