My Favourite Classical Music

Latest discoveries

Michael Nyman: Musique à Grande Vitesse, The Queen of the Night etc. Sometimes I like to listen to minimalistic music. The Queen of the Night recalls Finnish Suvivirsi hymn in my twisted mind.

Janáček: Sinfonietta

Charmingly positive music with distinctive mood that is not easy to describe. I was reading a book on Tove Jansson and the Moomin world when I listened this work first time. Mystical black-and-white drawings of Jansson and Sinfonietta have something in common.

9.7.2001

Adams: Nixon in China

Modern opera on Nixon's visit to China. Simple, but powerful music with a touch of humour. The last act is not as good as the first and second, but as a whole this is one of the best 20th century operas I have heard.

Shostakovitch: 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87

I listened this masterpiece very intensively for many days. These are my favourites with short descriptions.
 

Prelude and fugue no. 4

Prelude and fugue no. 5 (serene and beautiful, very positive music)

Prelude no. 8 (obsessive)

Prelude no. 15 (exaggerative and rcstless)

Prelude and Fugue no. 24 (Answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything))

Shostakovitch: The Nose

This is an incredible opera about a man who wakes up without a nose. The opera is based on Gogol's short story. I would describe the opera with the adjectives hysterical and absurd.

In one of the unforgettable scenes barber's wife becomes hysterical and sounds like a frightened dog barking. I also loved the scene with the man mourning his nose -- he howled like a wolf. It is touching and beautiful, believe it or not.

Festive music

Modest Musorgski: Crowning scene from the opera Boris Godunov (Act I)

Benjamin Britten: Fugue from 'A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' (the theme music of the Scandinavian classical music quiz programme 'Kontrapunkt')

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Procession of the Nobles from Mlada

Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta

Powerful Music

Peter Tchaikovsky: Incidental music to the Snow Maiden, op. 12

Maurice Ravel: Final from Daphis et Chloet

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. I prefer the original piano version to the orchestrated version by Ravel. In my opinion, the best orchestration is made by Leo Funtek.

Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanchina, orchestrated by Dmitri Shostakovitch

The Gratest Symphonies

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 9, especially the final

Dmitri Shostakovitch: Symphony no. 7, "Leningrad"

Antonin Dvorak: Symphony no. 9, 'From the New World', op. 96

Witty Music

Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring

Antonin Dvorak: Symphony no. 8, op. 88

Dmitri Shostakovitch: Symphony no. 9

Fury

Dmitri Shostakovitch: Symphony no. 10, second and fourth movement

Giuseppe Verdi: Dies Irae from Requiem

Gloomy Music

Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 4 (particularly the Final)

Peter Tchaikovsky : Mazeppa

Peter Tchaikovsky : Francesca Da Rimini

Mystic Music

Peter Tchaikovsky : Manfred Symphony

Organ Music

Charles-Maria Widor: Sympony no. 6
Charles-Maria Widor: Toccata from Symphony no. 5

Touching Music

Peter Tchaikovsky : The Sleeping Beauty

Peter Tchaikovsky : Souvenir from Florence

From the 20th Century

Dmitri Shostakovitch : The Limpid Stream / The Bolt

Dmitri Shostakovitch: Symphony no. 15

Benjamin Britten: Prelude and Fugue

Benjamin Britten: Welcome Ode

Finnish Music

Joonas Kokkonen: Viimeiset kiusaukset (The Last Temptations)

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