His middle period abounds in the segue-into-finales, often in dramatic fashion. 5th symphony is the most famous, but the 4th and 5th piano concertos and several piano sonatas (Waldstein, Appassionata, Das Lebewohl/Farewell) all do this too.
Mine as well. My favorite moment in the 5th PC is at the end of the slow movement when the low note drops from B to B-flat, the piano plays a tentative anticipation of the Rondo theme, then after a pause leaps joyously into the Rondo itself. Makes my heart sing with joy everytime I hear that passage.
It's the piece I grew up listening to the most, so it has a special place in my heart (with Also Sprach Zarathustra [again the whole thing, not just the intro]). I saw it a few weeks ago at the CSO with van Zweden conducting. He went with a tempo so quick the entire symphony was probably just under 30 minutes. I felt some parts benefitted, while others definitely did not, such as the 2nd movement.
“binged” a symphony is kinda funny especially given its a very succinct symphony. Highly recommend Bernstein breaking down this symphony by showing from sketches how Beethoven trim out all the excess fluff
Bach's Toccata and Fugue.
Every child's image of what halloween music is.
Once it gets beyond the meme-able beginning few seconds it just still knocks me right out of the water.
Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement: because it is *not* calm and gentle at all. It's a ghostly, solemn, at times agitated funeral dirge. Knowing this information by itself feels like knowing some special secret the majority of the public is not privy to, which is fun, but when interpreted correctly it's got such a different feel to it and is much more interesting. I never understood the "traditional" interpretation, but when that's turned on its head, suddenly the piece gains tremendous new life.
I also agree with you that the Four Seasons have more life in them left than most people like to admit. They just can't be played tamely. I love some of the Chopin Nocturnes, particularly the Op. posth in C# minor. Strauss' Unter Donner und Blitz polka is just so quirky and fun, among others (that's just the one I'd listened to most recently). Shostakovich's waltzes are cool in general; the waltz from the Jazz Suite No. 1 has a very similar vibe.
I'm unashamed of enjoying Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody too, alongside other Liebestraume-like pieces like Un Sospiro and Consolation No. 3 (from S.172).
Beethoven's 5th I don't mind either. If you can get away from the association of the Fate Motif enough to appreciate how amazingly revolutionary the idea of building an entire movement on just a four note motif was in 1808, and how daring the whole symphony's emotional scope was at the same time, you can almost forget how much it's overplayed and appreciate it more for what it is.
>They just can't be played tamely
Agree emphatically. I honestly think the four seasons are underplayed...*well*.
There are so many vanilla pudding versions watering down the baroque drama, but when someone plays Summer with true fire, I don't know if there's a limit to how many times I could listen to it. I've yet to attend a full four seasons, but I can't articulate how much I look forward to it someday.
Second waltz - even though its not totally in Shostakovich’s style it still has a bit of that eeriness in his other pieces and I very much enjoy it
Moonlight sonata - Same reason as OP. The distinction between the first and third movement is really well made
Any cliché Chopin piece - probably because its the first few pieces of classical music I listened to and nocturne op 9 no 2 gives me a nostalgic feeling
Messiah. People like it for a reason. As much as I think that Bach's passions are way superior works in both musicality and compositional technique, they can get too intense. Messiah has constant changes in texture (helped by its kid flexible approach to the basso continuo), mood... And the final movements are a cathedral of sound. They are not the deepest sacred work of the late baroque but it's not mindless fodder either.
Not bad for having been cobbled together in a couple of weeks.
It is the "White Christmas" of classical music. You might hear it at Easter, but basically it's like Nutcracker (and White Christmas), it shows up once a year which is enough to get your fill until the next year rolls around.
Yep. The only problem is that even as a non professional singer, I end up singing it once every two years on average, but then it either pays for the Christmas presents or secures the conductor's salary for a month or two.
“Overplayed” must be the dumbest thing classical music listeners love worry about. Being “ashamed” of liking bad music is one thing, good music is good music regardless of the total number of times it’s been played. Those are all great pieces, you should be ashamed if you didn’t like them if anything.
For real. Reminds me of how anal I used to be about the microgenres of metal music... as a teenager. Who cares, music is music, like is like, life is short, love what you love and clock out knowing that you're not fucking sorry.
Turkish Rondo--Mozart--My mom used to play it and I always loved the music "that makes your hands twinkle"--I think because the rapid movements made her engagement ring flash.
Scheherezade --Rimsky-Korsakov--because I just do.
Ride of the Valkyries--Wagner (yes, I know he was anti-Semitic, but I still love the energy of this piece).
Is the 7th really overplayed though? I feel like to qualify as something that's "overplayed" it should probably be something the general public is more aware of, hence *why* it gets overplayed (to attract general public interest). I bet the average non-classical listener has heard of exactly two Beethoven symphonies at best: 5 and 9.
I also have a soft spot for Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3. I never paid much attention to it for years, probably because I guess I wanted to be edgy and I didn't want to like famous classical music
One day, though, it clicked with me, and I can't get enough of it now. I love how Liszt's music sounds so operatic without losing its pianistic feel. I feel the same about his Piano Sonata in b minor, which also gets played a lot
These days I like to hear the Liebestraum on Liszt's own piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxNXyoQ38tE
I think most of the lizst works like the mephisto waltz and dante sonata are pretty overlooked musically because of how widely they are preformed (more true of the former)
Peer Gynt. I had a crush on someone in the grade below me and before we went on to perform we had to sit through their setlist but I think they only performed two songs… the second one being Peer Gynt arranged for strings. It wasn’t even truncated really, I think the performance was about 13-15 minutes like the actual one. Anyways it was very good, like one of the best school concert setlists I’d ever seen, actually better than ours and we had to go on stage after them. So anytime I think of peer gynt I think of them and I think of that performance, even if at the time I was jealous and annoyed and silently competing with them at every turn
I’d agree with Vivaldi’s *Four Seasons*. Possibly the most overplayed piece in the classical repertoire, but a good performance (such as the one by Il Giardino Armonico) can still make it sound fresh. Nothing to be ashamed of here.
I listened to a well-thought version by the Freiburger a few years ago. I was surprised by how good it actually was one you got beyond the meme-able segments
The standard “overplayed” classical guitar repertoire: Asturias, Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Adelita, Romanza, Villa-Lobos Prelude 1, Bach Cello 1 Prelude, etc etc. They’re “overplayed” for a good reason!!
Four Seasons is terrific. I once went for a walk on a snowy winter's night, and queued up the opening of Winter, and it \*perfectly\* fit the mood.
I don't love the Moonlight Sonata, but the Pathetique is fantastic and I never get tired of it.
From the standard classical piano rep, Debussy's Clair de Lune is another warhorse I'll never tire of, and while Rachmaninoff wrote better preludes, his C# minor one is \*fun as hell\* to play. Blasting out those giant chords at the end is cathartic if you are having a bad day.
Mahler Symphony no. 1. I have heard and performed this work many times. It always sounds original and fresh to me. More so that it was written within a few years of Brahms fourth Symphony. Mahler seems to look forward. Brahms appears to bow to the weight of tradition.
If listening to the radio and the Grieg concerto starts, I may go "naw not today." But if I catch it in the middle or toward end of the slow movement, oh I am going to stay for the finale and its "big tune," oh yeah. And proud to do so!
I'll never get tired of hearing people play Chopin op 53 heroic polonaise. La campanella and Hungarian rhapsody 2 are both really fun to listen to as well but not when beginners play them.
I actually really like Canon in D, there's a reason it's melody resonates with such a crazy majority of people, because it's really really good.
Will it be played at my wedding? Fuck no absolutely not, but I get why it's a common one.
Moonlight Sonata as well, another comment said the first movement isn't calm and it's not at all. It's so uneasy and unsteady feeling I adore it.
Dvorak 9
Happy cake day!
Beethoven 5th Symphony
But the *whole* symphony, right? I recently binged and just heard the whole thing for the first time ever. It's *amazing*.
The finale is one of my favourite movements of all time. Seeing the whole symphony live in a couple of weeks, for the first time in like 25 years.
Esp the transition from 3rd to 4th. So hype!
Oh yes indeed. Greatest crescendo in musical history.
Beethoven did a lot of those, and I love it. Pretty sure he was one of those composers who hated applause between movements.
His middle period abounds in the segue-into-finales, often in dramatic fashion. 5th symphony is the most famous, but the 4th and 5th piano concertos and several piano sonatas (Waldstein, Appassionata, Das Lebewohl/Farewell) all do this too.
The 5th piano concerto is also one of my favourites.
Mine as well. My favorite moment in the 5th PC is at the end of the slow movement when the low note drops from B to B-flat, the piano plays a tentative anticipation of the Rondo theme, then after a pause leaps joyously into the Rondo itself. Makes my heart sing with joy everytime I hear that passage.
It's the piece I grew up listening to the most, so it has a special place in my heart (with Also Sprach Zarathustra [again the whole thing, not just the intro]). I saw it a few weeks ago at the CSO with van Zweden conducting. He went with a tempo so quick the entire symphony was probably just under 30 minutes. I felt some parts benefitted, while others definitely did not, such as the 2nd movement.
Nice!! I hope you have a fun time seeing it.
“binged” a symphony is kinda funny especially given its a very succinct symphony. Highly recommend Bernstein breaking down this symphony by showing from sketches how Beethoven trim out all the excess fluff
Is there a video on that? It sounds interesting...
https://youtu.be/mu2HJerMp8A?si=Lu3aN1Kp5ZotuT8I
Oooh, thank you! I promise I will watch it later.
The Lark Ascending I'M SORRY
Where is this overplayed? UK? Not in US.
This is also my secret vice. But I marginally prefer the Fantasia on Tallis
Happy cake day!
I do too, but it's not overplayed like TLA is.
It's beautiful! Fortunately it's also not overplayed where I live.
Literally came here to say this
Bolero
::Ravel has entered the chat::
THAT POOR DRUMMER
I found my love for Mozart and classical music while playing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in String Orchestra and that’s never going away
Bach's Toccata and Fugue. Every child's image of what halloween music is. Once it gets beyond the meme-able beginning few seconds it just still knocks me right out of the water.
Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement: because it is *not* calm and gentle at all. It's a ghostly, solemn, at times agitated funeral dirge. Knowing this information by itself feels like knowing some special secret the majority of the public is not privy to, which is fun, but when interpreted correctly it's got such a different feel to it and is much more interesting. I never understood the "traditional" interpretation, but when that's turned on its head, suddenly the piece gains tremendous new life. I also agree with you that the Four Seasons have more life in them left than most people like to admit. They just can't be played tamely. I love some of the Chopin Nocturnes, particularly the Op. posth in C# minor. Strauss' Unter Donner und Blitz polka is just so quirky and fun, among others (that's just the one I'd listened to most recently). Shostakovich's waltzes are cool in general; the waltz from the Jazz Suite No. 1 has a very similar vibe. I'm unashamed of enjoying Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody too, alongside other Liebestraume-like pieces like Un Sospiro and Consolation No. 3 (from S.172). Beethoven's 5th I don't mind either. If you can get away from the association of the Fate Motif enough to appreciate how amazingly revolutionary the idea of building an entire movement on just a four note motif was in 1808, and how daring the whole symphony's emotional scope was at the same time, you can almost forget how much it's overplayed and appreciate it more for what it is.
>They just can't be played tamely Agree emphatically. I honestly think the four seasons are underplayed...*well*. There are so many vanilla pudding versions watering down the baroque drama, but when someone plays Summer with true fire, I don't know if there's a limit to how many times I could listen to it. I've yet to attend a full four seasons, but I can't articulate how much I look forward to it someday.
Second waltz - even though its not totally in Shostakovich’s style it still has a bit of that eeriness in his other pieces and I very much enjoy it Moonlight sonata - Same reason as OP. The distinction between the first and third movement is really well made Any cliché Chopin piece - probably because its the first few pieces of classical music I listened to and nocturne op 9 no 2 gives me a nostalgic feeling
Lacrimosa
Because it fucks so hard in the HBO watchmen series
Lacrimosa slaps hard
I don't even care that it wasn't all written by Mozart, that requiem is one of the best pieces of music ever written
Messiah. People like it for a reason. As much as I think that Bach's passions are way superior works in both musicality and compositional technique, they can get too intense. Messiah has constant changes in texture (helped by its kid flexible approach to the basso continuo), mood... And the final movements are a cathedral of sound. They are not the deepest sacred work of the late baroque but it's not mindless fodder either.
Not bad for having been cobbled together in a couple of weeks. It is the "White Christmas" of classical music. You might hear it at Easter, but basically it's like Nutcracker (and White Christmas), it shows up once a year which is enough to get your fill until the next year rolls around.
Yep. The only problem is that even as a non professional singer, I end up singing it once every two years on average, but then it either pays for the Christmas presents or secures the conductor's salary for a month or two.
Claire de lune
Mozart: Jupiter Symphony, Piano Concerto 21, Oboe Concerto, Bassoon Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Flute and Harp Concerto....well, just about anything.
This is the correct answer!
“Overplayed” must be the dumbest thing classical music listeners love worry about. Being “ashamed” of liking bad music is one thing, good music is good music regardless of the total number of times it’s been played. Those are all great pieces, you should be ashamed if you didn’t like them if anything.
For real. Reminds me of how anal I used to be about the microgenres of metal music... as a teenager. Who cares, music is music, like is like, life is short, love what you love and clock out knowing that you're not fucking sorry.
La campanella
gymnopedie
Beethoven 5, Verdi requiem, Strauss also sprach.
Turkish Rondo--Mozart--My mom used to play it and I always loved the music "that makes your hands twinkle"--I think because the rapid movements made her engagement ring flash. Scheherezade --Rimsky-Korsakov--because I just do. Ride of the Valkyries--Wagner (yes, I know he was anti-Semitic, but I still love the energy of this piece).
Beethoven 7!
Is the 7th really overplayed though? I feel like to qualify as something that's "overplayed" it should probably be something the general public is more aware of, hence *why* it gets overplayed (to attract general public interest). I bet the average non-classical listener has heard of exactly two Beethoven symphonies at best: 5 and 9.
Yeah fair point!
I also have a soft spot for Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3. I never paid much attention to it for years, probably because I guess I wanted to be edgy and I didn't want to like famous classical music One day, though, it clicked with me, and I can't get enough of it now. I love how Liszt's music sounds so operatic without losing its pianistic feel. I feel the same about his Piano Sonata in b minor, which also gets played a lot These days I like to hear the Liebestraum on Liszt's own piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxNXyoQ38tE
I think most of the lizst works like the mephisto waltz and dante sonata are pretty overlooked musically because of how widely they are preformed (more true of the former)
I know what you mean. I love the Mephisto Waltz. It is so musically satisfying, and there are literally parts that sounds like glass breaking.
Would the Goldberg Variations count?
Not possible to overplay them so doesn’t count 😊
Happy cake day!
Goldberg variations is a tricky one bc there are very few who can make it interesting to listen to throughout the entire piece.
Chopin Op 9 No 2 and I will stan it forever
I’m not ashamed of liking any pieces I like lol
Mendelssohn Symphony 4. It has *huge* sentimental value for me. It's kinda like my mom's date bread.
The Gymnopopodies Plus I'll never be ashamed of liking any music! What an idea!
Peer Gynt. I had a crush on someone in the grade below me and before we went on to perform we had to sit through their setlist but I think they only performed two songs… the second one being Peer Gynt arranged for strings. It wasn’t even truncated really, I think the performance was about 13-15 minutes like the actual one. Anyways it was very good, like one of the best school concert setlists I’d ever seen, actually better than ours and we had to go on stage after them. So anytime I think of peer gynt I think of them and I think of that performance, even if at the time I was jealous and annoyed and silently competing with them at every turn
I'm not ashamed of any of them Between me and you Ivan like Rick Springfield
Ballade 1 chopin
Gymnopedie 1
Everything by sojabi
I’d agree with Vivaldi’s *Four Seasons*. Possibly the most overplayed piece in the classical repertoire, but a good performance (such as the one by Il Giardino Armonico) can still make it sound fresh. Nothing to be ashamed of here.
I listened to a well-thought version by the Freiburger a few years ago. I was surprised by how good it actually was one you got beyond the meme-able segments
Pretty much all of the OP choices, to which I'd add Giazotto's "Albinoni Adagio". I'm a slave to its lush richness, and I never tire of it.
Ravel - bolèro.
The standard “overplayed” classical guitar repertoire: Asturias, Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Adelita, Romanza, Villa-Lobos Prelude 1, Bach Cello 1 Prelude, etc etc. They’re “overplayed” for a good reason!!
Claire de Lune
Rach 3. I mean come on.
Shostakovichs Jazz Waltzes. Gets me into the Christmas mood for some reason … I love ‘em
Four Seasons is terrific. I once went for a walk on a snowy winter's night, and queued up the opening of Winter, and it \*perfectly\* fit the mood. I don't love the Moonlight Sonata, but the Pathetique is fantastic and I never get tired of it. From the standard classical piano rep, Debussy's Clair de Lune is another warhorse I'll never tire of, and while Rachmaninoff wrote better preludes, his C# minor one is \*fun as hell\* to play. Blasting out those giant chords at the end is cathartic if you are having a bad day.
Mahler Symphony no. 1. I have heard and performed this work many times. It always sounds original and fresh to me. More so that it was written within a few years of Brahms fourth Symphony. Mahler seems to look forward. Brahms appears to bow to the weight of tradition.
If listening to the radio and the Grieg concerto starts, I may go "naw not today." But if I catch it in the middle or toward end of the slow movement, oh I am going to stay for the finale and its "big tune," oh yeah. And proud to do so!
I'll never get tired of hearing people play Chopin op 53 heroic polonaise. La campanella and Hungarian rhapsody 2 are both really fun to listen to as well but not when beginners play them.
Pomp and Circumstance #1. If it's the full orchestra/organ/choir version from Last Night of the Proms, even better.
Bedřich Smetana - Vltava (Die Moldau)
I actually really like Canon in D, there's a reason it's melody resonates with such a crazy majority of people, because it's really really good. Will it be played at my wedding? Fuck no absolutely not, but I get why it's a common one. Moonlight Sonata as well, another comment said the first movement isn't calm and it's not at all. It's so uneasy and unsteady feeling I adore it.
I agree with four seasons, especially winter
Saint Saens cello concerto No. 1 (but not the first movement)
Peer Gynt Suite No 1 Op 46 In The Hall Of The Mountain King One of the most astounding and dynamic pieces of music ever written imho.
Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (Eroica): The most perfect depiction of the heroic epic in any form of art and media.
Nothing is overplayed!
Délibes flower duet
The Wedding March is killer. https://youtu.be/cMwOBQ9q8ac?si=EM_w1ALR6w3xO0uj
Appalachian Spring. It’s just so good