The Greatest Classical Music Works - Haydn's Symphony No. 104, "London"

Form a pool of every composer not named Beethoven, pick their nine greatest symphonies, and you still might not surpass the greatness of Ludwig Van's nine.


I've heard a little of Haydn. Pretty ordinary. I can't even remember the 'surprise'.

 

I love Haydn. The best one, though, is the Drumroll symphony. 100 is good, though, too.

 

83. Symphony No. 10 (1953) - Dmitri Shostakovich

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 53 MIN

Most of you will want to hang me in effigy when I say this, but, though I've heard it, I remember nothing about this symphony. The fifth, I remember, but not this one . . . Need to hear it again.

 

Never heard it, either, though I know who he is, of course.

 

82. Egmont Overture and Incidental Music (1810) - Ludwig Van Beethoven

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 38 MIN

Egmont is a play by Goethe; in 1809, Beethoven was approached to write music for a revival. Like Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, this is the 'film score' of the day.

The overture itself is one of Beethoven's finest moments; it is deeply tragic and incredibly sad. The overture itself contributes eight minutes to the running time and it can often be found seperated, squeezed in one discs of other Beethoven works.

The incidental music is rather hard to find a recording of; my library system had fully ten different recordings of the overture, but none of the incidental music. Interlibrary Loan came through, however.

The incidental music is, of course, rather fragmented, but it is as brilliant as one would expect. It finds Beethoven writing, occasionally in an operatic mode, something not common in his works outside of Fidelio. It also contains several straight orchestral pieces, mood setters, much as our film scores today work.

As a whole, it's a rather odd piece of work, but it's excellent, of course, and it's unique in Beethoven's oveur, so it's definitely worth tracking down.

 

Never heard this; I'll have to place it on ze list, which is getting ze long.

 

I had the pleasure of hearing our city's symphony orchestra perform this piece a number of years ago. It was quite a rousing performance. I was impressed. It's one of those pieces I need to track down on a cd or download from iTunes.

 

81. Daphnis et Chloe (1912) - Maurice Ravel

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 56 MIN

This is ballet Ravel wrote, based of course on the ancient myth of Daphnis and Chloe. It's one of Ravel's longest works.

This is often heard divided into two suites; I've heard the suites and also the original entire ballet. And I still remember nothing. Ravel seems to have that effect on me; sort of like early trance music.

 

Ravel has that effect on me, too. "Bolero" is like white noise; I had no clue about the melody right after I'd heard it.

 

80. Symphony No. 40 (1788) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 27 MIN

By the time you hit number forty, you'd expect to be losing something. Not so; this is probably Mozart's best symphony. It's one of only two (some scholars say three) symphonies Mozart wrote in a minor key.

And this one is tremendous; the opening movement is both one of the most recognisable and one of the most emotional symphonic movements of classical music. It was, I think, Toscanini who remarked that the "forty is great tragedy." I can't help but agree. It's a dark, dense, emotional piece of work.

A masterpiece. Probably should be lower than eighty, to be honest.

 

You mean higher than eighty?

I'd put #40 by Mozart in the top twenty, for sure.

I only know of two minor-key symphonies he wrote, 40 and 25, probably my two favorites of his. (I'm not sure what exactly the 'Odense' symphony is.)

I'd say only this one and Shostakovich's Fifth are the only symphones which rival the great symphonies of Beethoven.

I don't know that I'd call it 'dense', though. Certainly it is tragic, and as such, 'dark', but in parts the strings move briskly and lightly, almost playfully. A feathery darkness, perhaps?

 

*Sigh* Ze list.

 

I'm on vacation at my cousin's house. I was looking through my aunt's collection of CDs for stuff I to rip to my Zune. There wasn't anything besides a few Rolling Stones albums I was interested, but I did discover that she had several CDs in a "Greatest Classical Hits" series. Listening to some classical music is something I've been meaning to do for awhile but never got around to, but never quite did. So I said what the heck and ripped them all. I've got Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, Schubert, Wagner, Dvorak, Chopin, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi.

I just listened to the Mozart symphony that is the current topic. Of course I have nothing to add of any value, though I will say I enjoyed it very much and I had indeed heard it before, several times I think. It seems like one of those songs that's been in countless montages in films.

Alright, sorry to interrupt to thread with this ramble. If anyone has any recommendations by any of the composers I listed, please PM me

 

79. Piano Sonata No. 14 (1801) - Ludwig Van Beethoven

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 15 MIN.

Some years after Beethoven's death, this got the name we all know it by, when a commentator remarked that the first movement was like moonlight on still waters. Thus, the Moonlight Sonata was born.

Frankly, I'm just cracking up over this not even being in the top seventy-five. I'm pretty darn sure it would be in my top ten, definitely in my top fifteen.

The first movement is the most famous and one of the most hauntingly gorgeous compositions ever written. Testament to its greatness is that years of being part of pop culture, appropriated by just about everybody, have not diminished its beauty at all; still gives me cold chills.

Beyond that, however, I even argue that the last two movements are brilliant as well, if not as brilliant.

Also, while we're on the subject, allow me to lament the fact that Beethoven's Pathetique (another top tenner for me) isn't on this list at all. Ah, well.

 

I have heard it, and it is a beautiful piece of music.

 

78. Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra (1945) - Bela Bartok

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 24 MIN.

One of the few works Bartok composed after he fled his native Hungary for the United States. He actually died before it was finished, leaving the orchestrating of the last seventeen measures to a student of his.

I've heard it, but I'm forced to admit that I can't remember a darn thing about it.

 

77. Symphony No. 4 (1916) - Charles Ives

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 32 MINS

This is a symphony, concerned with the great questions of life, Ives has stated, with the "how" and "why" of life. It features an entire chorus and an oversized orchestra. It quotes from fully a dozen songs, mostly religious, including O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Joy to the World and the Watchmen hymn.

It is, for the record, the worst symphony I've ever heard.

Ives is given to grand pronouncements about it being an 'apoethesis' and 'a religous experience.' It is, in fact, half an hour of utter dissonance and chaos.

I'm not opposed to dissonance on principle, but by God, if that's all you have to say, shut up. The hymns are pulled all out of shame and drowned in clamor and the work never coheres into anything other than chaos.

It seems that the stereotype is that twentieth century composers were left little but dissonance; certainly some of them play into this stereotype, Ives more than any of them. But the century also produced Shostakovich and Prokofiev. There's no reason for this kind of idiocy.

I hate to be so violently abusive, but I really despise this work; I forced myself to listen to it four times trying to catch some glimmer of anything other than garbage trucks crashing into each other. I honestly don't think it's there.

What a pain; avoid this one at all costs.

 

Never even *heard* of this guy.

But at least I now know to avoid him if I hear of him.

 

76. Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (1934) - Sergei Rachmaninoff

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 23 MINS

Rachmaninoff is by far the greatest classical pianist of the century. You may recall Caprice No. 9 by Paganini being on our list a little while ago; it's part of a series of 24 caprices. This work is based on the 24th of that series.

This is a series of 24 variations (most of which, I admit, I cannot really hear the connections on) on Paganini's 24th Caprice for Violin. This work is for piano and orchestra.

The eighteenth variation is by far the most famous; it's been featured in films as diverse as Sabrina, Groundhog Day, Ronin and Somewhere in Time. Rachmaninoff himself recognized the appeal of this variation; one story, perhaps apocraphyl, has him stating "this one is for my agent."

But this is a stunning work; it is one of the greatest works for piano and orchestra ever in my opinion, moving across a spectrum of emotions from heartfelt, mournful, stately, joyuous, euphoric. This is brilliant; a great introduction to Rachmaninoff, somewhat more accessible than his piano concertos.

Definitely deserving; should be lower probably. You may not be able to hear the connections immediately (or at all). Mark of the man's genius, I suppose, and the music is brilliant by any standard.

 

Definitely, ze list.

 

75. Symphony of Psalms (1930) - Igor Stravinsky

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 22 MINS

I'm a fan of the Psalms; the King James version has some of the most beautiful language ever in that book of the Bible. And I always like hearing religious texts in Latin; I'm a mystic, but I have something of the soul of the orthodox as well.

But I'm no fan of Stravinsky; he has an incredibly bizarre art theory. He states, explicitly, that is physically impossible for music to express emotion; it is, he argues, sound, while emotion is feeling. He claimed that his Symphony in C, written the year both his wife and daughter died and he suffered a serious illness, has no emotion in it.

Frankly, I question his sanity on this particular issue; what good, exactly, is music then?

Regardless, this is rather forgettable; the three Psalms he's chosen are good ones, but the musical settings leave, in my opinion, much to be desired.

Not worth the time.

 

No fan of Stravinsky, either.

 

74. Gayane (1942) - Aram Khatchaturian

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 1 HR, 21 MIN

Underwent severe rewrites, both in terms of score, in 1952, and, most incredibly, a complete plot rewrite in 1957.

Most famous for the absolutely show stopping Sabre Dance, one of the most bombastic pieces of music ever written. It's a fairly good ballet; I don't recall that much of the rest of it, but I remember enjoying it as I was listening to it.

Sections of it were used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clear and Present Danger and Ice Age 2.

 

I love the Sabre Dance, so I will try to look this up...

 

73. Symphony No. 5 (1902) - Gustav Mahler

AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 70 MIN

Mahler reportedly said after its premiere, "No one understands it. I wish I could conduct it fifty years after my death."

This is probably Mahler's most famous symphony, though probably not his best (I'd give that to the ninth, myself). But it is great. Mahler is experiential; his work is like . . . well, like an experience.

Brilliant work.