This morning I played Chopin's Op.30 No.2 and suddenly felt sooo sad....

why?

Many pieces do this for me. Some of the late Beethoven quartets, for example.

Relatedly, there are pieces that don't necessarily bring tears to your eyes, but make you realize you have experienced something that leaves you in awe. There are lots of pieces in this category, too. I think of Stockhausen's Gruppen, Tenney's Forms I-IV, and probably the Turangalila Symphony (though I've heard it only once).

Well, I was already in the mood for sadness...

Sometimes when I play Bach BWV 849 I get a little of the tearing up feeling...not always though. Still working on getting it to come through every time.

Interesting topic - these are some pieces where I have actually physically produced tears, excepting the first choice.

By the end of Chinary Ung's "Spirals 1" for Piano, Cello, and Percussion, I am emotionally drained, though not teary.

David Lang's "The Little Match Girl Passion" is devastating.

I'm not sure why, but listening to all of Rzewski's "Coming Together" can sometimes make me tear up by the end, at least on Eighth Blackbird's recording of it.

"I Will Come Back" from Louciana Souza's "Neruda" album.

"Joy Spring" from Bill Carrother's "After Hours, Vol. 4" is so understated and piercing, that it can really mess me up if I'm in the right place.

Also, this recent recent youtube release from Nancy Zeltsman, purely because of the Borges text she adds at the end. It's extremely sentimental/nostalgic and really got me the first time I heard it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt5J8o_jsJA

Nothing does it every time, it depends a lot on my mood.
The last few minutes of Lynn Harrell's recording of the Dvorak cello concerto is quite likely to do the trick.
Also Perlman's recording of the Shostakovich 1st violin concerto slow movement.
The emotion in these pieces is one of nostalgic regret, to my ears anyway.
Then there are pieces that can make me cry through sheer ecstatic joy.
Typical of these is Kempe's recording of the sunrise from the Alpine Symphony.

Christmas music... But not because I find it emotionally intense. I just cannot stand it...

Including -but not confined to- the Hodie of Vaughan Williams, the Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio, and the services from King's College?

That seems a shame. (Notice I didn't mention that ubiquitous thing of Handel, I'm rather tired of it. )

But if you're referring to all the 'pop' Christmas songs, well, you have a defensible point. And yet... 'Winter Wonderland', 'The Christmas Song' (too many others that I'm not in current mode to recall), I do love them and always play to great acclaim at holiday parties. But 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' is rather past bearing.

No, I was referring to the Christmas music in shops and supermarkets... It makes me feel like walking out. And they start sooo early here. They were already playing some of that music in a shop today... I mean, please, we have more than 3 months to go!

You ARE kidding?

That's just plain insanity. Can't we at least get through Halloween?

No, really. I was surprised myself, although they do start very early here. And many also celebrate Christmas in July... In other words, it is always Christmas here!

Land of never ending [Christmas] music I suppose?

ChopinAddict, you just reminded me that we're about to be bombarded with pop versions of O Holy Night from anytime now until 25th Dec. aaaaaaaaughhh!!!!!!!!! One of the down sides to summer.
How can we have the first shopping centre O Holy Night when we haven't even had The First Blowfly yet (not at my place, anyway), or The First Cicada, or even the first media reference to the country being a "tinder box"...

Anyway, another piece that I forgot to mention is Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. Partly the subject matter, I suppose, but the ending of the last song ...

I've teared up to the slow movement of Beethoven's late A minor quartet.

And the last movement of Mahler's 3rd.

And the Brahms op.118/2.

Those were all a long time ago. The only things that have recently caused a tear (or, really, a tear-like pang) are the resolution of Mozart's Figaro (just like Mr. Sachs), and Strauss's Four Last Songs.

-J

Kindertotenlieder was the last Mahler work I came to love, partly because of the excruciating tempi of the Hampson/Bernstein recording. And yes, its conclusion is breathtaking (especially the effective and original celesta/string doublings). Do you feel strongly about whether a male or female sings it? I'm more used to males, but listening to the von Otter/Boulez recording is very refreshing. This of course brings to mind the baritone option of Das Lied, Bonney's recording of Dichterliebe, female performances/recordings of Winterreise and Vier ernste Gesänge, and the fact that Julius Stockhausen (a good friend of Brahms) performed Frauenliebe regularly.

A few years ago I read of a country where Christmas decor and music are unleashed by September 1. I forgot which country (thank Osiris), but I'm pretty sure it isn't Australia. In any case the practice doesn't strike me as a particularly sensible one.

Oh, and Festivus for the rest of us! Or Saturnalia (whose hijacking by early Christians helped create the Godzilla we're all too familiar with).

I first came to it via the Janet Baker recording. I don't feel super strongly either way, and at least one of the songs is definitely the father's perspective. Fischer-Dieskau is, as usual, just about perfect.There I'm more strongly biased to a kathleen Ferrier or Christa Ludwig.A male singing Frauenliebe seems a bit odd, but I could handle all the others, even if not my first preference. Carey has a recording up in the members' recordings section of him playing Berg's Seven Early Songs with a tenor. First time I'd ever heard them done by a male singer. I think it works, but I still prefer the female voice there.

How about Chopin Prelude in E maj, the Liszt transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria, or the 2nd mov of the Rach 3?

Liszt's transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria is beautiful but I actually prefer Liszt's own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1gV2qtb71w

Oddly enough, the last time was hearing Prokofiev's Violin Sonata no.1 performed by a certain Pogorelich. and her friend...

Hey! I was just going to mention this sonata (not by Pogorelich. though). I heard it this evening in a recital, in the 4th movement right at the transition back into the recap of the muted rapid violin passagework material from the 1st movement. One of those moments where I hoped nobody was looking at my trying to hold back the tears.

Richter Oistrakh Prokofiev Violin Sonata 1

If you're on a limited time, starting at 4:00 gives a flavour of the 4th movement, 4:30 begins what I'm calling a transition, and then 5:27 =

Have you seen this? I never realized her English was so superb. What a charismatic lady!!

Aw really?? Haha that was not a very prepared performance though.. the one from our concert 3 weeks later was much better! (I put it on www.myspace.com/swaypiano)

(I had just had a realization about some crucial thematic material in the last movement, ONE DAY before that concert, it gave me chills when we were playing it. I really should've known that before, though.. kind of embarrassing to not have known........)

Any late Beethoven will do the trick for me.

Passages from resurrected old PW threads such as this usually do it for me.

Chopin often gets to me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP8MW6WE9R4

Ahahaa I stilled really enjoyed it. And it was live too! Live performances are always the most powerful. Let me listen to the later recording....

Speaking of unprepared performances, I'm going to be giving an unprepared performance of the Ballade 4 this Tuesday..hahaa. Hope it works out!

Bach B minor mass, Agnus Dei

“Tear up” must be some ghastly American expression for “cry” ... (complete with snotty-nosed handkerchief ... or sleeve with us peasants) ... everything went down in the Colonies after George Washington took over.

In Afrikaans we say “huil” for “cry” (blubber)
(pronounced like iced raindrops ... but properly said with a posh “u” like you were going to say “oops)

In good Olde England “tear up” means “to shred”.

PS My dog (bitch) howls whenever I play the piano ...
but could be that G string, which needs tightening.

btb, in my definition of "tear up", there's not enough crying to generate a "snotty-nosed handkerchief", maybe just a slight sniff.