Top Ten Pieces of Music Written Before 1900

Me ^ | 12-05-01 | Pharmboy

[Pharmboy]

Ask the question this way: If you were stranded on a desert island with a CD player and a good sound system, what ten pieces would you take with you that were written before the 20th Century?

My list:
1) Beethoven's Appassionata sonata for piano
2) Bach's Partita Number 2 for solo violin
3) Mozart's Symphony Number 41
4) Wagner's Overture to Tristan und Isolde
5) Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 131
6) Chopin's Ballade Number 4
7) Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (IMO the only worthwhile thing he ever wrote)
8) Schubert's Impromptus (all of them)
9) Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata
and 10) Bach's Mass in B Minor

[1 FELLOW FREEPER]

Agreed.

[T'wit]

> She's got these tiny little hands. Tiny!

I know, I know. SHE is tiny. Just amazing.

The lady has a surprising conservative connection in that she was "discovered" in this country by William F. Rickenbacker, then a senior editor of National Review. A concert-level pianist himself, he announced in an NR review that de Larrocha was undoubtedly the finest pianist in the world. Her concert career here took off after that. Rickenbacker and Bill Buckley (Spanish speaker, tolerable harpsichord player) became good friends with her. One of them said somewhere that Alicia could knock down a bottle of good red wine for lunch, then do a concert that evening without a missed note.

[T'wit]

Snorf!

[Wm Bach]

Bill Buckley (Spanish speaker, tolerable harpsichord player)

I wonder if William Buckley still has those Bach Parties at his house, where they drink too much and many of the guests take turns cranking out fugues.

[T'wit]

> thats the truth in my case, and I am eternally grateful.

Amen to that. Nowadays, just about the only places kids CAN hear any classical music is in the old cartoons, a few old movies and a few commercials.

[T'wit]

Can't say, but he has a very long history of presenting top performers at National Review events. For instance, Rosalyn Turek played at several anniversary banquets. His father treated the ten Buckley kids to interesting concerts at their home in Sharon, CT -- famously, Fats Waller concerts in the garage!

[Wm Bach]

Sharon? Hey, I'm not too far from there. He should invite me over to play some original (i.e. ripped off styles from others) compositions so I can be famous and drink too much wine.

Fats was great, but Art Tatum, to borrow a phrase from the movie Amadeus played "too many notes." No one comes close.

[Cacique]

bookmark bump

[wozzeck]

Sure, Mahler #5-9 are worth listening to. Any decent musicologist will tell you that Mahler #1 ends with the last movement of #9. He wrote them so that one leads to the next, so if you stop at #4 you're kind of missing the point.

[Marysecretary]

Have you heard "Mary Did You Know?" It's a beautiful Christmas song. I think Mark Lowry was one of the composers. It's fast becoming a classic Christmas carol.

[WSGilcrest]

bump for the gnuts

[Marysecretary]

My husband LOVES Sousa's music and laments that it's rarely played in parades any more. Lots of modern music from movies, plays, etc., but NO SOUSA!

[Cool Guy]

BUMP!

[Marysecretary]

Edvard Grieg wrote Hall of the Mountain King, one of my favorites. I love Ave Maria, especially sung by Perry Como. A real tear jerker.

[Republicus2001]

the Verdi Requiem would be all I'd need...

[Marysecretary]

And don't forget Handel's Messiah. He wrote that in about 23 days, as I recall (hearing, that is). I wasn't really THERE at the time but have sung it in different chorales a number of times. Love it.

[ecurbh]

For me, there is no other music in the world better than the first movement of Mahler's 9th. Never fails to reduce me to tears.

Excuse me, I have a date with my CD player now...

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Do you really like Mozart's Symphony # 41 more than his Symphony # 25? I would put # 25 at the top of my list. Except for maybe J.S. Bach's String quartet in B flat for oboe d'amour.

[B Knotts]

Cave 76 anthem:

"Let 'em all go to hell, except Cave 76."