Originally posted by ivan2908Sad music or very moving music: Jesse Norman singing Richard Strauss" Four Last Songs"
I have at least 100 heart tearing pieces in my mind 😉 But let's start with Barber's Adagio...
What's your choice ?
I found track 5 of her 'Brava, Jesse' album to be exquisite....this is the 3rd of the four last songs....title is "Beim Schlafengehen" . But other vocalists also do justice to the work, such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. I did not always like vocals but this music is incredibly lovely, from the first time I heard it.
I also find the middle movements of Tchaikovsky's and Brahms Violin concertos very moving and can listen to them more than once at a sitting. Sad and expressive moments.
Then there are the Beethoven Piano concertos, also the slow middle movements.
In regard to folk music, I recently discovered the Canadian musician Garnet Rogers singing "Sparrow's Wing" from his album 'All That Is'.
Of course this is a matter of taste. The nice part about this thread is that I am discovering other treasures I had not heard prior to this. thanks, everyone!
Originally posted by AttilaTheHornNothing like listening it on the real concert. I almost got an heart attack when I was listening to the Tchaikovsky Fifth on a real concert, I wouldn't even go to listen to the Pathetique Symphony. Too much 😛
I agree with hearing it online. That's not a good way to listen to it.
Originally posted by ivan2908>As a horn player, I get choked up at the last notes I must play in the Tchaikovsky Pathetique Symphony. The great hero of all us horn players is the English player, Dennis Brain. The last notes he ever played were these notes in a concert in Edinborough. He died in a car accident while driving back to London after the concert.
Nothing like listening it on the real concert. I almost got an heart attack when I was listening to the Tchaikovsky Fifth on a real concert, I wouldn't even go to listen to the Pathetique Symphony. Too much 😛
>So not only is this piece incredibly sad, but it is doubly so for me when I come to those last few notes. Thank goodness they're easy to play.
Holst--2nd Suite in F for Military Band, Mvmt. II--"Song Without Words: I'll Love My Love"
Wagner--Overture to "Tristan und Isolde" "Liebestod"
I also heard a recording (wish I owned it) of the finale of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 under the direction of the composer. Dmitri took it way slower than the Bernstein recording. Under Shostakovich's direction it sounds dark, brooding, and oppressive. There is none of the joy and exuberance one normally hears. There is no optimism whatsoever at the conclusion. What made this recording incredibly sad for me to listen to was the quote from Shostakovich that he was unable to perform it with the joy that the New York Phil played it because of the treatment from his government.
np
When I was a 19 year old college student I was asked to be one of the guest soloists at the dedication of a new pipe organ in Bremerton, Washington. The featured guest was a man from Tacoma. I played three numbers and the easiest one was a poignant one of Tschaikovsky's: "None But the Lonely Heart". Another one I played on the piano for a visiting relative right after tragedy had struck was McDowell's "To a Wild Rose". I cannot bear to hear that piece to this day....35 years later.
