Influential Music

Having written posts on influential non-fiction books and on influential fiction books, I thought it interesting to list pieces of music that have  influenced me. To start with, I’ve confined myself initially to western art music (aka “classical” music). Jazz and world music to come in due course. The music is listed in alpha order of composer surname. Some pieces were introduced to me by friends, whom I thank with a Hat Tip (HT).

  • Adams: Phrygian Gates (HT: RH)
  • Arriaga: String Quartets
  • Arriaga: Symphony
  • Bach: Double Concerto for Violin
  • Bach: Piano Concerto #1, BWV1052
  • Bach: St. Matthew Passion
  • Bach: St. John Passion
  • Bach: Mass in B Minor
  • Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
  • Bach: Cantatas
  • Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
  • Bach: Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin
  • CPE Bach: Magnificat
  • Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
  • Beethoven: Symphonies 3, 5 and 9
  • Beethoven: Piano Concertos
  • Beethoven: Piano Quartets
  • Beethoven: Piano Trios
  • Beethoven: Violin Concerto
  • Bernstein: Overture to Candide (HT: DUJ)
  • Binge: Elizabethan Serenade
  • Cage: Music for prepared piano
  • Cherubini: String Quartets
  • Chopin: Nocturnes
  • Chopin: Preludes Op. 28 (HT: KM)
  • Debussy: Preludes
  • Farrenc: Piano Quartets
  • Farrenc: The Symphonies
  • Feldman: Five Pianos
  • Feldman: Triadic Memories
  • Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
  • Glass: Symphony for 8 (Cello Octet)
  • Handel: Messiah
  • Haydn: Sturm und Drang Symphonies
  • Haydn: The Creation
  • Haydn: String Quartets
  • Hummel: Trumpet Concerto
  • Ligeti: Etudes (HT: EK and AD)
  • Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King
  • McPhee: Tabu Tabuhan
  • Meale: Clouds Now and Then
  • Mendelssohn: The String Symphonies #7-12
  • Mendelssohn: Magnificat
  • Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
  • Mendelssohn: Octet
  • Mendelssohn: String Quartets and Quintets
  • Mendelssohn: Piano Trios and Quartets
  • Mendelssohn: Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • Mendelssohn: Elijah
  • Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
  • Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in D minor
  • Mendelssohn: Concerto for Piano and Violin in D minor
  • Mendelssohn: The Symphonies
  • Mendelssohn: Songs without Words
  • Montague: Piano Concerto
  • Mozart: Last 3 Symphonies
  • Mozart: Requiem
  • Mozart: The String Quartets
  • Nishimura: Bird Heterophony
  • Nyman: Songs for Tony
  • Ore: Codex Temporis
  • Orff: Carmina Burana
  • Penberthy: Saxophone Concerto
  • Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 (HT: AD)
  • Reich: Nagoya Marimbas (HT: JG)
  • Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
  • Alvidas Remesa: Stigmata (HT: KM)
  • Riley: In C
  • Roman: Drottningholm Music (Music for a Royal Wedding)
  • Rzewski: The People united will never be Defeated (HT: AD)
  • Schumann: Dichterliebe (HT: PP)
  • Schumann: The Symphonies
  • Sculthorpe: Sun Music III
  • Shostakovich: Concerto for Piano and Trumpet
  • Shostakovich: Incidental Music for Hamlet
  • Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues for Piano
  • Stockhausen: Stimmung (HT: LM)
  • Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
  • Takemitsu: A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
  • Tchaikovsky: Symphonies #4 and #5
  • Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
  • ten Holt: Canto Ostinato (HT: AD)
  • Vanhal: The Symphonies
  • Wagner: Prelude to The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
  • Xenakis: Metastaseis
  • Xenakis: Pithoprakta.

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