For whatever reason, John Coltrane’s Afro-Blues does it for me. Those opening notes captivate me.
- Tamerlane
I have heard more than once that the signature tune from Beethoven’s 9th (Ode to Joy) is considered to be the most “perfect” melody every written. Why is that? Is it that it can be played by any instrument and not lose the desired effect?
As far as I know, you’re thinking way too complex. I think that “perfect” in this case is just shorthand for “really really good”.
It’s a beautiful melody that is easily learnable and hummable, and yet it yields up incredible variety, as witnessed by the ways it appears in the 9th.
Not quite true. I actually enjoy a large number of popular classical works. Examples:
Schubert - Unfinished symphony, Winterreise
Chopin - Nocturnes
Mozart - Piano concertos 20/21, Clarinet concerto, Requiem
Beethoven - Symphonies 5, 6
Bach - Matthaus Passion, Toccata&fugue 565, Overtures
Dvorak - Symphony 9
StSaens - Organ symphony
Mendelssohn - Violin concerto, Italian symphony
Gorecki - Third symphony
Stravinsky - Le sacre du printemps
Verdi - Requiem
Rossini - William Tell overture
Sibelius - Finlandia
Smetana - Vltava (Moldau)
Some of my favourites which you would not find in a “classics for the millions” collection:
Mahler - Symphonies 4,9; Das Lied von der Erde; Kindertotenlieder
Shostakovich - Symphonies 5,7,13,14; string quartets
Schubert - string quintet
Beethoven - late string quartets
Debussy - Prelude d’apres-midi d’un faun, La Mer
Bach - cello sonatas, Wohltemperierte Klavier, organ works, piano concertos
Brahms - clarinet quintet, string quintets and sextets
R Strauss - Vier letzte Lieder
Faure - Requiem
Britten - War requiem
Ravel - Pianoconcerto
Sibelius - Symphonies
Dvorak - Symphonic poems
Or a bit more off the beaten path:
Barber - Knoxville summer of 1916
Takemitsu - various compositions
Bax - symphonies and symphonic poems
Respighi - Fontane di Roma
Gubaidulina - Jetzt immer schnee
Vaughan Williams - Symphonies 2,4,5
Sallinen - Symphonies
With operas, there is a similar partial disconnect. Mozart and Verdi operas are simply not for me, whereas I love Puccini and Wagner.
Achernar , you mentioned it first and you are correct!!! Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor is the best. Last Sunday, a guest organist at our church played it as the postlude after the service. Believe me, a LOT more people hung around for the postlude than usually did!
Aah. So “Best”=“Populist Crap” 
I don’t go for best - I think there’s too much great music out there for me to even name a definitive personal “best.” But I do think that there are many examples of music that is simply perfect - every moment is great, and the whole transcends every moment to create a beautiful work. There are many of these, but two that come to mind are Radiohead’s Kid A album - From the struggling spurts of Thom Yorke’s voice in “Everything in its right place” to the music box intro of “Kid A” to the ghostly otherworldliness of “How to disappear completely,” through to the erratic beats of “Idioteque” and the uplifting harps that close “Motion Picture Soundtrack.” However, I could not declare this album to be one of the “best” ever made because other Artists have produced works equally as perfect (Bjork’s Vepertine is one). Radiohead have even produced at least one other album worthy of this title. So “Best”? It does not exist. “Perfect?” certainly.
The best piece of music ever is “Watermelon in Easter Hay” by Frank Zappa, followed closely by almost every Beatles song, and also by Zappa’s “What’s New in Baltimore?” and “Sofa #2.”
Even Obladi Oblada? Yellow Submarine?
I Am Not A Musicologist
However, my wife is. She’s a professor of music history at UCLA. After seeing this thread I posed the question to her. Her response – probably much garbled by my non-musical brain:
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If you’re talking of all time all over the world the question is meaningless. Best how? Comparing apples and oranges and all that.
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If you limit it to the European classical tradition – Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Not just because it is very beautiful – there are lots of pieces that are equally as aesthetically pleasing – but also because of the amount of influence it had on the music that followed it. Beethoven’s symphonies (particularly the 9th) became a model that other composers copied and elaborated upon for hundreds of years after. The 9th became the archetypical symphony, the standard against which other symphonic works would be judged.
So, according to at least one music history professor, it’s a silly question but if you force her to pick: Beethoven’s 9th.
I would cast my vote for the aria “O Mio Bambino Caro”. Maybe it is because I am a vocalist, but I find vocal performances far more emotionally moving than instrumental works.
If you’re not sure what song this is, it is the aria from the movie Shine, among many many other movies.
“Russian Naval Hymn” as composed by Basil Polidouris (and heard on the “Hunt for Red October” soundtrack).
Not only was it the model that other composers copied, it became (in the minds of composers and theorists) the chief piece of evidence on what music of the future should do (in terms of whether music should be programmatic, i.e. have a dramatic narrative or be referencial in some way, OR absolute, i.e. the music as an end in itself). Interestingly enough, both sides of the debate used the 9th to support their argument.
It also scared the bejesus outta Brahms (and many others) who was afraid to even touch the genre until late in his life.
I would agree that the 9th has been the most influential of all pieces in the history of western music, though that doesn’t quite answer the OP.
I find it highly symbolic that Pink Floyd are one of the only ‘modern’ choices here, ahead of the beatles (probably the only other choice?). Pink Floyd produced some wonderful music most notably the guitar solos which far from de-valuing the song, usually served to make it better and more powerful, most notably comfortably numb and another brick in the wall part 2.
Although i still tihnk i would vote for a beethoven(poss 9th) i think there is some music produced in the modern era worthy of a mention. And i would go as far as to say MUSICALLY the recently released zephyr song by the ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ was almost musically perfect. Not a great song by any stretch, by musically its perfect.
As for the beatles as mentioned earlier i think ‘A Day in the Life’ would be hard to overlook, with across the universe/hey jude/yesterday and penny lane. I think these five are the top ‘Musically’ best beatles songs. (Penny lane piccalo ending is superb).
Hmmmm, Almost all votes are for some sort of classical music, with a country rock tune or two and a few “oldies” thrown in.
Too embarrassed to put my vote in then. But would like more of a definition of the word “best”.
Best technically? (then, despite my dislike of them, I’d have to agree with the classical music lovers’ choice). Best in evoking emotion, enthusiasm etc in the listener?
If those were the criteria, then what kind of music would be considered “best”?
Sorry, this is a very, very interesting poll, hope that wasn’t a hijack.
Hey hey, no one consideres the middle part of Debussy’s “Clair da Lune” as anything less than perfect?