What Music Do You Find Beautiful and Memorable?

January 15, 2005 7:27 AM

In the past few days, I've discovered the Adagio from Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto. Which other themes are beautiful & memorable, from all music?
posted by Gyan to Media & Arts (33 answers total)

Wow. Quite a broad question:

-- Early Aaron Copland (before he became more "experimental"): try "El Salon Mexico", "Billy the Kid", "Appalacian Spring", etc.

-- Gershwin, "Rapsody in Blue," and "American in Paris."

-- Tchaikovsky, "None but the Lonely Heart."

-- Almost any collection of Debussey.

-- Ravel "Bolero" (can't help but be memorable).

-- Holst, "The Planets"

-- Film Scores by Miklos Rosza (I recommend "Thief of Bagdad" and "Fedora")

-- Bernard Hermann, film score for "Vertigo."

-- Nino Rota film scores (I recommed "Juliet of the Spirits", "Amacord", and -- of course -- "The Godfather Part II")

-- Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"

-- John Coltrain "Ballads" (almost any Coltrain)

-- Simon and Garfunkle

-- a good collection of Strauss waltzes

-- The musical "Floyd Collins" by Adam Guettel. Also, his album "Myths and Hymns" has some lovely music.

-- The musical "Pacific Overtures" by Stephen Sondheim (original Broadway cast -- not revival)

-- The album "Short Trip Home", Edgar Meyer.

-- The film score to "The Last Emperor" by David Byrne and Ryuicki Sakamoto (heartbeaking from the first note).

-- The film score to "Last Tango in Paris" by Gata Barbieri

-- The Amiee Mann soundtrack for "Magnolia"
posted by grumblebee at 7:48 AM on January 15, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks, grumblebee, but just to give it some direction, I'm looking for specific pieces of music. So "Simon & Garfunkel" don't count, "Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair" does.
posted by Gyan at 7:53 AM on January 15, 2005

ObDisclaim: I work at a classical record label.

This seems like a very vague question. There are plenty of budget-line "Worlds most beautiful classical music" that covers this kind of stuff. I'd also maybe invest in some soundtrack composer compilations.

Some of my favorites off the top of my head

Gabriel Faure's "Pavane" (most moving heard played via trumpet, i think)
Barber's "Adagio"
Chopin's Etude in E Minor (Op. 24)
Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4

Non-classical: Parts of the scores from from Legends of the Fall (even though I have a particular loathing for James Horner this one still gets me), Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (the track "The Dragon's Heartbeat" being used for inspirational moments in sports movies everywhere since), Forrest Gump or basically anything Alan Silvestri.

An amazon search for any of these should get you started in the right direction.
posted by softlord at 7:56 AM on January 15, 2005

Albinoni's Adagio.
posted by rushmc at 8:22 AM on January 15, 2005

I second Barber's Adagio. I'd also add the Chopin Ballade No. 4 and Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2... I could list a bunch more, but they're all classical piano music (I went to conservatory in my old life).
posted by mothershock at 8:38 AM on January 15, 2005

Smetana's The Moldau.
posted by theFlyingSquirrel at 8:46 AM on January 15, 2005

The middle section (adagio cantabile) from Beethoven's Sonate Pathétique.

The slow section of the 4th movement of Holst's The Planets (the "Jupiter" movement).

Virtually any choral work by contemporary composer Morton Lauridsen. Most people seem to like O Magnum Mysterium and Dirait-On, but there's other stuff just as good.
posted by the_bone at 8:56 AM on January 15, 2005

The Q may be vague, but I'm glad it was asked. I'm going to check out a bunch of stuff that people have brought up here. Thanks.
posted by grumblebee at 9:38 AM on January 15, 2005

Thanks, grumblebee, but just to give it some direction, I'm looking for specific pieces of music. So "Simon & Garfunkel" don't count, "Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair" does.

Interesting. I'll bow out of suggesting anything further. I almost never listen to tracks. I listen to entire albums. (I don't get the point of iPod Shuffle.)
posted by grumblebee at 9:41 AM on January 15, 2005

I think all of Dvorak's Symphony #9 in E Minor (aka The New World Symphony) is beautiful and memorable, especially the first two movements.

Mendelssohn's Symphony #3 in A Minor ("Scottish") is another favorite, in particular the second movement.
posted by katie at 10:21 AM on January 15, 2005

Richard Wagner - Gesegnet Soll Sie Schreiten (from Lohengrin)
posted by mr.marx at 10:43 AM on January 15, 2005

Let's not forget Bach... I'm also fond of Smetana's Moldau. The Queen Of The Night aria in Mozart's The Magic Flute also comes to mind as a memorable piece.
posted by noius at 10:53 AM on January 15, 2005

Chopin's Raindrop Prelude is well-known but still gives me the chills.
posted by ontic at 11:01 AM on January 15, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for all your answers. Keep them coming.

Turns out I've already known about 75% of the recommendations, but it's getting exhausted so there should be more new ones from now on.

I think all of Dvorak's Symphony #9 in E Minor (aka The New World Symphony) is beautiful and memorable

Ditto. It's one of the very few symphonies I can listen to from start to end, and not just tolerate but like all of it. Just so many wonderful motives throughout.
posted by Gyan at 11:32 AM on January 15, 2005

Charles-Valentin Alkan's "Le Festin D'Esope"
Charles-Valentin Alkan's "Alleluia", Op. 25
Isaac Albeniz's "Pavana-Capricio"
Isaac Albeniz's Sonata No. 5, fourth movement
George Bizet's Carmen - Overture, and Habanera, and lots of other arias
Johannes Brahms's Intermezzo in B flat minor (and all of his other intermezzi)
Ernest Chausson's "Poeme de l'amour et de la mer"
Frederic Chopin's "Krakowiak"
Franz Schubert's string quartet, "Death and the Maiden"
Robert Schumann's "Fantasy", Op. 12 - Ende vom Lied
Dmitri Shostakovich's Jazz Suite No. 1 (especially the waltzes)
posted by agropyron at 12:30 PM on January 15, 2005

The second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Gorecki's Symphony No. 2. Part's "Cantus in Memoriam of Benjamin Britten." Pretty much any of J.S. Bach's Preludes & Fugues (for organ.) Respighi's "Suite No. 2 of Ancient Airs and Dances", esp. the last movement.

Oh, and for my money Dvorak's best symphony is No. 8, especially the first movement. YMMV.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:41 PM on January 15, 2005

Vauguan Williams' Lark in the Morning and Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Beethoven's Concerto for violin in D. One of the few concertos for really any instrument I'll always listen to from beginning to end.

Shostakovich 5 has some great stuff, including one of the most beautiful and terrifying oboe solos (mvt. iii) to have to be called upon to play.

Satie's Gymnopedies for piano are very nice, and there is an orchestration of #1 by Debussy I enjoy very much.
posted by Sangre Azul at 1:02 PM on January 15, 2005

Some of my most memorable and beautiful themes...

Elgar: Cello concerto: 1st movement
Borodin: String quartet no. 2: 2nd movement
Brahms: Sonata for piano and violin no. 3 in D minor: 2nd movement
Durufle: 'Ubi caritas' (Also, the Introit from his Requiem, but that's less a single theme and more a gorgeous whole.)
Mendelssohn: Piano trio no. 2 in C minor: 2nd movement
Purcell: 'Dido and Aeneas': 'When I am laid in earth'
Mozart: Symphony no. 40 in G minor: 1st movement
posted by chrismear at 1:10 PM on January 15, 2005

The Amiee Mann soundtrack for "Magnolia"

I would argue that this album doesn't really have a theme, as such. Or, at least, a significantly weaker theme than all of Jon Brion's other soundtracks. His soundtracks for both I Heart Huckabees and Punch Drunk Love have much stronger themes running through, for example.

To add something new to the list, I'm going to suggest Glass's Powaqqatsi score, which has a strong recurring theme.
posted by wackybrit at 1:19 PM on January 15, 2005

Nyman's score for Gattaca. Not entirely dissimilar to the Barber, really.
posted by kindall at 2:03 PM on January 15, 2005

"I like music! What music do you like?"

Lame.
posted by jjg at 2:17 PM on January 15, 2005

The bass progression from J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Beautiful in its own right, even better for the fact that we get thirty extra pieces built on the same skeleton.
posted by letourneau at 2:40 PM on January 15, 2005

Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s 'Turandot'
posted by growabrain at 2:41 PM on January 15, 2005

Mozart, Coronation Mass or Requiem Mass
Faure Requiem
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath, particularly "The Wizard"
posted by hardcode at 3:25 PM on January 15, 2005

Sarabande from Bach Keyboard Partita #1, Chaconne from Violin Partita #2, and Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme of Paganini has a beautiful slow section.
posted by casarkos at 4:00 PM on January 15, 2005

Johannes Brahms's Intermezzo in B flat minor (and all of his other intermezzi)

Yes. Check out Op. 118.
posted by ludwig_van at 4:57 PM on January 15, 2005

Franck - Prelude, Fugue, and Variation, Op. 18
Bach - St. Matthew Passion
Handel - organ concertos, particularly Op. 4 No. 6
Schubert - Symphony No. 8
Rossini - Stabat Mater
Mozart - Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 21
Haydn - Symphony No. 45 ("The Farewell" symphony)
posted by epimorph at 11:06 PM on January 15, 2005

A specific recommendation from the Bach St. Matthew Passion (referenced in the post above): Check out the bass aria "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein" found toward the end of that work. It frigging slays me.
posted by the_bone at 4:55 AM on January 16, 2005

I am extremely fond of the second of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade suites, The Tale of the Kalendar Prince. It's the harp glissades that really get me.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:37 AM on January 16, 2005

Try Busoni's piano transcriptions of Bach's "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ", or "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme". Or the originals, too.
posted by Jongo at 11:42 AM on January 16, 2005

Oh, and also Beethoven's fourth Piano concerto in G Major (all of it), or his fifth concerto in E flat Major (middle movement). Pick up a CD of Murray Perahia playing it.

And, uh, any bit of Les Troyens by Berlioz. I'm constantly thinking of more snippets as I type, so I'll stop posting now. Almost all music saved for posterity is unforgettably beautiful. :-p
posted by Jongo at 11:48 AM on January 16, 2005

Berlioz is seconded.
posted by wackybrit at 9:41 PM on January 16, 2005

Chaconne (J.S. Bach), played by John Williams
posted by noius at 4:44 PM on January 27, 2005