# Favourite classical music
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 10, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351 "2018-03-10T19:17:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/1 "2018-03-10T19:17:23Z")
Quick, without thinking about it. Just off the top of your head. What are your favourite classical pieces?
In no particular order:
[ul][li]Beethoven’s [7th Symphony, 2nd Movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgHxmAsINDk)[/li][li]Grieg’s [In The Hall Of The Mountain King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc)[/li][li]Orff’s [O Fortuna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5b7tgkdFH0) (overused though it is, and maybe not really classical music)[/li][li]Beethoven’s [5th Symphony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOk8Tm815lE)[/li][li]Albinoni’s\* [Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzpHa8YP2qo)[/li][li]Bach’s [Toccata & Fugue in D Minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvrPOoYZd5U)[/li][li]Wagner’s [Ride Of The Valkyries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRU1AJsXN1g)[/li][li]Tchaikovsky’s [1812 Overture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxgYlcNxE8)[/ul][/li]
\*Actually composed in the 20th Century by Remo Giazotto.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/2 "2018-03-10T19:56:59Z")
Off the top of my head…
Haendel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Beethoven’s Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth
Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture
Elgar’s Enigma Variations
DeBussy’s Clair de Lune
Any Baroque trumpet tune (Charpentier, Purcell, Clarke, Telemann, et al.)
Vivaldi’s Lute Concerto
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade
Borodin’s On the Steppes of Central Asia
I love Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, but I can’t pick a favorite work from any of them right offhand.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/3 "2018-03-10T20:05:23Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> I love Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, but I can’t pick a favorite work from any of them right offhand.
Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/4 "2018-03-10T21:35:33Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti.
This. Also the B-minor Suite.
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.
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### Author:  [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/5 "2018-03-11T02:08:10Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/6 "2018-03-11T02:38:53Z")
Without thinking…
1. Mozart _I’ll bet you can all guess_
2. Erik Satie _Gymnopédie #3_
3. Vivaldi _Four Seasons_
4. Holst _Jupiter_
5. Mendelssohn _Midsummer Night’s Dream (Overture)_
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/7 "2018-03-11T02:51:16Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> . . . 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! . . .
Faure and Widor also wrote lovely quintets.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/8 "2018-03-11T06:23:38Z")
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
And…and …and…
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/9 "2018-03-11T11:37:40Z")
**Bach** works featuring only a couple of instruments - to hear each line cross and rub up against each other.
Nothing else comes close for me.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/10 "2018-03-11T12:07:41Z")
I like Dmitri Shostakovich, but I couldn’t name a particular piece.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/11 "2018-03-11T13:31:49Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> I like Dmitri Shostakovich, but I couldn’t name a particular piece.
Waltz No. 2? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/12 "2018-03-11T15:19:13Z")
The radio station Classic FM is currently running a poll and my submissions were Fantini’s [Second Imperial Entrance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vmWuf-fhtc), Lully’s [Fanfare for the Royal Carousel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGplC6L7dFM), and Charpentier’s [Marche de Triomphe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snxUHRaGTuA).
I very much doubt any will get into the top 300, which will be broadcast over Easter.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/13 "2018-03-11T15:55:52Z")
Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings in E major, especially the second movement.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/14 "2018-03-11T16:42:08Z")
[Saint-Saens symphony no.3 in C minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWCZq33BrOo). The last movement with the MASSIVE organ part (fnarr!) always gives me goose-bumps.
And [Nimrod,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE) by Elgar.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/15 "2018-03-11T16:50:24Z")
> [@jaycat](#):
>
> Faure and Widor also wrote lovely quintets.
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.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/16 "2018-03-11T17:18:24Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#):
>
> Without thinking…
>
> 1. Mozart _I’ll bet you can all guess_
Gotta be “Leck mich im Arsch (K. 231)” right? 😉
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).
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/17 "2018-03-11T17:23:30Z")
Several of my favorites have already been mentioned, so I’ll add:
[Mozart’s Symphony #25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNeirjA65Dk). 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.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/18 "2018-03-11T17:32:15Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/19 "2018-03-11T17:34:48Z")
I may start a thread called “What Horribly Overplayed Classical Music AREN’T You Thoroughly Sick Of?”
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-classical-music/810351/20 "2018-03-11T18:07:36Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> I may start a thread called “What Horribly Overplayed Classical Music AREN’T You Thoroughly Sick Of?”
How many of mine are on it? 😛
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