10 Piano Sonata No 8 (Pathetique) Beethoven Gorgeous melodies, daring
modulations, subtle textures, typical Beethoven. See my Pop songs list
for another appearance of the slow movement of this wonderful sonata
9 Piano Concerto No 2 Sergey Rachmaninov Extravagant, hyper-emotional,
intense. Music lovers of subtlety say the Third and Fourth concertos
run rings around this one. Their problem is they've heard the Second
so many times and, though they admire it, they can't escape the
uncomfortable feeling that it's a bit vulgar. But it's just the stuff
for a sentimentalist like me. On one occasion I was the support act
for a folk duo. I did some folk, pop and novelty songs on piano and
guitar, but threw in an excerpt from the piano solo in the last
movement of this concerto. Not really to Rubinstein's standard, but I
bet he never played it beside works by Neil Young and Ralph McTell.
8 Enigma Variations Elgar I've chosen this because it's so English.
Predictably my favorite is Nimrod, which, like the preceding entry,
majors on emotion. It has the famous Romantic tone-poem profile:
emerging almost imperceptibly from silence, slow crescendo to huge
climax then quickly dying. It's in 3/4 too, which must pull some extra
emotional strings. But explanation takes you only so far. It's
sublime. Here's a page on the people portrayed in the Enigma
Variations, and here's one on the enigma itself. Personally, I go for
the theory that the hidden theme is Rule Britannia but this is
probably more a demonstration of perceptual set than reason. The first
time I heard this theory, I noticed that you can sing "Never, never,
ne...." from Rule Britannia's chorus to the first few notes of the
opening theme (in Nimrod too). Now I can't shake the association.
7 Ninth Symphony, "From The New World" Antonin Dvorak Dvorak's gift
was to weave his own patterns in the cloth of indigenous music. Just
as he earlier drew on the melodic and rhythmic nuances of Czech folk
music, here he adopted American scales and rhythms within a
classical/romantic european frame. But all the melodies are his, even
the Hovis-advert theme in the second movement, which, rather than
being a traditional spiritual, became one retroactively through
popular misunderstanding. Whether tapping into some subconscious
musical cues, or just persuaded by the title, I have always associated
this work with the American landscape. Strangely, though, in my mind
picture, it's always raining. Perhaps Dvorak's european melancholia is
the real attraction of the piece.
6 Sixth Symphony (Pathetique) Pyotr Illiyich Tchaikovsky The first
movement is a display of composerly virtuosity with clever melodies,
developments and modulations, but the really great part is the ending,
which is unexpected and strangely haunting. I like the funky 5/4
movement, though I wouldn't go an adjective further than funky. A
remarkably clever and exciting third movement: Here's a description.
But the last has a profound emotional resonance for me, and perhaps
should pull this one higher up my list.
5 Fifth Symphony Beethoven Beethoven's fifth manages to survive two
levels of over-popularity. First, it's better known overall than just
about anything else he wrote. Though it's one of his best, that's
probably an undeserved imbalance, and lists like this do nothing to
help. Second, there are many times more people who recognize the first
few phrases of the first movement than recognize the rest (despite the
ubiquitous rhythmic motif). Yet the second and fourth movements are
the truly wonderful parts of the work, the latter emerging glorious
from a moody undertow not once, but twice. The ambiguous nature of the
final movement -- emphatic yet backtracking -- gives it a fascination
and intensity that exceed the simple joy of the ninth symphony. Even
the coda stutters at first.
4 Messiah Handel Easily my favorite choral work. Some gorgeous
melodies. The tonic chord with the seventh in the bass a few bars from
the end of the Amen chorus always sends a shiver down my spine. I
prefer Malcolm Sargent's Mozart-like arrangements to a "authentic"
version. I'm sure Handel would have used a lot more noise if he'd had
it. Also, I find the more authentic the version, the more determined
they are to get through pieces like Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings
to Zion at light speed.
3 Jesu, joy of man's desiring Bach Balance of choir and instrument,
harmony and melody. Musical perfection.
2 Sixth Symphony Beethoven Another Beethoven hit. Masterful first
movement, gorgeous second (I even like the bird noises). Best storm
music ever, despite the annoying piccolo. Final movement wonderful.
1 Cantique de Jean Racine Faure Breathtakingly beautiful. In French or
English.
(taken from http://www.intuac.com/cgi-bin/topten.cgi?0)
