Quote:
Originally Posted by vivaldirules
Tell me, what one piece of music absolutely drives you to tears (of joy or whatever) and why?
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Can't say it drove me to tears, but two specific performances, both classical.
1. Caught this on a live broadcast on our local classical radio station, from a performance in Berlin. Christmas Day, the year the Berlin Wall came down. Members of the Berlin Philharmonic, plus Dresden Staatskapel, a children's choir from someplace in East Germany, and individual performers from around the world, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In honor of the occaision, all instances of the word Joy (Freuda ?) were replaced with the word Freedom (Freihart?) Beethoven, Symphony No. 9. This one is available on CD (look for "Bernstein in Berlin")
2. I have a recording of Richard Strauss, "An Alpine Symphony", and have heard several more. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a live performance. It was the first time I'd been able to attend a performance in Seattle's Benaroya Hall, which, regardless of any competition from grand old places like the Vienna Opera Hall, etc., is one of THE BEST sounding performance spaces in the world. This concert was a joint performance of the Seattle Youth Symphony, and the Portland Youth Philharmonic - they each played one work, then combined for the Strauss. The sheer energy that young performers can bring to a work is magical, and this particular work really benefits from having a large orchestra. Sorry, I don't think its available unless you can access the archives of the S.Y.S. (and the Seattle work was a very credible performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto, featuring a young concerto contest winner.)
Outside of that, I like to stop to listen ehenever I hear the last movement of the Dvorak Cello Concerto, which in my opinion is the most glorious piece of cello music ever.