Here, There, & Everywhere- The Beatles
Beethoven’s 9th
Pachelbels Canon in D
Personally, I prefer Bachs Great Organ Fugue in G-minor (BWV 542), and his Passacaglia and Fugue in C (BWV 582).
Oh! I forgot the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, especially the 3rd movement.
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Damn, and me thinking I’m so clever :). Thanks anyway, NoClueBoy, also for starting the other tread. I’ve read some of the Black Widowers stories, but not the one you mentioned. It got me wondering, though, whether Asimov expanded the idea from the one for the other. I’m sorry to say a quick search for the story I remembered didn’t bring back the title to me either. Damn, that guy has written a lot of stuff!
Anyway, one post farther away from newbie-dom. 
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blowero may be thinking of Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember something about Bach’s music at the end of the story.
Oh yes, I didn’t notice blowero’s post, but yes, it is Dirk Gently. That particular twist tied in quite well with the plot, too. Hard to fathom that they lived in a world without Bach before that.
Yes, thanks - That’s the book I was talking about, allright.
TTT: your story sounds like this Asimov one, which isn’t one of the Black Widower stories (mild spoilers on this page): The Secret Sense
NoClueBoy: your story sounds like “The Ultimate Melody” from Clarke’s Tales from the White Hart.
Wow!
That’s it!
Thanks rowrrbazzle! No wonder I couldn’t find it in the Asimov stuff. :smack:
On a side note*, I wonder who copied whom?
I like Mozart’s Requiem Mass, or whatever it’s called. Spock (in TOS’s Requiem for Methuselah) like Beethovan for his mathematical precision.
*Not intended as a pun. Saw it in Preview…
Ding, ding, ding we have a winner. Achenar is correct, the finest piece of music ever is Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D minor.
Although Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Pachibel’s Canon in D are fairly close seconds.
And when all is said and done Here, There & Everywhere might be The Beatles best tune.
I think I would still be willing to hear it.
(what would be the point of living afterwards?)
Since de gustibus non est disputandum, there is probably no one accurate answer to this question – it belongs in In My Humble Café-Society Opinion, slung somewhere between the two forums. But I’d give the edge to Pachelbel’s Canon, mentioned above, in that it is one piece that is both appealing to nearly every classical music lover that is also appreciated by people who don’t like classical music. There are very few pieces that fit this credential, and of them I would consider the Canon the best.
I personally like the Morning passage from the Overture to Peer Gynt best of any classical piece, with several things already listed (including the Canon) and Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto close on its heels. Among 20th century “serious” music, Stoid has it. Of post-1960 pop/rock/hip-hop/genres-without-end, perhaps the piece that touches me most is the Eagles’ “Desperado,” with Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” in second place.
But faced with picking a piece that would be appealing to virtually all musical tastes, the Canon would have to be it.
There can only be 2 nominees.
Ravel’s Bolero even though Ravel himself dismissed it as “a prank” is available on a CD with 10 versions of the same piece.
Similarly Stairway to Heaven is available on a CD with 12 versions of the Zep song.
It’s got to be the Brandenburg concertos, especially if you consider accessability. Every class in which I’ve played 'em has loved them, I even get requests from my high schoolers. Personally, I put Pachelbel’s Canon a hair’s breadth behind. It’s beautiful, but is it best? Hmmm, I wonder about Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata…
I like classical music, and I loathe Pachelbel’s Canon. I had to play it (in my high school orchestra, oddly enough, BadBaby) and the viola part is intricate and boring at the same time. I never need to hear that piece of music again. In college, I played it once on the campus radio station, at 78 rpm from a 33 record; it didn’t help.
Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor is an interesting choice. I was on a street in Stutgart once and I heard it played on two accordians, and it kicked ass.
Forget consensus, I couldn’t even pick just one song myself. Rhapsody in Blue is brilliant (as long as the pianist knows it’s a song, and not a career), In the Mood is great. Scott Joplin’s Solace is beautiful.
Polycarp, have you heard the Langley Schools Music Project version of “Desperado”? It’s heartbreaking and a little unsettling at the same time.
you beat me to it, don’t ask
The way I feel tonight:
“Skylark” by Hoagy Carmichael.
Ask me again tomorrow. It’ll be something else then.
[ul]
[li]Cloudburst from Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite.[/li][li]My Favorite Things by John Coltrane.[/li][li]The Brandenburg Concertos.[/li][li]Barber’s Addagio for Strings.[/li][li]Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.[/li][/ul]
The examples mentioned illustrate my point. I am a classical music lover and some of the classical suggestions would not even make my 100 classical favourites (like Pachelbels Canon or Ravels Bolero). Bachs Brandenburg Concertos would not be in my top25 Bach compositions (the BWV565 toccata and fugue would definitely be in that hypothetical list though).