I’d like to see someone offer a CD set with the truly greatest music of the Millenium. Something which is not stupidly weighted in favor of the past 30 years, but includes stuff from accros the centuries.
My dream collection would include things like Beethoven’s Fifth, 1812 Overture, Ride of the Valkyries, Blue Danube, Stars and Stripes Forever, Stardust, In the Still of the Night, Theme from A Summer Place, Yesterday, American Pie, and many others.
Two questions: (1) Is there anything available like this? (2) What would your collections include?
I also notice your list is limited to music written after 1800. What about J.S. Bach and G.F. Handell, from the early 1700s? Or the concerti grossi of Archangelo Corelli, who is credited with the invention of tonal music in 1687? Or the first successful opera, Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, first performed around 1608? Or the works of Orlandus Lassus and that Palestrina guy, the two great modal counterpoint composers of the Late Renaissance near the end of the 1500s? Or the works of Leonin from 1160, who invented the first system of harmony (“melismatic organum”) that didn’t have to be consonant on every single note?
How about “I’ve got a Hell-Hound on my Trail” by Robert Johnson?
As far as Classical goes, I’d say Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” or Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”, maybe. That wonderful choral piece “Jerusalem” (I think it’s called).
Cole Porter, Stephen Foster, Gilbert and Sullivan?
The problem is that music in this millenium has been like an inverted pyramid, with the VAST majority produced in the last hundred years, and very little still available from, say, before 1200 or even 1500.
Who was it that first made frequent use of dynamics in his music? It was some Italian guy, and I had his name a second ago, but I can’t remember it now…
Dances from Terpsichore OR The Muses of Zion, both by Michael Praetorius, the Shakespeare cum Boccacio of Rennaissance music. Both of these works (his only two) are huge compilations (several thousand individual pieces) of most of the popular dance and choral music known at the time. While strictly speaking, these are mostly arrangements, the complexity of the arrangements make them works unto themselves. You have probably heard many of the tunes, just didn’t know the composer.
The Faerie Queen by Purcell. He was the single most prolific composer EVER, beats Praetorius, Bach and the Beatles, combined in that department. Great piece and historically significant.
Orpheus by Monteverdi. The “first opera”, still is hauntingly beautiful.
Carmen OR the Perl Fishers by Bizet.
Complete Scarlatti harpsicord sonatas.
Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg Concerti by Bach.
St. Matthew Passion by Mendelsohn.
All of the Jazz Samba recordings by Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Gilberto, and Jobim.
Bitches Brew OR Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis.
American in Paris OR Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershin.
Selctions from the songbooks of Irving Berlin, H. Arlen, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter.
The Carnegie Hall recordings of Glenn Miller and Judy Garland.
Seriously, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would HAVE to be one the cd. His music stands alone as the epitome of the not only its idiom but its medium as well. Flawless perfect in every piece and note!
Beethoven’s Ninth (One of the most glorious pieces of music ever)
The finale of “La Boheme” (The only thing wrong with it is that I didn’t write it)
Handel’s Water Music
Various Chopin Etudes
Scott Joplin’s “Ragtime Dance”, “Elite Syncopations”, “Pineapple Rag” and “Easy Winners”
Glen Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade”, “String of Pearls” and “In The Mood”
Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms”
That organ piece of Bach’s (Sonata in B-flat Minor?) I’m embarrassed not to know the title!
Nearly anything by Mozart, just as an example of nearly perfect musical form.
Seminal music for various forms (along the lines of Joplin) such as Sousa’s marches and jazz and swing recordings by various important artists.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
You can keep Beethoven’s 5 and 9. Give me 3 and 6.
Schubert’s symphanies 5, 8 and 9.
Any one of Rossini’ comic operas.
Respigi’s (sp?) “Fountains of Rome”.
Stravinsky’s “Firebird” (is that the title? sounds wrong)
Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”
Some Hank Williams
A variety of early Sun Records recordings (Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash)
Selections by Dick Dale, The Chalangers, The Belairs, The Pyramids, The Marketts, The Chantays and the Lively Ones.
Selections from the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver”.
The soundtrack to “The Decline of Western Civilization” (LA Punk)
Philip Glass’s score to “Mishima”.
That’s just the Western 1/4 of the CD! (less the Jazz, Folk, Soul, etc. that I dont know much about) Someone a little more worldly than I would have to fill out the rest.
Funny, that’s exactly what Brahms said about the Blue Danube waltz.
Are you thinking of his Toccata and Fugue in D minor, perhaps? The one used as haunted-house music in cheap B-movies? (J.S. Bach never wrote any sonatas, as far as I know, although his kids certainly did.)
In my not-so-humble opinion, if you’ve heard one W.A. Mozart piece, you’ve heard them all. His style was beautiful, to be sure, but he was so in love with that sound that he made ALL of his music sound the same way. It’s so … monochromatic.
Huh huh, you said “seminal.”
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
Neil, I believe it was Claudio Monteverdi who pioneered the use of dynamics, as well as the opera, as RobRoy noted.
Much like the thread about the “man of the milennium”, it will be too hard to list the greatest until well after this one is over. Music from the 1500’s and earlier still has many fans. Will this century’s popular music be played much a hundred years from now? Maybe, maybe not.
Thanks for the Bach update. You were right. I’m off to flog myself with a double reed for my lapse of musical hipness.
As far as Mozart goes, I sorta agree with you. A lot of his stuff does sound repetitive (sort of like 18th Century Muzak). But his purity of execution within given forms of music and his innate grasp of the mechanics of those forms compel any list maker to include him. I’ll take Beethoven any day. And Joplin.
And so what if I said “seminal”! No need to beat my breast over it.
Huh huh. I said “breast”
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
