Sharing mood

[nny]

What's your favourite piece of classical music?

Why?

(If you also have it to hand and could upload, that'd be awesome!)

I'm kind of shockingly lacking in variety, when it comes to classical - although apparently I do have 369 songs in that particular genre.

Some of my favourites:

Agnus Dei: Gabriel Fauré
The central part of this is used in this advert, which I've always loved - but I think that was because of the music rather than the other way around. I always have an affection for things I've sung, and I sang this in church when I was... I'm not sure. Only just a teenager, or a little before. Beautiful choral piece.

Mendelssohn: Concerto In E Minor, Op. 64 - Allegro Molto Appassionato
You're not allowed to judge me for this, okay. I love this because of toft's String Theory, which was the first story I read in SG:A fandom, the reason I started watching the show, and still my best loved fic. I'm a dork. Gorgeous violin.

Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, II allegrotto: Beethoven
This'd be the piece of music I want to dance with - not to, with - partly because I think it'd have lovely boobs. Lovely orchestral piece that builds incredibly without too many theatrics.

Jazz Suite No.2 - Waltz 2: Dmitri Shostakovich
Sounds like a crazy Russian circus that's only half real.

Lux Arumque: Eric Whitacre
The piece that the virtual choir sang, something I've linked to before and you should absolutely watch. The whole album Cloudburst is beautiful and I recommend it massively.

Spem in Alium: Thomas Tallis
Spem in alium is a forty-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed circa 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. I don't know where to even start with that. It's beautiful through its seeming chaos which keeps resolving itself into something unearthly and beautiful.

The Lament of the Mother of God: John Tavener
It was hard to know which Tavener to pick because his music is incredible; again with the oddly shaped chords that resolve themselves into something (traditionally) awesome. Beautiful choral music.

Boccherini: La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid No. 6 Op. 30
Another hilariously geeky choice - this is the big gay love theme of the big gay film with boats, as an ex-flatmate dubbed it. Jack and Stephen started it, and then it was used at the end of an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes as Holmes and Watson dined together and subtexted madly, and that confirmed it. Never fails to make me smile. XD

Comments

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid my choices are not very elevated and for the most part have been because of their use in films & ballets; outside of that I love Iannis Xennakis and am endlessly pleased that Ode to Joy does exactly what it says on the tin. Also I think I get most of my classical music from you anyway.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

*points at the boobs and the fanfic*

Not massively elevated myself. XD Mostly the things I know are the things my mum or I have sung, or things used in adverts and films and such. I've never heard of Iannis Xennakis and will have to check out!

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Xennakis I encountered when Rose dragged me to the Proms last year, he's verra ... caustic and jaggedy.

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Hahahah I love that Mendelssohn and that Boccherini for the EXACT SAME REASONS.

I keep coming back to Jupiter from Holst's Planets in terms of classical themes that make me shiver; I think I'd name it as my favourite.

And Grieg's Morning from Peer Gynt. And Bach's Adagio from Concerto in C minor for violin and oboe. And -- all of Handel's Messiah :D And Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez. And the 1812 Overture. And Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville. And Philip Glass's violin concerto is amazing.

*vomits names onto your head*

[villainny.livejournal.com]

\o/ DORKS FTW!

I always fixated on Mars a little because I was in a music workshop at school that involved learning to play it - I can't hear it now without mentally saying 'where is the warlock, where is he?' which was how the guy got people to remember the rhythm. XD

I will look up the rest of these!

[looking4tarzan.livejournal.com]

Despite it being used SO DAMN MUCH and corrupted
I still love Canon & Gigue in D by Pachabel, mostly as I really liked it when I played it on the recorder age 8. Kinda stuck

Orf's O fortuna

and The Piano (the heart asks pleasure first( by Nyman

And minuet and Trio, as I learnt that on the violin!

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Piano, totally! That's beautiful. I love the entirety of Carmina Burana and really need to replace my copy of it, since I only had it on tape (and now I feel old), and the canon is lovely. I take it you've seen the rant on youtube? It's awesome. XD

[looking4tarzan.livejournal.com]

Yes I have. Bless I can relate 3rd violin playing William tell was d and g a lot.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I have no great taste in classical music (or, um, any music) but I'm d/ling a bunch of yours since I love choral stuff - sang in chorus in uni for a few years. For that reason I love Carmina Burana, because it is so much fun to sing.

Our choral director was also into Russian music and we sang a Rachmaninoff liturgy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgy_of_St._John_Chrysostom_%28Rachmaninoff%29) that is really gorgeous. (The wiki article here actually mentions our director, as Tony's the guy who published the restored edition.) I don't have an mp3 but it's awful pretty...

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Would you like more choral stuff? Let me know if you like the Tavener or Whitacre or whatever, I'm happy to zip and upload. ;)

[mattp.livejournal.com]

Two of my favourites are Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I love the Presto from the Moonlight Sonata, it's lovely. :D One of the things that makes me want to take up the piano again, even though I'll never be that good. XD

[tenillypo.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the downloads. And speaking of Thomas Tallis, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (http://www.mediafire.com/?7b80jajm60dj4bn) is probably my absolute favorite piece of music in the whole world. I could just put it on repeat for hours. Never fails to make me happy.

I put on Byrd's Domine Secundum Actum Meum (http://www.mediafire.com/?2wr8tw6ttb0r18g) whenever I need to relax and concentrate. It so soothing...

Summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons (http://www.mediafire.com/?rj2gxbsae4lbpdu). I love the fierceness of the strings and way it feels exactly like the world does right before a summer thunderstorm.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the music! Fantasia on a theme is absolutely beautiful, but it has been used for so many Moving scenes on TV and in film - Master and Commander is the one that comes immediately to mind - that I sometimes have to brace myself to listen to it. Same with the Adagio for Strings that was used in Platoon - and in Spaced's gun fight, which was amazing. XD

[tenillypo.livejournal.com]

OMG, I went through such a Barber Adagio phase in high school and now I can't even listen to it anymore. OH THE HUMANITY. Heh.

I don't think I've ever heard the Fantasia in anything but Master and Commander -- I remember being really surprised to hear it used in the theater -- interesting that for you, it's become overexposed...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_cadenza/]

Delurking for the classical music love... thanks for sharing!

Fauré's Elégie in C Minor Op. 24 is gorgeous cello awesomeness.
Paul Smadbeck's Virginia Tate is an absolutely hypnotic marimba solo.
Rachmaninov Prélude #10 in B Minor, Op. 32 is possibly my very favorite piece of piano music ever.
The second movement from Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F is beautiful, with just the right touch of jazz.
Ludovico Einaudi's I Giorni is a nice, relaxing piano piece.
Tom Duffy's Butterflies and Bees starts out really pretty and then becomes... um, kind of hilarious. It has awesome bassoons! A d bowed xylophone.

I uploaded them here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=f6af784bc0e34a01cfa0b7d78e8264ee6bc31fcdd470c0f946f1c4b7d806973bfaae89687819ee300c7a85a6a1a557d7 (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=f6af784bc0e34a01cfa0b7d78e8264ee6bc31fcdd470c0f946f1c4b7d806973bfaae89687819ee300c7a85a6a1a557d7)

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the music! I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed the randomness I uploaded. :)

Even though you probably don't know me, and even though these are all very typical...

[toujoursimpur.livejournal.com]

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin! Both the orchestra version and the piano solo. This is probably my most beloved piece of music I think I've ever heard, because to me every note is just bursting with fun and vivacity and spunk! It's the most fun I've ever had (but also the most frustration, at times) learning a piece.
Fantaisie-Impromptu and Revolutionary Etude, both by Chopin. But also most of his nocturnes (Op. 9 No. 2 in particular), and many of his waltzes. Oh, you can't go wrong with Chopin (and if you couldn't tell he's my favorite composer!), everything by him is so emotionally moving to me.
I also really love the Pathetique Sonata. I guess I quite like dramatic music.
And lastly, the Maple Leaf Rag by Joplin is, like the Rhapsody, just so much fun. :)

Re: Even though you probably don't know me, and even though these are all very typical...

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Typical totally doesn't matter, because sometimes things are ridiculously popular for a reason, you know? Chopin I haven't actually heard much of at all, as far as I know. I mean, the Minute Waltz, but that's a little typical itself. :D

I agree on the overblown dramatic music front, sometimes it's wonderful; I adore the entirety of Carmina Burana, not just O Fortuna, but there's so very much drama it makes me laugh.