Because it's a question that has occurred to me before I always name Schubert's G flat Impromptu. I first heard it, and I remember the occasion well, when I was about 40 something, and at once nominated it. It was performed by an amateur pianist.
-
-
I'm not religious but my vote goes to Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. And if I'm allowed a second choice, I think "Bess you is my woman" from Porgy and Bess is one of the greatest love duets.Comment
-
Gerald Moore playing his piano arrangement of An die Musik to close his farewell recital (with DF-D, VdlA & ES) at the RFH on 20 Feb 1967. A touching moment when the soloists leave the stage and the great accompanist gets to play the melody at the last.Comment
-
-
Im wunderschone Monat Mai. Opening of last movt of Beethoven's last pf sonata. Close of prelude to Parsifal. Intermezzo from Puccini's Manon.
Countless others.Comment
-
Not quite the same thing but this thread prompted me to listen to the Romanza from Vaughan Williams Symphony No 5, conducted by Barbirolli.
Wonderful.
And Barbirolli's moulding of those closing bars .....Comment
-
The string intro to the Agnus is surely one of the best short themes ever conceived, and cleverly meshing with the choral theme...well it's just magic.Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei or In Paradisium from the Faure Requiem
Going a bit earlier, Byrd's Lullaby always brings tears to the eyes.Comment
-
Elvira Madigan (Mozart 21) 2nd movement. Deceptively simple but a fiendishly difficult left hand to get balanced and even. And ... Leanne Carroll's 'Seaside' always brings a lump to my throat. Title track from the album:
And the tune ends too soon for us allComment
-
I always feel I'm a 'hardened' musician but the soliloquy 'If I loved you' from Roger's and Hammerstein's 'Carousel' ALWAYS brings a lump to my throat - even when I've played it in the theatre!Comment
-
Grieg: Varen (Spring/ The Last Spring), sung or on orch.I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
-
'Somewhere' from Bernstein's West Side Story is one great melody, more effective, in my view, as played on the horn in the Symphonic Dances version. What a tune!Originally posted by pastoralguy View Post"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
-
I've never heard the original (I must look it up!) - the melody from Rossini's La Charite (I know it from Liszt's transcription).Best regards,
JonathanComment
-
Oh, and almost all of 'Swan Lake!'Comment
-
I have sometimes been a little self-conscious of my sweet ear (potency of cheap music and all that), so I'm heartened by this thread. My special field of interest has been the American Songbook but it's curious how my listening has declined in recent years though that doesn't have to be a cause for concern given that there are always great melodies and lyrics percolating in my mind.
But, at the risk of repeating previous suggestions ...
Finlandia (chorale)
Sospiri
Satie's etude (almost arabesque)
Faure's Sanctus
So much by Richard Rodgers (I Have Dreamed, If I Loved You, Out of My Dreams)
Rutter (Lord Bless You and Keep You)
Jobim (Girl from Ipanema)
Dvorak 'American' string quartet
Simple Gifts
Saint Saens (3rd Symphony) Organ Finale
Marsellaise
Ma n'Eireann
Slow Train
Brigg Fair
I Guess I'll Have To change My Plan (sung by Astaire & Buchanan)
and finally, a sweet, quirky little love song from Spike Milligan ...
Comment
-
The slow movement of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. The main melody begins with three two-bar phrases. A lesser composer might have followed these with another of the same length, but Mozart stretches it to a three-bar phrase and that is just so sublime!
And then there's the slow movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G which, according to its composer, was written with frequent reference to the above Mozart melody.Comment
Comment