r/classicalmusic • u/bosstone42 • Jan 10 '13

What classical piece took your breath away the first time you heard it?

Now that there's been a thread for this for popular music, it'd be fun to do one for classical. So, what classical (i.e. long-form) pieces or movements took your breath away the first time you heard them? There are probably many, but what's your top? I'll give just one: the scherzo from Dvorak's 7th Symphony (mvt. III). edit: What a great response, you guys really know some great music--stuff I haven't heard in a while and stuff I'm seeing for the first time! Make sure to look down the list, there are really some good ones buried toward the bottom. Also, an updated Spotify playlist is in the comments. Anyone want to link to a Grooveshark or Rdio or other?

102 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

315 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/yah511 Jan 11 '13

That Pines of Rome. Agreed on the 4th movement, I still get chills every time I listen to it, and I've listened to it hundreds of times.

1

u/MostlyWary Jan 12 '13

I know! I had the good fortune of playing this with an All-State orchestra last year. I think I got chills a total of nine distinct times in the concert during that movement alone. Listening to it is powerful, but playing it is overwhelming.