Ok, this is what's up. I would like you to look at any orchestrated piece you like/love to listen to. After you have that down, please answer these questions for me in this thread...


Why do you like this particular piece?
What section/part of the piece "sells" the piece to you (what section/part makes this piece so special that you like/love it more than any other piece)?
What orchestration (instruments) do you like to hear in your music?
The emotion I like/love to feel most of the time when I listen to music is...


Just something I'm doing for fun. Please post your answers in this thread and someday I'll post my conclusion to this thought experiment.

Thanks!

Elgar Enigma Variations Op. something or other No. ? "Nimrod" (Okay you can probably tell which one it is with the "Nimrod"

1. I love string pieces like this. Its very relaxing and the climaxes are very dramatic.
2. The forte part in the end with the strings having the melody and the brass and timpani supporting the under. The timpani really get me there.
3. Again the strings, but when the brass and percussion come in it just gives more passion to the music
4. Picture this, a soldier comes back to the battlefield where a fight had just finished. He's surveying the surrounding and lamenting at the fact of his fallen comrades. Toward the end he returns to the hill and sees a reminder of why he's fighting that battle. I have scenes in my head when I listen to music. Just ask my band class about my scene when we were playing light calvary overture (cowboys and indians baby).

Well, I can't say this is a classical piece... but there's this one song from the 3rd FullMetal Alchemist soundtrack that just gives me an undescribable feeling of power.

The song is called "Brave Fight" and there is this one section, probably just 12 bars, that just makes me feel like I could take on anything.

1) It's extremely energetic.
2) The section has the brass on a very tensely sustained chord with strings playing a frantic melody, and (now here's the glorious moment) the French Horns go up a half-step making it the most hopeful and powerful chord in the whole CD. (about 1min 44sec onward)
3) I love to hear brass, and brass immitating other intruments (like a brass choir effect).
4) The emotion? A feeling of immense tension and struggle, which battle with an intense energy trying to surpass and conquer. Overall a feeling a heroic triumph. With that said, I also (somehow) compose/enjoy music which is bigger than the initial thought that went into it... music which expands the universe and can make you feel so incredibly small while seemingly showing you the biggest truth. Sometimes it's despair, maybe aetherial, but always majestic.

Debussy 3rd Nocturne 'Sirenes'

1. i love impressionistic music and this has to be most ingenius orchestral example of impressionism.

2. from the return of the first section to the end- bar 101 onwards in my score, 6:25 onwards in the recording im listening to as im writing this

3. piano and wind instruments mainly, with strings in the background ^^ i dont mind brass either as long as both composer and performers realise that brass instruments are capable of doing other dynamics to double and triple 'f'. muted brass for example can sound beautiful

4. emotions.. tragedy. restrained passion. danger. the attempt to gain something unobtainable and intangible. fear. darkness.

Hikari - Kingdom Hearts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZVAvHah9io)

1. I think the melody for one is fantastic. French horns in the background is very neat. The quick scale notes that woodwinds play in the background is pretty too.

2. The climax parts of the piece, for example at 1:48, where the melody is complemented by the triplets the brass play in the background. Just the whole crescendo itself is amazing.

3. French horns! A strong horn is generally what gets me noticing the piece first. Others include good solos or interesting trumpet parts. Although too much brass can drown out all the other parts, and I for one love to hear a mosaic of voices in any piece I listen to. Quick woodwinds or strings in the background harmony are nice too. Violins are good too, but better when they're fewer in number and carry the main melody lines, in my opinion.

4. I like to be sad when listening to music. It doesn't have to be a slow moving or soft piece, but mostly to do with the melody. Although it's probably arbitrary which pieces I perceive to have a quality tragicness. Another quality is harder to describe... I'd call it hair raising in that it paints the image of a conflict of some sort nearing its climax. I find both qualities to be in the above piece I linked.

Just reading what Sondagger wrote as his #4, I'd like to say that my aspired feeling from listening to a piece is somewhat similar. Another idea is the whole 'go down in a blaze of glory' feeling, kind of like the finale of Zero no Tsukaima 2, if you've seen that...

Gah... Lame vocabulary greatly hinders what I want to say...

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini-Variation III: L'istesso tempo by Rachmaninoff

1. Its one of the first 'classical' pieces I ever heard as a kid. I've always known and loved it, the opening theme is simplistic yet effective.

2. Eurgh, cant choose.. Like I said before, I love the opening theme. It's just such a beautiful melody and such a contrast to the second half- some frantic playing by the piano soloist punctuated by fortissimo chords from the orchestra leading to a huge dramatic climax yet finishing on two, much quiter chords. I suppose just the overall contrast throughout.

3.Cant beat a grand piano accompanied by the full symphony orchestra =]

4. Awe. Passion. Longing. Love. Sometimes lonliness..

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto Op.64 in e minor
1) OMG. Have you tried playing this song? the violin solo is impossibly hard! especially the 1st and 3rd movements! but when you actually master it, its really interesting and changes alot. FUN!

2) The fast running notes in the 3rd movement, and also that part that goes dadalalala!!(guess where:heh:)

3) Violin Solo duh...

4)Orgasm ^^

Holst's "Venus" from The Planets
1. I like it because of the interesting harmonic structure and the imagery and emotions conveyed.
2. The way that the French Horn (whose timbre is one of my favorites out of all of the instruments) fits in with the woodwinds at the beginning, and the beautifully sweet violin solo.
3. I like to hear the flute and the French Horn, and I love deeply emotional and mellow use of brass (although I also like the occasional fortississimo).
4. I love the way it is soothing and the way it conveys imagery and emotions.

W.A. Mozart's Requiem

1. I love this piece because of the difference in the sections sung, and if you look at the translation I like those words too.

2. "Dies Irae" the second movement, I like it because it's energetic and and makes me feel ecstatic. It makes my heart beat so fast, it feels like it's going to burst out my throat. Also the words translate to something about the end of the world. ( "Lacrymosa" and "Benedictus" are cool too)

3. Violin, Clarinet, and Timpani.

4. Something deep inside longing to burst forth. Things like passion, rage, euphoria, and a racing pulse.

Maurice Ravel's "Danse Generale" from Daphnis et Chloé

1) It's a great contrast from the previous part of the whole ballet, and the orchestration.
2) Right after the choir comes in.
3) Strings + woodwind.
4) A little anger, yet a little playful and naïve .