Pianophilia

This is the second attempt at a "beautiful" music thread (I hope I'm not being presumptuous by starting it myself).
Just to be clear, this thread is not intended for music that makes you cry because it is so excruciatingly bad, but rather music that impels you to cry because of its emotional power - whether joyous, sorrowful, or some other emotion.
My first offerings are;
Liszt - Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este
Górecki -Symphony No.3 Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Yoshimatsu - Threnody to toki, his Piano concerto Memo Flora along with about a dozen other pieces.
Nishimura - (I'm not sure what the work is called because the CD I have is all in Japanese but you can listen to samples here http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/ ... /1461648_1 As far as I can tell the entire CD is one work. It's difficult to appreciate with just 30 second samples though. His other music is much more avant garde but I can definitely recommend that also.)
Ravel - Piano concerto for the left hand (you know the bit I mean)
Saint-Saëns - Les cloches de Las Palmas No.4 from Etudes Op.111
Scriabin - Prelude No.15 in D flat major from 24 Preludes Op.11
and lots more....

Arjuna wrote:Just to be clear, this thread is not intended for music that makes you cry because it is so excruciatingly bad, but rather music that impels you to cry because of its emotional power - whether joyous, sorrowful, or some other emotion.

Pity - I had a few of the former lined up

Of course, everyone is different, so the emotional effect of music will be different for each person, but for me two pieces stand out:

- the slow movement of the Schubert Piano Sonata in A D959 - Alfred Brendel's performance of this is magical
- Requiem by Maurice Duruflé - I listened to this once in my car on my way home from somewhere or other and almost had to pull over and park until it finished.

Regards
Fred

Bedřich Smetana — Czech Dances II, no.5...

iano wrote:Bedřich Smetana — Czech Dances II, no.5...

Pourquoi? I've read through the piece but it doesn't really affect me in a sad way (remember what I wrote about people being different?)

Regards
Fred

"The little onion"

*sigh*

(my lame humour, apologies...)

fredbucket wrote:

Arjuna wrote:Just to be clear, this thread is not intended for music that makes you cry because it is so excruciatingly bad, but rather music that impels you to cry because of its emotional power - whether joyous, sorrowful, or some other emotion.

Pity - I had a few of the former lined up

"Heart and Soul"?

I'm currently practicing a 2-piano transcription of Finzi's Eclogue with a friend and find it almost unbearably sad. If this continues, I'm going to have to abandon it or get my hormone replacement levels adjusted.

passthesalt wrote:I'm currently practicing a 2-piano transcription of Finzi's Eclogue with a friend and find it almost unbearably sad. If this continues, I'm going to have to abandon it or get my hormone replacement levels adjusted.

Good choice!!!! As an antidote, you could try the finale to Finzi's rather good Cello Concerto - it is extraordinarily life-affirming, and yet he wrote it whilst suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. There are several works by Finzi that could fit in this thread, but not all of his music is sad.

Arjuna wrote:Just to be clear, this thread is not intended for music that makes you cry because it is so excruciatingly bad, but rather music that impels you to cry because of its emotional power - whether joyous, sorrowful, or some other emotion.

There is another type of music that causes strong emotional responses -
that associated with tragic events in ones past. I know this from personal
experience, and now deliberately avoid listening to one famous work for
this reason. I also avoid creating new associations of this type by not
listening to anything if there's an impending unhappy event or a potentially
disastrous one ahead.

rob wrote:

passthesalt wrote:I'm currently practicing a 2-piano transcription of Finzi's Eclogue with a friend and find it almost unbearably sad. If this continues, I'm going to have to abandon it or get my hormone replacement levels adjusted.

Good choice!!!! As an antidote, you could try the finale to Finzi's rather good Cello Concerto - it is extraordinarily life-affirming, and yet he wrote it whilst suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. There are several works by Finzi that could fit in this thread, but not all of his music is sad.

Thanks Rob - I'm not familiar with Finzi's cello concerto and will check it out. I'm amazed he had the energy or motivation to write anything considering his health.