What is currently your favorite piece of music?

Beethoven's Ninth 2nd Movement (Thunderstorm as I like to call it). It has so many wonderful things about it. Its start with little drops of rain, but forceful none the less. Then more rain and more until its pouring out and thunder roars and lightning strikes. The storm lets up but it isn't to last. After much singing of birds and drops of rain falling from the leaves of trees a few drops of rain fall from the sky and then suddenly with deafening effect thunder as the sky opens up and a tremendous downpour of rain begins, the droplets beating against the ground...and that's just the first 2 min basically. Love it so much :)

John Schmidts "All of Me"

Schubert's "Impromptu in Gb, Op. 90 No. 3"

Schubert's "Impromptu in Ab Op. 142 No. 2"

Schubert's "Impromptu in Ab Op. 90 No. 4"

Mozart's "Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major"

Mozart's "Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major"

Eric Whitacre's "Sleep"

David Child's "I am not Yours"

Right now, my favorite piece from the classical realm is Beethoven's "Gro

Haydn - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:49

Hmmm

All I've heard lately is Bruckner 9, so I guess that's my fav.

The very first 4 measures Mozart wrote after he died.

Hope for Resolution. It is simply a gorgeous piece when all parts are together.

My current favorite piece is Fun

As of right now Im heavily Plowing through Paul Hindermith Compositions (I ordered his Meamorfosis sinfonica, and his Sinfon

BRUCKNER 9!!!!

OMG IT'S STILL MY FAVORITE :P

BRUCKNER 9!!!!

OMG IT'S STILL MY FAVORITE :P

Probably because it's still playing since your last post.

Hmmm . . . My favorite lately . . . has to be "The Planets" by Gustav Holst, my favorite movements being Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, in that order.

Chopin's first Ballade, you cannot beat that!

Still... Holst Mercury.

Such a perfect little piece.

Steve Reich- New York Counterpoint

Philip Glass- Metamorphoses

Peter Broderick- Music for Falling Trees

BRUCKNER SYMPH. 0

OMG

(As you can tell, I'm in a Bruckner mode..and have been for a while :rolleyes:)

Varese - Ameriques. Makes Rite of Spring sound like a kitten purring in comparison.

Overkill, IMO....

and its influence from Rite is painfully obvious.

Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto in C minor

AND

Liszt's 3 Concert Etudes.

Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto in C minor

AND

Liszt's 3 Concert Etudes.

My father played Mozart's 24th piano concerto

One of the few pieces of Mozart I would listen to again :excl:

Easily my favorite piece right now. So awesome...I will learn to play this before I die.

Hamelin does an excellent job. Jack Gibbons version is very good as well.

Alkan - Concerto for Solo Piano

Overkill, IMO....

and its influence from Rite is painfully obvious.

They're actually not as alike as they appear to be. Most of their similarities are pretty superficial really. Sure, they're both highly dissonant, feature uncommon orchestration for the time that put far more emphasis on the brass and woodwind sections, and are very rhythmically complex. But that's about it.

For one, Rite of Spring is "tonal" while Ameriques really isn't at all. Well, Rite of Spring is more bi-tonal but it's clear just from looking at the score that Stravinsky was still very much thinking in keys. Melodies and chord anatomy has a strong reflection of tonality in it. In contrast, Ameriques is pretty much entirely "atonal". Quartal harmony is emphasized above all else and, other than some small melodic fragments, there really is no implication of tonality at all.

Which brings it to another large difference between the works: Rite of Spring is heavily melodic while Ameriques really is not at all. Not only is the handling of material completely different but even the very construction of it in the first place. Rite of Spring often builds entire sections off of one melody and perhaps some surrounding motives as well. You really don't have to look past the introduction of Rite to see this. The entire section is, more or less, based off that opening bassoon solo. Granted, it's manipulated heavily but it's still very much there. For a sharp contrast, you really don't have to look further than Ameriques introduction as well. It's debatable whether you can even call the opening bars of Ameriques a "melody". It's more a melodic fragment that consistently interrupts itself than a full-fledged melody (in the traditional sense). This is purely personal opinion but it really sounds more like a "signal" to me than a melody both in sound and application. As the work goes along, the opening fragment becomes heard less and less until it vanishes from the piece entirely. Once the entire basis for the piece, it gets reduced to only sounding at significant structural changes in the work.

Also, as far as melodic treatment goes, Rite of Spring is, more or less, through-composed. Once a section ends and another begins, the preceeding melodic material, more or less, vanishes entirely. Sometimes, Stravinsky will re-use melodic material at the start of the new section as sort of a way of bridging the gap between harsh contrasts but there are no recurring themes/motifs that appear throughout the work. Ameriques, on the other hand, is built entirely off the concept of recurring motives/gestures. With few liberties, the entire work is based off the first four or so minutes of the piece. From there, variation is created simply by manipulation/juxtaoposition of various gestures.

I even see their very purpose and construction as totally different. Rite of Spring attempts to evoke feelings of primitiveness; a savage sacrificial ritual in pagan Russia. There is a heavy emphasis on folk-like melodies and rhythms to evoke feelings of this. Stravinsky wanted to scare and shock people. He thought it would frighten people. Ameriques attempts to do something entirely different. According to the composer himself, Ameriques was intended to be an exploration into new sonic realms. It's meant to be adventurous and unpredictable. The more I listen to Ameriques, the more I think Varese wasn't trying to scare people. The extreme dissonance and explosions in volume, I don't think were meant to shock people, but simply were meant as an exploration in new sound constructions/relationships. This can also be exemplified in the large amount of "non-traditional" instruments Varese called for in the score; the police siren being the most prominent. But you can also find the lion's roar, wind machine, and boat whistle. While Stravinsky drew inspiration from the primal simplicity and violence of ancient Russia, Varese drew influence from (the then) modern day New York; in all its complexity. I don't think Varese intended Ameriques to be violent; it's simply how he heard New York City.

They're actually not as alike as they appear to be. Most of their similarities are pretty superficial really. Sure, they're both highly dissonant, feature uncommon orchestration for the time that put far more emphasis on the brass and woodwind sections, and are very rhythmically complex. But that's about it.

You left out the most significant similarities; particularly in the introduction. Stravinskian solo wind figures, layered ostinatos, similar treatment of the orchestra, harmonic similarities (not everything in this work is without a tonal center)...

Of course they are different pieces of music--but the influences are heavy and obvious, especially in the introduction. There are very few that would argue this.

You made some great observations about Ameriques, but the introduction is what gives each piece, and each composer his or her identity. And to me, and many others, Varese took Stravinky's identity.

You made some great observations about Ameriques, but the introduction is what gives each piece, and each composer his or her identity. And to me, and many others, Varese took Stravinky's identity.

Well, this statement is hard enough to buy just in consideration of Rite of Spring versus Ameriques but impossible when taking into account their entire bodies of work.

Listen to some late Varese like Deserts or Nocturnal and tell me there are any similarities between Varese and Stravinsky.

Also, I'm not sure where you are going with the "intentions" thing. Stravinsky was just as interested in new, other-wordly relationships as Varese. I highly doubt Stravinsky's only purpose was to shock people, nor am I buying that Varese wasn't interested in shocking people.