Re: Most beautiful classical music (?)

Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:36:47 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
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True, there's a kind of music whose beauty is sensuous rather than
formal,
although the one does not exclude the other. Some may be light music.
But
there's good, almost sublime, light music. I've always thought
Heuberger's
"Chamber Separee" one of the most gorgeously sensuous pieces of music.
Godard's Berceuse de joycelyn is another such piece. Similar to these
is the
Shostakovitch Romance, from a film score (I forget which one).
Presumably this
was also used in an American television series. I'd like to know which
one! A lot of Elgar is sensuous in the manner described in the previous
post.
The slow movements to E's 2 completed symphonies are among the most
sensuous I
know. Two "gorgeous" film soundtracks are Barry's SOMEWHERE IN TIME and
OUT OF
AFRICA. These are indeed successful romantic scores. Morricone's
CINEMA
PARADISO easily ranks with these by our (or at least my) criteria. The gorgeous melody in Rach's Third Piano concerto, which comes
back after
a long final movement, following hesitant piano arpeggios, is among the
most
climactic moments in Rach's music (certainly more climactic, though less
obviously so, than the return of the famous melody from the finale of
the 2d
piano concerto. The string version of the love theme from Bernstein's ON THE
WATERFRONT is
another gorgeous moment for me, although I don't think I've heard that
since my
teenage years! It doesn't matter. I remember it. Thinking of Strauss, the slow waltz from the Rosenkavalier suite of
waltzes is among the most gorgeous moments in Strauss. I'd also include
the
fifth, sequential, variation from Don Quixote, which I used to swoon
over as a
youth: it's like being carried on a wave of emotion. Speaking of variations, the immortal Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma
Variations
is certainly up there with my "guilty pleasure" list of gorgeous musical
moments. Then there's a real guilty pleasure, since it's considered a
Prokofiev
plebian sellout: the 7th symphony, one of the most gorgeous symphonies
in the
repertoire. Then there's the great funereal choruses from Nevsky.
Walton's
Richard III restoration music is similarly sensuous. Oddly, although I love all of Mozart, nothing would fit this
category
except another of my guilty pleasures, the MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC. It's
one of
those pieces of music that is so powerful it almost ruins the film that
uses it
(Pasolini's Gospel According to Matthew), as Mahler's sensuous Adagietto
almost
ruins DEATH IN VENICE. As for Mahler, I saved the best for last. The way the previous
poster felt
about the Four Last Songs, I feel about DAS LIED VON DER ERDE, whose
final
Abschied is certainly, to my ears, the most gorgeous piece of music of
the
century. The andante of the Tenth is not far behind. Having just looked down the list of posts, I'd have to concur with
the poster who mentioned the V-W Tallis fantasia. That is certainly
gorgeous. Or was the word sensuous? Oh, I almost forgot operetta.
Offenbach has several gorgeous moments, inc. of course the Barcarole and
a great deal of the music of Orpheus in Hades. Then there's Lehar's
Villalied, one of the great gorgeous melodies. There's Buttercup from
Sullivan's Mikado. And finally, among the most gorgeous pieces of music
of the century, there's the great Mariettalied from Korngold's Die Tote
Stadt. Oh, one final guilty pleasure: Ch'ella mi creda, from THE GIRL
OF THE GOLDEN WEST: that richly pentatonic melody has always captivated
me.
"Nicolai P. Zwar" wrote:
> Marcello Penso wrote:
> > After hearing Strauss's Four Last Songs twice in a row this past week on
> > NPR I've concluded that not only would I want this played at my funeral
> > (even if it's just the last one) but also that this music, however
> > sentimental, is one of the most beautiful pieces of music, if not the
> > most beautiful, I know (having first heard it over 25 years ago and
> > reheard many times since.)
> >
> > I'm sure others will have other favorites in terms of beauty (perhaps
> > best clarified as an appropriate mix of sensuality, fine melodic line,
> > balance and lyricism- as opposed to great music, like Beethoven's 9th or
> > Mozart's Requiem) but I was curious to see what those favorites might be.
> >
> > Three runner's up I think might be Debussy's Prelude de l'Apres-midi d'un
> > Faune, Mozart's piano concerto 21 (K467) Andante, Mahler's Symph 5
> > Adagio, just off the top of my head...
> >
> > Somehow, I wouldn't fit faster pieces or pieces with heavy orchestration
> > into this category... Ah, another might be Vaughn Williams Sym. 2 2nd
> > movement.
> >
> > Anyway, curious to see what others might think.
>
> I find "beauty" in every piece of music that I like, and I find it
> impossile to separate or isolate the concept of "beauty" from other
> criteria, because "beauty" is the underlying glue of any (valuable)
> piece of art. If a piece of music has not beauty, it has nothing at all.
>
> --
> Nicolai Zwar
> http://www.nicolaizwar.com
> (we're late, we know, and we're still closed)