What is your favorite piece of classical music?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqe0GdUpJHs

Nice! Good taste.

It changes. For the longest time it was ‘Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” by Claude Debussy. However, at this very moment I would have to go with good old Beethoven’s 5th (played REALLY LOUD).

Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

I don’t know all of the names, but besides O Fortuna, I like really powerful sounding pieces like that.

Gymnopodie by Eric Satie.
Canon in D by Pachebel.
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Bach.

Dvorak’s 9th Symphony (“From the New World”)
runner-up: Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony (“Pathetique”)

@Blackberry Mybe you’ll like that scene in the movie Excalibur by John Boorman, where Arthur and his knights were riding through the forest with that music playing.

Most mornings I play Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto but I just recently discovered Mozart’s 2nd movement ( andante ) from his 6th Symphony and it’s now my favorite piece. I could be wrong but he could be seven years old when he did it. For the first time, he plucked at the strings and the effect was sweet, playful and titillating. I’m listening to his Symphonies one by one and so far, he has not plucked again.

I would have gone with Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, but the sneaky penguin beat me to it.

So, I will go with a tossup between Handel’s Messiah and Handel’s Water Music.

Everything that Mozart wrote for the clarinet and the French horn.

@Blackberry: “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff Here

@marinelife I don’t think Bach would be offended if we both chose it. :-)

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

Hard to pick. Either Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” by Mahler, or perhaps Pines of Rome by Respighi.

Honorable mention to Russian Easter Overture by Rimsky-Korsakov, Sylvia by Delibes, and Sleeping Beauty, also by Tchaikovsky.

Wagner-Götterdämmerung
Liszt- Inferno from the Dante Symphony
Holst-Mars, The Bringer of War
Brahms-Symphony No.3

@mazingerz88 Awhile ago, my friends and I would play this while doing something mundane like washing the dishes. It seemed like it fit everything, it was hilarious.

@gailcalled Thanks. I love the quiet and building anticipation that leads to an explosive orgasm in my mind.

Ohhh man. I have a bunch. I always thought classical music was cool. Then I became an anime nerd at 13, and my favorite anime decided adding classical pieces for its epic tragic ending was a great idea and its probably one of the most brilliant things ever. And it made me love and appreciate and seek out classical music.

Pachelbel’s Canon in D. I can and have listened to it for literally days on repeat.
Bach’s Cello Suite No.1. Breaks my heart into a million little pieces. Listen to itttt
Bach’s Partita III fur Violin Solo in E No.3
Bach’s Suiten fur Violoncello

Of course I love more Beethoven then I care to list. And tons of Bach, he’s probably my favorite. And lots and lots and lots of other stuff. I could spend all day listing stuff I like and thank you, now I’m totally spending the rest of my day listening to lots of classical music! (:

Mozarts’ “Requiem”

@Blackberry for an interesting take on Carmina Burana look up the version done by Ray Manzarek. It is on youtube.

Gotta run out, will get back to you on this GQ!

Beethoven Symphony #7
Shostakovitch String quartet #8
Stravinsky Rite of Spring
Arvo Part Te Deum
Gorecki Symphony #3
Copland Symphony #3
Rautavaara Symphony #7

There’s so many… :|

Holst The Planets
Claire de Lune – Debussy

Oh yeah!

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake

To my mind, there is probably nothing I like listening to better that Tchaikovsky’s 4th.

I loved it when I was 16 and I love it now. In a way, it seems more emblematic of my life than ever. Listen loud and let the chills roll up your spine and out your 7th chakra! Almost too much to bear!

@wundayatta I’ve seen Tchaikovsky’s 4th more times than any other classical work I’ve seen in concert (and I will be seeing it again this year…)

Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No4

Debussey’s Clair de Lune

Moonlight Sonata.

Fur Elise by Beethoven and Polonaise by Chopin.

If I had to pick only one:
Chopin-Piano Concerto No.1

I have many favorites but this one is the most special to me. I remember reading in the liner notes that the second movement, the Romance-Larghetto, gives the emotional sense of returning home to a dearly loved place. I think that’s a good description to me, but however you want to describe that feeling, it’s so poignant and beautiful it never fails to move me.

Other favorites:
Danse Macabre-Saint Saens

Piano Concertos No.21-Mozart

Blue Danube-Johann Strauss

Piano Concerto in A minor-Robert Schumann

I am a sort of twisted romantic, lol.

Clair de lune is a longtime favorite. It is very peaceful.

Gee, it’s hard to pick. All the jellies before me have named some great choices! Here are some additional favorites of mine:

Handel’s Messiah
“O mio babbbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini
Strauss: Alpine Symphony and Also Sprach Zarathustra
“Va’, pensiero” from Nabucco by Verdi (chorus of the Hebrew slaves)
Jupiter movement from The Planets by Holst
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart (the melodic invention never ends!)
Blue Danube waltz by J. Strauss (ditto)
Mahler – Symphony No. 4, last movement (depicts the joys of heaven, the music is heavenly!)
“Glück das mir verblieb” from Die Tote Stadt by Korngold (a simply haunting melody; on a flight once, I listened to it over and over)
Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla from Das Rheingold by Wagner
Transcendental Etudes by Liszt
Grieg – Piano Concerto in a minor
Grieg- Peer Gynt Suite, first movement

If you like it loud, how about these:
Mahler – 8th Symphony (“Symphony of a Thousand”)
Gurrelieder by Schoenberg
Turangalila Symphony by Messiaen
The Creation (parts of it) by Haydn

Enjoy! That reminds me, I’m going to put on some of these right now!

Sorry, OP. I misread your question. You wanted me to pick just one?
OK, if I must, it’ll have to be:

“Glück, das mir verblieb” from Die Tote Stadt by Korngold

Here’s a link to Renee Fleming singing it on YouTube

hahaha No bother, it was just the first thing that came to mind. Choose as many as you like.

I really love Jupiter from the Planets Suite by Holst, especially the part that starts at 3:08.

Here is another version (with vocals) of the above piece ^^ by Libera called I Vow Thee to My Country which apparently became a British patriotic song in the 1920’s. I just recently realized they were the same piece of music.

Another favorite is Fall by Vivaldi from The Four Seasons

And the Theme from Deep Space Nine by Dennis McCarthy.

And Hedwig’s Theme by John Williams

Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

Pachelbel’s Canon in D

John Williams’ Theme to Jurassic Park

East of Eden by Lee Holdridge

And the instrumental version of The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby

Toccata & Fugue by Bach