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Our favorite passages are always changing. How about you share some of your current kicks? I love exploring them.

Right now I'm pretty into Chopin 45. The distribution of the melody in two registers is just so perfect. 1:31 in this video.

Bach, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV582

Hamish Milne
transcription Georgy Catoire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXEqS1kMR1M

edited to add: my favorite Chopin 45 is Pogo! It's unorthodox, though. Very slow tempo, but breathtaking beauty!

Debussy, "Valse Romantique", a friend of mine is supposed to bring me a copy from France. I asked a friend so I can see what music from France woud look like.

When I travel to Europe, I am going to try to locate authentic piano music and bring them back home.

I did bring back some ukelele music books from Hawaii, but don't ask me how to play ukelele,

If staying with piano music, it will have to be two moments in the finale of Rach 3, near the end. The first when quiet chords on the piano (following some brilliant passagework by the pianist, then a drum roll) usher in the 'beginning of the end' and the fireworks step up a notch. And the second is the martial toccata-like stuff on the piano (accompanied by string pizzicati), leading up to the final flourish, and then the Big Tune. Rachmaninov certainly knows how to build up anticipation - and then gratification.... .

If orchestral music, I have several, including the reprise of the main tune pp by the soloist in the slow movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, with the orchestra providing just a soft cushion (and no longer repeating the same phrases as at the beginning - it's all down to the soloist). Truly magical in the right hands.

And in Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony in the Ländler second movement, the restatement of the lovely tune by the strings, but in hushed pizzicati, then an arco soaring counter-melody, with great effect...

D959 Can't seem to get enough after having recently added it to my rep.

Just now I'm fascinated by the Allemandes and Courantes of the Bach French Suites. Man oh man.

John

Certain chord/harmony changes that feel like a sudden "punch" or "stab."

For example: Liszt Sonata. Page 23 of the PDF file (page 21 of the sheet music), second to last line, second measure (the one with triple forte). LOVE that harmonic shift.
http://conquest.imslp.info/files/im..._-_S178_Sonata_in_B_minor__Schirmer_.pdf Here is the moment in a recording: http://youtu.be/Ii3bGYw-SvQ?t=13m26s

Another moment, in choral music: Agnus Dei movement of Frank Martin's Mass for double unaccompanied choir. It's in the middle of a climactic moment, and all of a sudden (when the page turns on this video), the E minor chord jumps out, and feels like a huge "punch" to me. http://youtu.be/hQTMrs0DMsI?t=3m36s

The modulation at the end of Great Gate of Kiev has a different effect on me, but is approached in a similar way of big harmonic changes/shifting, and it still feels super cool, haha. http://youtu.be/47L3lrE3l0o?t=6m53s

The ending to the first movement of the Ginastera Sonata. Wow.

Love the Kapustin Toccatina right now, especially the part where it gets a tad more lyrical.

I am loving the first piece in Goyescas as well. Just beautifully written.

And of course, the Ondine climax remains my favorite musical moment.

Those 8 bars in scarbo right before the slow tempo comes back (just after the first climax). It's the most human, and vulnerable section in possibly the entire set.


Then there's all of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony..

One of my favorites is what I might call the two mini-cadenzas in the 1st movement of Brahms 2nd piano concerto. Looking on IMSLP, they appear to start at measures 145 and 303, respectively. Chordal triplets in the right hand with very deep bass notes in the left. Because the preceding music is so warm, tender, and stately, these short piano solos provide a sharp contrast to the surrounding music. All this angst and agitation seems to arise out of nowhere, and creates a wonderful kind of emotional dissonance and drama. I always find myself looking forward to the opening chord of these passages.

The transition from the middle section back to the modified first section in Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 23, 5. Love how the tension builds with the tempo slowly speeding up and the dynamics rising at the same time.

I absolutely love those sections!! I know where you're talking about

I am puzzled. Where do you see the "distribution of the melody in two registers" in this work?

Regards,

I think there are melodies in both the middle and upper register? Or maybe the ascending eighth note figures that lead to the top?

I see all the rising eight-note figurations as part of the harmonic accompaniment. The way I'm playing and conceiving the piece, bringing out those eight-note figures would put focus where I don't want it and would, somewhat, destroy the forward movement.

Looking at the notation carefully, starting at measure 6, the upper line has a half-rest and the melody doesn't start until the middle of the measure (second beat if you're counting in cut time; third beat if you're counting in four). Similarly, all the way through, the first beat (two beats (in four)) is a half rest suggesting to me that the figure rising underneath is not part of the melody but part of the accompaniment.

However, there's more than one way of conceiving of it; I'm sure that not everyone will agree with how I see it.

Now, if I could just really master that cadenza ....!

Regards,

At 1:31 in the video I linked. The left hand interrupts the higher register with the melody, then the right hand comes in with the a chord that brings the melody back up to the higher register.

Ohhh, I see what you mean now.

Isn't it gorgeous??

How about that wonderful passage starting from the third measure on the 9th page of this score of Chopin's Op 52 with that amazing polyrhythm, and then that amazing harmonic transition with the heart-rending chord at the end of the seventh measure.

I have some more coming up in my next post when I get a chance.

That spot is fantastic, Poly! I remember the moment that jumped out to me the most in the fourth Ballade is actually on the next page: the third and fourth measures of that page.

(Is Mark C anywhere in the building?)