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Beethoven - Archduke Trio Gee, when I absolutely must fly, I always go "steerage". Bleh. The various destinations are usually worth it though...

Also, I started working on the Schumann concerto this month, and the 2nd movement is indeed sublime.

But my first Violin Concerto Love was the Tchaikovsky concerto. I heard it for the first time, live, when I was 12. That was it: All Over, Finished. I still love it. Big smiley faces all around for everybody!

Oh, cool - I've never heard of this Beethoven. Thanks!

Anne - it was hard not to go on and on for that little list of mine, as there are so many wonderful pieces that have made my heart leap, and yup, the Tchaikovsky VC, that first movement theme the orchestra keeps going back to - boy, that was one of my first loves. I think that's the reason it didn't make this list, tho, b/c it's a love of a few decades. The rush has softened. But interesting to note that just last winter, I developed such an appreciation for the 2nd movement, in a way I never had before. It's like I heard something completely different, a "story beneath the story," if you will. It was so unbearably poignant. Maybe because I'd read that Tchaikovsky was pining for one of his students, or wait - it was the violinist he'd dedicated the concerto to, or written it for. Once I'd heard that story, boy, it became a litany of longing.

>I started working on the Schumann concerto this month...

It is so pretty, and it seems to me that it just doesn't get performed very much. Is it because it's not considered fiery or high-tech (so to speak) enough? Glad to hear you're working on it.

You captured the gist of my happy moments, only it's champagne powder, and I'm standing on top of the mountains instead of flying over them. But the music plays in my mind, and suddenly the colors, textures, and themes make perfect sense. I may as well be soaring. Elgar - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, second movement and, of course, the ending cadenza

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending

Elgar - Symphony No. 1, Third movement

Goldmark - Violin Concerto, second movement

Two others:

The point in Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata where the second movement gives way to the third movement is possibly the most breathtakingly beautiful moment in all of music (IMHO).

Beethoven Cello Sonata #3 in A major - first movement

Possible reasons no one plays Schumann:

-Rich Old Ladies only want to hear Sibelkovsky or Beethovelssohn. And money talks...

-The edition is really awful. The piano reduction has the urtext, but the violin solo part is just ruined by the WORST editing. Worse than the Henle Beethoven sonatas, if that is even possible. The Scott Schumann is S*&$. End of rant.

-This concerto has the typical, mythical, bad orchestration reputation. Lies, all lies, I say, perpetuated by lazy conductors.

-Conductors are too lazy, or incompetant, to learn something new.

-In terms of mechanical difficulty, it is "pianistic" the way the Beethoven is, but not as hard.

Nifty piece though. 2nd movement is great. Smile!

One of my cherished moments was travelling to Japan in 1982 to take a new job. My wife and I with our infant son took off from San Francisco. As we started up the coast on a beautiful day the music system on the jet was playing the slow movement of the Saint-Saens organ symphony. My wife and I still treasure the moment. > And I haven’t lost that loving feeling <

Great! Now instead of Bolero I have the Everly Brothers stuck in my head! I don't know which is worse!

LOL! Try to stay high and dry Terez!

Corwin, ooh, YES! I get such thrills flying out of SFO on a clear day. The first 5 minutes are just blowaway scenic.

Samuel - have you seen the Hilary Hahn documentary? Excerpts from "Lark Ascending" are used sooooo beautifully in it.

These are all such great replies - please do keep them coming!

>Rich Old Ladies only want to hear Sibelkovsky or Beethovelssohn.

Ha ha ha!

Well, 'tis true. How many Rich Old Ladies want to hear the Schoenberg concerto? (Insert smiley face here). It's not just rich old ladies. During the Nazi period in Germany prior to 1940, the Jewish Kulturbund orchestras were limited in their repertoire because they could not play the major German composers. They could, however, play Schoenberg, at their concerts because he was Jewish. The problem was that they could not attract an audience to concerts featuring Schoenberg. Tom, wow, how interesting! Could they play Mendelssohn? Yes. They could play any composers who were Jewish under the racial laws (in particular, Mendelsohn, Mahler and Schoenberg) and foreign, non-German composers. The rules changed and became more restrictive, but basically, what I have stated pretty much sums it up. At their last concert, they played Nielsen's Inextinguishable Symphony. You might be interested in reading Martin Goldsmith's book about his parents called "The Inextinguishable Symphony" and Michael Kater's history of the period "The Twisted Muse." Nothing more to add, except I second Holzman's reading list, and I have had the 1st movement of the "Archduke" stuck in my head since yesterday...(smiles). >You might be interested in reading Martin Goldsmith's book about his parents called "The Inextinguishable Symphony"

Tom, were you the one who brought this book up another time? I've got it here right in front of me now - it was to be research for a peripheral angle for my novel #3, which I had to put aside for 12 months while I revised #2, and ta da! Today I officially recommenced #3 and voila, here is The Inextinguishable Symphony for me to read (along with an enormous, now-dusty stack of related books). Thanks for reminding me about it. (I also have the Alma Rosé book, which has been mentioned here. That's sure to be a bittersweet read.)

Terez - I think I brought it up some time ago in response to your blog entry looking for good music-related books or whatever. Enjoy it! My brain is curiously blank if the face of your question, despite all these great responses (head cold), but I absolutely loved your description! Theresa - that's always my reaction when someone asks me what my favorite book is. Or movie. Mind goes blank. But thanks for your nice comments on the descrip! A few more that have played in my head since then:

Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, “Solveig’s Song.”
Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Intermezzo”
Bizet’s Carmen Suite no. 1, “Intermezzo”