Mozart really is the best.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Manton will hate me for saying it but I like a lot of Liszt's compositions.

me too. i love liszt. the most accomplished pianist of his time.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Manton will hate me for saying it but I like a lot of Liszt's compositions.

Manton probably hates you for a number of reasons, that being the least of them.

I won't argue (because the music speaks for itself), but Beethoven did, in fact, become Haydn's pupil only to pwnz0r the old man with his revolutionary compositions and refusal to cater to the aristocracy's taste for

Mozart's music is certainly more "natural" than Beethoven's, but to seek to elevate the former on that basis is to miss the point entirely. Beethoven was the first composer to humanize music - that is, to render it PSYCHOLOGICAL. It is this very "strain", as you correctly call it, which makes him the grand-master of musical composition still to this day. In fact, it is on this very basis that I sympathize with the many dozens of my peers who can scarcely listen to Mozart for this very reason: his music is TOO natural, seldom human. I don't prescribe to this view entirely, but I certainly view his Requiem as an exception to the rule.

Again, I won't argue much on this point. Suffice it to say that Beethoven and Bach are the two pillars of Western classical music in my eyes, and that I can scarcely take any man's opinions seriously who would say that Mozart is their superior in any qualitative sense whatsoever.

Originally Posted by Sherman90

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I won't argue (because the music speaks for itself), but Beethoven did, in fact, become Haydn's pupil only to pwnz0r the old man with his revolutionary compositions and refusal to cater to the aristocracy's taste for Mozart's music is certainly more "natural" than Beethoven's, but to seek to elevate the former on that basis is to miss the point entirely. Beethoven was the first composer to humanize music - that is, to render it PSYCHOLOGICAL. It is this very "strain", as you correctly call it, which makes him the grand-master of musical composition still to this day. In fact, it is on this very basis that I sympathize with the many dozens of my peers who can scarcely listen to Mozart for this very reason: his music is TOO natural, seldom human. I don't prescribe to this view entirely, but I certainly view his Requiem as an exception to the rule. Again, I won't argue much on this point. Suffice it to say that Beethoven and Bach are the two pillars of Western classical music in my eyes, and that I can scarcely take any man's opinions seriously who would say that Mozart is their superior in any qualitative sense whatsoever.
WTF does that even mean? Sounds like pseudo-academic mental masturbation.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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WTF does that even mean? Sounds like pseudo-academic mental masturbation.

+1
have no idea .

who cares about how deep-founded our musical historical knowledge is. i know some of it, but i still like whomever for its beauty to me. and everyone else loves what they love because it stirs them in a certain way , or they have some personal experience relating to that music. whatevers.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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WTF does that even mean? Sounds like pseudo-academic mental masturbation.

Keep listening. In fact, listen to the entire canon of Western classical music before Beethoven and then throw on the Pathetique sonata, or the Appassionata, or Les Adieux; or better yet, skip to Op. 111 and have a box of tissues nearby. Or if piano concertos are your thing, put on the third; or if you prefer string quartets, put on the Razumovski. And then return to Mozart, or Palestrina, or even Monteverdi and you'll get my drift...you'll see what Beethoven did for music and why, in many ways, the entire Romantic era of individualism and liberalism and self-identity - of which we're still very much a part - was forefathered by the Master. In fact, some say Beethoven was the predecessor to Freud.

It's one thing to call something intellectual diatribe because you can't relate to it; another if you have the experiential conviction that it's not true. I wish I could find Claudio Arrau's old quotations on why Beethoven's music is so profoundly meaningful. In the meantime, if you can afford it here's an amazing and little-known book on the history of music. The author, a well-established British composer who's works are only now being recorded (mostly on Chandos), has some pretty amazing things to say about what Beethoven did for humanity...yes, for humanity!

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Secret-I...3134077&sr=8-1

Originally Posted by Connemara

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WTF does that even mean? Sounds like pseudo-academic mental masturbation.

OP's description may not have been the best, but what he wrote is the essence of the Romantic movement. --Andre

I like Schubert best of all, but I know next to nothing about classical music. But for whatever reason, his string quartets and quintets bring tears to my eyes every time.

Mozart blows. Too many notes.

Originally Posted by hypersonic

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One of my all-time favourites -- I love it.

Mozart Piano concerto N°23-Adagio
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And one of the best dance pieces ever made to this sublime piece of music, Jiri Kylian's Petite Mort:

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--Andre

Originally Posted by Douglas

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Mozart blows. Too many notes.

Which notes should be taken out, your majesty?

Originally Posted by A Y

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And one of the best dance pieces ever made to this sublime piece of music, Jiri Kylian's Petite Mort:

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--Andre

Thanks for the vid.

Originally Posted by RJman

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Which notes should be taken out, your majesty?

Should not have read this while drinking.

Originally Posted by javyn

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I like Schubert best of all, but I know next to nothing about classical music. But for whatever reason, his string quartets and quintets bring tears to my eyes every time.

Schubert was best known for his lieder. Try picking up a CD of his Winterreise, complete with libretto. Very, very beautiful, stirring music.

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Die-W...3140565&sr=8-1

Have you heard his 8th symphony? It's unfinished, but considered among his greatest. In terms of its emotional content, it's a far cry from the very sweet, melodic symphonies he wrote leading up to it.

Originally Posted by Sherman90

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Have you heard his 8th symphony? It's unfinished, but considered among his greatest. In terms of its emotional content, it's a far cry from the very sweet, melodic symphonies he wrote leading up to it.

+1, the 8th is great for n00bs. very accessible.