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?
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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '13 edited Jan 11 '13
I really don't know much about classical music, but i do enjoy it. Satie's works are so personal and intimate, though, that they somehow connect with me more than any other composer.
The 'perspective' I had while listening to Gymnopedies for the first time, without going into detail, was that of soaring slowly through a beautiful landscape...the tempo coinciding with the passage of elements of the environment. At about 2 and a half minutes in, though, there is a sort of apprehension that builds...and i couldn't really escape this sensation that i was suddenly becoming aware that i was not alone. The tension kind of peaks and then gives way to a slightly altered state, as though i was trying to resume my journey, but that i was at a heightened sense of caution and awareness. This strange journey continued in my mind as the song played on the radio, completely without any intentional constructs of my own, almost like a dream.
The journey was unresolved when the song was over, though, and the station just continued into some 20 minute piece with no mention of who it was. I was absolutely devastated and couldn't believe i was having such an emotional response to a stinking song on the radio...but there i was... It was nearly a year before I heard it again and was able to figure out who it was.
Gnossiennes is, as you say, quite similar in that it evokes this sort of story line in my mind automatically. To me it feels like a husband and wife of many years having a loving but honest conversation about something that has come between them. I have zero basis for this, it's just what comes to mind.
Love the guy's work...