I love piano quintets — the more memorable the melodies, the better:
Schubert’s Trout Quintet
Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor
Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat
Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major
…and, my absolute favorite:
Borodin’s Piano Quintet in C minor — delightful Russian folk-style chamber music. And to think, his day job was as an accomplished research chemist!
Also, I’ll add Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D. I’m not just throwing the ladies a bone here — it is truly one of my favorite pieces. The melodies are sublime.
Just about anything by J. S Bach. In different arrangements. I love the cello concertos and Wendy Carlos’ “Switched On Bach” recordings
Beethoven’s 9th
Handel’s Water Music (played at our wedding)
Pachabel’s Canon (also played at our wedding)
Tschaikovsy
I also like “modern” classical music from Aaron Copeland, George Gershwin, and believe it or not, John Tesh’s “Avalon” :eek:
The radio station played “Avalon” for weeks before announcing it was by John Tesh.
Loads of Bach, of course. Don’t forget the Passions (particularly Erbarme Dich) and the cantata Ich Habe Genug (with the aria Schlummert Ein, especially sung by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson). And the Goldberg Variations. And the Double Violin Concerto.
Handel - lots again, Messiah, also Zadok the Priest, the aria Scherza Infida, and Eternal Source of Light Divine
Beethoven 9th Symphony and Emperor Concerto
Schubert string quartets, the Octet, Unfinished Symphony and the Arpeggione Sonata
Mendelssohn Octet and Violin Concerto
Loads of Brahms - Clarinet Quintet, symphonies, Double Concerto, Violin Concerto and the late piano Intermezzi
Sibelius, especially 5th symphony and Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov, Second Symphony and Cello Sonata
Elgar Cello Concerto
Thanks — I’ll check these out! Faure’s lullaby-like pieces for cello and piano (including a few that were originally for other instruments, including incidental music for some play) are delightful. Widor is new to me — turn-of-the-20th-century French organist, I see.
I’m a sap for the Romantics, so give me any Chopin, particularly his nocturnes. Hell, even his fricking études were beautiful. But the E flat nocturne (Op 9 No. 2) is the one that always gets me. So beautiful and pretty, yet somehow feels sad to me. Hard for me not to tear up by the end of it. Reminds me of my grandfather, without whom I would have had zero classical knowledge and probably would never have learned to play an instrument. (I also love the other two in this opus).
Several of my favorites have already been mentioned, so I’ll add:
Mozart’s Symphony #25. The first movement was used during the opening of the film version of Amadeus, which is where I was first exposed to it. I bought the whole symphony on cassette tape back then, and, while I’ve upgraded to an MP3 version, I still listen to it regularly.
They change frequently. I’m listening to Sibelius’s complete piano works on Spotify at the moment.
I’m at the point where I con’t tolerate hearing the warhorses any more, so most of the popular works mentioned above would be right off my list. If I listen to Beethoven at ALL now, it has to be something really obscure. No symphonies, concerti, overtures, piano sonatas or trios.
Except for the violin/piano sonata #9 in A (“Kreutzer”). I never get sick of that… Or the late string quartets.
Also Mendelssohn’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.. The very definition of “warhorse,” but it always sounds fresh to me.
Radio programmers: Erik Satie wrote a LOT of music besides the Gymnopedies and the Gnossiennes. Try playing some of it sometime.
