What is your favorite moment in music?

[Bob]

Not just the piece, but a "moment," one instant in music...  What are your favorites?  In any music.

[pianistimo]

whenever the timpani crashes  or the chimes start in - something dramatic   
ok.  in beethoven's ninth, when the choir comes in.  or mussorgsky's finale ending of pics at an exhibition.  that's my idea of sublime.


i don't sit on the edge of my seat anymore for the pianissimos.

[Tash]

when it's all minor and you suddendly start getting these flashes of major, like i think somewhere in beethoven's 5th symphony, oh and chopin nocturne op.9 no.1, or the opposite, i'm thinking in chopin's funeral march. love those key changes, secondary tones and all the blah yummo sends chills up my spine, or when there's all the crashing and then like the calm after the storm it's lovely. basically contrast is fabo

[stevie]

true, climatic sections also - like the huge climax in the 1st movement of mahler 2, plus the very end of the symphony.

another moment is in the tchaikovsky trio, whent he main theme comes back in the 3rd movement, obviously.

[pianobabe_56]

WELL-BUILT and WELL-DESERVED orchestral climaxes. Those send shivers up my spine. Sometimes I feel like composers merely put in a high point because, hey, every piece needs a ff, right? But when the piece has been well-organized, and builds to that climax... *shiver* That's what I love.

[stevie]

very true, too many composers forget the foreplay 

[Etude]

I concur with pianobabe_56, but also some of my favourite parts are when themes from previous movements of large works reappear after having not been heard for a long time (Prok pc1 for example)

[Teddybear]

I like the moment after lots of boom boom boom, when there's a sweet and sad melody. Like in Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto, after the cadenza. Just the piano and lots of boohoo. And again somewhere in the 3rd movement.

Or when there's a lot of boom boom boom... and then it's more quiet for a sec, and you're wondering what that means? Is it over? And then comes the ultimate BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

 

T

[6ft 4]

I actually think the boom boom bit of Rach 3 first movement is the greatest moment in music.

although i guess that isnt an "instant" so for an instant moment i guess the opening of Les Adieux is my favourite.

[Bob]

The opening pushing of Rach 2.  The lyrical theme from Rach 2.  I like those.

I also like a chord progression from a minor chord to a Major chord a half step below.  The third stays the same note.  A very cool sound.  Like a sigh.  I let it be a mystery what piece it's in....   ooOOOOOooooo....

[Bouter Boogie]

The opening pushing of Rach 2.  The lyrical theme from Rach 2.  I like those.

I also like a chord progression from a minor chord to a Major chord a half step below.  The third stays the same note.  A very cool sound.  Like a sigh.  I let it be a mystery what piece it's in....   ooOOOOOooooo....

Agree The opening is incredible!

[pseudopianist]

Liszt B-Minor Sonata - The third movement, where the maintheme builds up to such a climax and then followed by such an amazing lyrical part.

Rach 3 - When the cello takes over the melody in the beginning

[danyal]

Shostakovich concerto no 1 (piano and trumpet)- 4th mvmnt, the trumpet has a really rediculous solo, cut short halfway by a rediculous chord on the piano. I think its the most perfect, beautiful note in the world.

[mr. folsom]

Shostakovich concerto no 1 (piano and trumpet)- 4th mvmnt, the trumpet has a really rediculous solo, cut short halfway by a rediculous chord on the piano. I think its the most perfect, beautiful note in the world.

That is one amazing piece. Which performers does your recording feature

Hmm.. at the moment, I'm pretty sure that my favorite moment is in the Brandenburg Concerto in D (#5). The candezas in the first movement really drives me wild everytime I hear it. The solo in the third movement is awesome too. The insane texture of the counterpoint doesn't come across as pretentious, but it has some sort of quality to it that's just unreal.
 
EDIT: I'm not sure if I answered the question correctly, but who cares, it's still true.

[yamagal]

There is a beautiful, fleeting melody in Rach's Trio Elegiaque No. 2 that is over almost as soon as it starts - beautiful and heartrending, and -- gone -- just like that.  Gets me every time.

[jeremyjchilds]

THe moment the second voice is introduced in any fugue

[4tissimo]

For me it was while playing Prin. tbn sitting in the Ohio University symphony in 1963 doing Mendelssohn's 5th [Reformation].  We'd played this in undergrad @ WI State-Eau Claire and I couldn't cut it.  My teacher had to play lead but this time, I was zoning and nailed the finale hi D for about 30 bars @ fff.  I never played that well before or since.  It was almost a spiritual thing.

[donjuan]

like pianobabe, I like big orchestral climaxes like the first couple minutes of Wagner's Tannhauser, or Liszt's Les Preludes. 

However, for some reason I really like key changes that happen at a single point to break into a rustic folk dance type of thing.  For example, I dont think much of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11, but I listen to it just for that last page which is so euphoric and fun to listen to.  Something similar happens in Donizetti's "La Marche Pour Le Sultan Abdul Medjid-Khan".  Just all of a sudden, a childish very playful tune jumps out and tickles my eardrums. 

Also, the right kind of noise with a catchy rhythm really makes me smile.  have a listen to Liszt's paraphrase on Gaudeamus-igitur.  haha its just a bunch of garbage, but it does something to me for some reason.

[danyal]

That is one amazing piece. Which performers does your recording feature

Yefim Bronfman with the LA philharmonic. It also has the same recording they used for Fantasia of the 2nd concerto.

[jas]

The bit near the beginning of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto when the orchestra modulates to the minor. That chord is gorgeous.
And the main theme of the Allegretto of his 7th Symphony, when it's getting louder and all of the voices are in, especially that lovely rocking cello (I assume it's cello?) part. Amazing.

Jas

[ryan2189]

In Liszt's Les Preludes, there are a few sections that blow me away. One of my favorites is in the minor section towards the middle where there are a few phrases where the violins are imitating a kind of storm and then suddenly the trumpets come in and give this really awesome effect.  And of course I love whenever a well deserved fortissimo jumps out of nowhere.

[rob47]

whenever a i hear chord with a raised fourth in it resolving.  Liszt was insane at doing this.  I literally get chillz when i hear this. its messed up

[tompilk]

The piano solo which goes on for about 2 minutes 10mins into Rach 3 - first movement -  (with crazily beautiful sounds as well as impossible to play). This solo is truly immense and I haven't found anything better yet.
 

[nsvppp]

The moment when the orchestra takes over the motive from the soloist and plays much louder than the soloist, who continues playing something very difficult. Like in Saint Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capricioso.

[tompilk]

I think it's better when the orchestra play something amazing, then the piano has a solo trying to copy it (preerably with big chords and as many notes as possible at the same time). I especially like it when the piano is seen to struggle doing this, but ends up coming out of it well.
Tom Pilkington

[Waldszenen]

- Main triumphant theme in Liszt's Les Preludes

- When the full orchestra plays after a big crescendo early in the 1st Mov of Tschaikowsky's Manfred Symphony

- Main theme of Tschaikowsky's Francesca da Rimini

- Climax of finale of Brahms' Symphony No. 4

They're all that come to mind right now, so many more though.

[mikey6]

- When the full orchestra plays after a big crescendo early in the 1st Mov of Tschaikowsky's Manfred Symphony

I freakin LOVE this piece!!!!!
the development of Tchaik 6,
the middle section of the raindrop prelude and the 2nd part of the first theme of the emaj etude
the start to the sea symphony
when Schubert shifts from minor to major (he sounds so much better in major for some reason)

[Jacey1973]

When the orchestra is tuning up, and you're waiting for the concert to start - especially if they're about to do a piece/concerto/symphony you love or your favourite pianist is about to come on stage.

It's really exciting, the whole atmosphere. Chatting to the stranger next to you about the music you're about to hear and hearing the orchestra warming up, getting ready. And then when it suddenly goes completely quiet...Live music is the best.

[dolcejen]

I love beautiful, creative cord progressions.
I also love the opening notes arising from the orchestra, it's amazing how the combined sound leaps seemingly out of nowhere.