Your Top 5 Favorite Pieces

[allegroamabile]

Well then, my next ten would probably be (not necessarily in order, but close):
6. Brahms- Violin Sonata No. 2
7. Brahms- Violin Concerto in D major
8. Brahms- String Quintet No. 1 in F major
9. Barber- Symphony No. 2
10. Weber- Missa Sancta No. 1 in E-flat major
11. Glazunov- Symphony No. 3
12. Barber- Violin Concerto, Op. 14
13. Glazunov- Symphony No. 1
14. Borodin- Polovtsian Dances
15. Borodin/Glazunov- Overture to Prince Igor

I like so much music, so it is hard to say, sometimes even painful...

If you haven't noticed, I am not a big opera fan.

[steltz]

If you haven't noticed, I am not a big opera fan.

You're young, give it time. Soaring melodies, lots of drama, fabulous voices, OK so the plots are a bit thin, but . . . . soaring melodies, lots of drama, fabulous voices . . .

[Yagan Kiely]

What are you talking about, kissing a decapitated head is extremely realistic, as are love potions, talking loudly to yourself (without the other person hearing) and putting on a dress and people no noticing.

[sbeckmesser]

When I go to the opera in a dress people do notice, especially since it usually doens't match my beard.

LOL

--Sixtus

[dwil9798]

Since we're all doing this now (I forgot to mention that none of mine are in order):
6. Prokofiev - Lieutenant Kije Suite
7. Prokofiev - Cantata from Alexander Nevsky
8. Berg - Wozzeck
9. Schoenberg - Moses und Aron
10. Stravinsky - The Flood
11. Stravinsky - Agon
12. Stravisnky - Symphony of Psalms
13. Stravinsky - La Sacre du Printemps
14. Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7
15. Schoenberg - A Survivor from Warsaw

[allegroamabile]

I love the march theme from the first movement of Shostakovich's 7th. It's better than Bolero.

[steltz]

Okay, so shoot me -- I'm an ex-symphony orchestra musician and I can't resist the chance to have a go at Bolero (again -- mind you, if I'm repetitive, so is he . . . . . .)


When the audience hears Bolero, they think of Bo Derek and 10 (allegroamabile and KGill, you're too young to remember this so don't sweat it).

When the orchestra hears Bolero, they think of wifely duties . . . .

[allegroamabile]

I'm an ex-symphony orchestra musician and I can't resist the chance to have a go at Bolero

I thought you dislike repetitive music, right?

[steltz]

Yeah, I guess that's the problem, but orchestras in general cringe when they see Bolero on a schedule. Especially since that movie, it has become one of those pieces that managements programme because they are so popular, the concert almost doesn't need to be marketed, apart from advertising the programme. Full house. (Tchaikovsky Bb minor piano concerto is another one of those.)

[Lyle Neff]

There is a parody of Ravel's "Bolero" at the beginning of the movie Serial.

[sbeckmesser]

I used to actively dislike Ravel's Bolero until I heard a live performance, so there's a good reason the halls are filled for it. I also realized then that in a John Cage kinda way, Bolero is as much about the concert-going process as John Cage's deservedly notorious 4'33" (the piece where the player comes out and does nothing for that length of time, the score being marked "tacet"). (Whoops! Did I just violate Cage's copyright by giving it all away?) Even Ravel admitted that Bolero has little "music" in it. But it is all about sitting for minutes on end, patiently, not talking, watching a conductor conduct a constant triangular 3/4 beat, much like a hypnotist swinging a watch. Then this near catatonic state, made all the more heavy by the steadily growing orchestration, is suddenly and rudely jolted by that lurch into E major towards the end. Think of it as a very drawn out Surprise symphony, the surprise of which, as Haydn said in almost in so many words, is also about being at a concert (i.e. you need to experience it in a live concert context in order for it to make its intended effect).

But as much as I like Bolero -- and only in live performance as it always falls flat for me in recordings -- it stil wouldn't appear on even my top 30 favorite pieces. As a piece of minimalist music, Steve Reich's masterpiece Music for 18 Musicians would rank far higher, probably in the 20s. If you ever get a chance to see and hear a live performance of this work, I highly recommened it as being far superior to experiencing it through even the best recordings.

--Sixtus

[Deinonychus]

I heard Bolero live for the first time on Monday night and I have to admit that I did fall in love with the piece. It is amazing how even a piece one knows really well can blow you away when you hear it live.

[steltz]

Speaking of live performances changing a view, the local Mayor used to have to attend the concerts every week. Some of them loved music anyway, so this wasn't a burden for them. But one of the mayors disliked contemporary music, and as luck would have it, during her tenure, we programmed the Rite of Spring.

She came to me at the reception afterward and said she initially thought she was going to hate it, but found the visual "goings on" fascinating, and ended up loving the performance.

I don't think she went out and bought a CD, though . . . .

[Melodia]

I imagine part of the problem with Bolero is that it's simply played so much -- I've read that it is in fact the most performed orchestral piece (or possibly classical music period), with a performance taking place an average of once a day somewhere around the world.

[sbeckmesser]

Then there are those pieces that are so well known that few conductors program them to prevent being thought of as a warhorse-only conductor. For example, in more than 30 years of concert-going (mainly in NYC and Boston), think I've heard Haydn's Surprise Symphony only twice! There are some other of Haydn's London Symphonies that I've never heard live (like 93, 98 and 99) or only once (96 and 97). Brahms' Academic Festival Overture is another extremely popular work I've only heard live once. Perhaps concert promoters (mistakenly) think it's only worthy of youth orchestras. On the other hand, and even though I love the piece, I think that Mahler's 1st Symphony is programmed far too often, and by conductors and orchestras not fully up to its many challenges.

--Sixtus