Favorite Musical Works

I decided to post lists of my favorite movies and TV shows to the right since that seems to be a bloggerly thing to do. I'm not necessarily claiming that these are the greatest movies, but they intersect most perfectly with me. At some point, I'll flesh that out a bit more. When it came to TV shows, I realized that I had a Mount Rushmore that wasn't going to be accepting other members. I actually think carving the images of Rob Petrie, Homer Simpson, Jerry Seinfeld, and Michael Scott into the side of some mountain makes a lot of sense. Although this list isn't that original, I'd like to be clear that other recent critical faves such as Scrubs, Malcom in the Middle, House, and Arrested Develpment would be buried deep under my Rushmore. I find them all unwatchable. For me, there's a fine line between greatness and "being clever for the sake of being clever" as Glenn Gould memorably wrote in his "too clever for the sake of being clever" madrigal, So You Want to Write a Fugue.

So then my question to myself was, why not a list of favorite musical works? Well, right off this is much more complicated. It's a list that in some ways changes from week to week and coming up with the right criteria is pretty hard. Still, I'm going to get started trying with an eye/ear for works that have stood the test of MMtime. This will take awhile to really get settled, but for now I'm insisting on works that I find completely satisfying from beginning to end (actually, Israel in Egypt barely qualifies here because I mostly love Part I) and to which I've felt a deep and genuine connection. There are works out there such as Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Mozart's Don Giovanni which I know to be completely deserving but that I don't feel I've ever taken the time to know well enough to include here. The same goes for almost everything by Verdi and Wagner. I realize there's nothing even remotely contemporary here; that's not to say I've never enjoyed a more recent work, but I haven't thought of anything yet that I feel about the way I feel about these works. I also sense that there should be more Mozart and Beethoven on this list and that I'm probably judging their works by an unfair standard. For example, I can't figure out how much I love the Pathétique Sonata because it's so iconic (not that that's not true of other works on this list). This list is also biased towards larger-scale works, although I couldn't resists shout-outs to some indispensable chestnuts by Kreisler and Stanford and a few wonderful songs. I'm sure there are many I've overlooked.

A DESERT ISLAND PLAYLIST

• Bach: Brandenburg Concerti No. 3 & No. 6
• Bach: Chaconne in D Minor
• Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor
• Bach: Cantata No. 4 "Christ lag in Todesbanden"
• Bach: Cantata No. 80 "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"
• Bach: Goldberg Variations (via Glenn Gould)
• Bach: Prelude & Fugue in B-flat Minor from WTC I
• Barber: Adagio for Strings
• Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 53 "Waldstein"
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
• Beethoven: Violin Concerto
• Bloch: Schelomo
• Brahms: German Requiem
• Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor
• Brahms: Piano Quartet in C Minor
• Brahms: Piano Quintet
• Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
• Brahms: Violin Concerto
• Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major
• Britten: Albert Herring
• Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
• Byrd: Ave verum corpus
• Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F Minor
• Chopin: Barcarolle
• Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor
• Copland: Appalachian Spring
• Debussy: Violin Sonata
• Dvorak: "Dumky" Trio
• Dvorak: Piano Quintet
• Fauré: Piano Quartet in C Minor
• Fauré: Requiem
• Handel: Israel in Egypt
• Haydn: Cello Concerto in C
• Josquin Desprez: Ave Maria
• Kreisler: Praeludium & Allegro
• Liszt: Mephisto Waltz
• Liszt: Totentanz
• Mahler: Liebst du um Schönheit
• Mahler: Symphony No. 1
• Mendelssohn: Octet
• Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
• Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
• Orff: Carmina burana
• Poulenc: Fiançailles pour rire
• Poulenc: Sextet
• Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1
• Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
• Prokoviev: Violin Concerto No. 1
• Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
• Puccini: La bohème
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
• Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
• Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit
• Ravel: La valse (two-piano version)
• Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
• Ravel: Piano Trio
• Ravel: String Quartet
• Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
• Schubert: String Quintet in C
• Schubert: Nacht und Träume
• Schubert: Winterreise
• Shostakovich: Cello Concerto
• Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2
• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
• Schumann: Kreisleriana
• Schumann: Mondnacht
• Schumann: Piano Quintet
• Scriabin: Vers la flamme
• Sibelius: Violin Concerto
• Stanford: The Blue Bird
• Strauss: Four Last Songs
• Strauss: Morgen
• Stravinsky: Suite italienne
• Stravinsky: Trois mouvements de Pétrouchka
• Tallis: If ye love me, keep my commandments
• Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
• Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
• Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
• Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
• Vivaldi: Winter from The Four Seasons