Classical Recommendations


Hey Er'Body! (anybody recognize the "phrase"?)

Can anyone suggest some really powerful classical pieces that really blow you away when turned up?  Of course there's the overture but more than just the raw sound.  The way the music hits you with certain melodic changes for example.  The kind of thing you feel like you've worked out after listening to.  The bigger the dynamic range the better...again of course right?  lol

Thanks in advance!

bbarten

Mahler symphonies - there are always such movements - in the early days of stereo a common rallying cry was "Mahler was made for hi-fi".

Verdi Requiem - the Dies Irae.

The last movement of Beethoven's 9th.  Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique.

If I might change the mood, the wonder of "classical" music is that every feeling and emotion can be found.  For me the single most profound 15 minutes in music is the Molto Adagio - Heiliger dankgesang of Beethoven's op. 132 quartet in A minor.  Every emotion is explored in this movement, melancholy, joy, hope, despair, thankfulness and anger.  The Alban Berg recording on Qobuz is outstanding, do listen when feeling reflective!

The greatest music can blow you away even when quiet.

 

 

 

 

Beethoven's 9th symphony, Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Bach B Minor Mass, Raphael Pichon and Pygmalion 

Shostakovich 10th symphony, Kirill Petrenko and Berliner Philharmonic

 

A contemporary piece by composer Arturo Marquez called "Fandango". It is actually a violin concerto, and was commissioned by Anne Akiko Meyers. Premiered in 2021 by her and the L.A. Philharmonic. The album is of the same name, featuring Meyers and the L.A. Phil. IMO perhaps the best classical composition of this century. 

Fandango | LA Phil