![]() The second movement of these “symphonic sketches” catches the ever-changing heave of waves.įour Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten, 1945)Īll the moods of the ocean, from morning calm to furious tempest, are brilliantly painted in this suite.Īch, ich fuhl’s from Die Zauberflote (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791) Jeux de Vagues from La Mer (Claude Debussy, 1905) Its sense of something longed-for and far away is perfectly captured by Janet Baker in her recording. ![]() “The deeps have music soft and low,” says the poem in this song. Where corals lie from Sea Pictures (Edward Elgar, 1899) Fauré liked the form so much he composed 13. The song of the Venetian gondolier has inspired countless piano pieces in a dreamy rhythm. In his Years of Pilgrimage, Liszt evokes the Villa d’Este’s fountains in showers of pianistic virtuosity. Les Jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este (Franz Liszt, 1877) Inspired by Wagner’s experience of a storm in the North Sea, this captures the majesty of a ship lurching through stinging spray. Overture to Der Fliegende Hollander (Richard Wagner, 1843) Our 100 pieces – recordings of all of which can be found easily on YouTube – dip a teaspoon into this vast ocean we hope it encourages you to venture further out to sea. We find another kind of “transport” in music inspired by dreaming or fantasies, or by nostalgia for childhood. There’s music inspired by the countryside, by the sea, by the idea of being transported to an exotic part of the world (the Mystic East was a popular imaginative destination, but there were many others). Then there are the dances that are “Guaranteed to get you moving” and the songs designed to drink to.Īlongside these are categories that don’t point to feelings so much as parts of the world or life these also evoke certain feelings, but at one remove. In the 19th century, classical music acquired a political consciousness, so “Don’t get mad, get even” is another of our themes. “The Devil has the best tunes” brings in the diabolical, a favourite area of feeling for the romantics.Ĭonsolation is another special service classical music can provide for us, because its language is rooted in church music, even if it has long outgrown that context. “Fighting spirit” evokes the military strain that has been such a huge part of classical music. Here, “Does anybody need a lift?” means (mostly) music for ceremonials. Classical music is as mysterious as world music it’s just that the foreign country to which it gives us access is distant in time, not place.Īny classical “best of” has to pay attention to these vanished worlds of feeling, even if giving them a name is difficult. The situation has all but vanished, but the music remains like a message in a bottle from the past that, when uncorked, releases an enticing scent. Both activities inspired a mountain of music, some of which has survived and now lives in the concert hall. For every piece that evokes feelings we all recognise – and, for example, brings a tear to the listener’s eye – there are many others that spring from a social situation that has long since disappeared.Ĭonsider the feelings that go with taking part in a courtly ceremony, or with marching in a parade ground in a picturesque uniform. So even when the tunes or rhythms seem strange (hip-hop may sound pretty alien to a fan of dad rock), none of pop music is entirely out of reach.Ĭlassical music is a more complicated case, because so much of it is historically remote. Pop songs are about the now, and tend to concern us as individuals. Some of those moods will feel familiar, others will not. In the list that follows, we have tried to capture the variety of moods and feelings you can find in classical music, which encompasses just about everything in human experience. Sometimes it achieves that in a gently beautiful way, but more often it disturbs or excites us, and can even rub our nerves raw. In fact, so much of classical music is the very opposite of chillaxing – it inspires us to live more intensely, not less. They give the heinous impression that the classical tradition is nothing more than a repository of upmarket background music, beautiful sounds to help us “chillax”. But that would have meant packing this list with the kind of hoary old favourites that fill compilation albums – and those albums depress us. There is an easy way out: swap “best-known” for “best” and you have a far simpler task on your hands. Over the centuries, it has become so incredibly varied within itself – spanning everything from a two-minute medieval carol to a two-hour opera written last week – that the phrase “classical music” has almost lost its meaning. The sheer vastness of classical music, a tradition that is now at least half a millennium old, makes choosing the 100 best pieces an impossible task.
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