Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Classical Compositions of… the 1860s

Probably my least favourite decade so far tbh. I love many of these works but I think it's fair to say there was a bit of a mid-century slump.

As it stands, it's either Grieg's Piano Concerto, Brahms's Piano Quintet or Liszt's Totentanz.

For once I can recommend a performing artist on one of these pieces I cherish! Rubinstein's 'Second Piano Concerto in G minor' by Camille Saint-Saëns is great, playful and just full of life.

Thanks! I haven't heard that particular recording but I can easily picture Rubinstein excelling at Saint-Saëns.

…and speaking of the Totentanz (Dance of Death):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udc3ZbdjQ_I

this is the Brahms Requiem imo

I love Brahms but have never gotten the German Requiem. I've heard several recordings helmed by conductors I admire (Klemperer, Abbado, Herreweghe) and none of them have made it click for me. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood – I'll keep trying.

Oh wow, now we're talking :) For me, this looks like we are coming out of the mid-century slump

Aside from the aforementioned three, Brahms's 1st Piano Quartet is also a serious contender, especially the Kremer/Bashmet/Maisky/Argerich recording, which fucking rips.

And as an in memoriam gesture for Mariss Jansons, his recording of Johan Svendsen's 2 Symphonies with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra consigns the best possible advocacy for those works, which are very much worth everyone's time, doubly so if you like the idea of a more Germanic Grieg.

*advocacy of

There is an inbetweenness to this decade yeah, but these are as good as anything in the century:

Brahms quintet, cello sonata, horn trio and Handel variations
Liszt Totentanz and Legendes
Don Carlo
Tchaikovsky 1st sym my favorite of his symphonies)

The decade belongs to Brahms for sure but it’s going to be very hard for me not to vote for totentanz or winter daydreams

Another playlist -- as always, cobbled together as a bedtime distraction, with inevitable scope for refinement. :)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3r6IjUe4FQwwB6VnYocoB5

grieg piano concerto is unimpeachable for me

Thanks!

Some personal faves, in addition to the above (unless I hadn't specified a recording yet):

Camille Saint-Saëns - Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28 (Tedi Papavrami, Orchestre philharmonique de Liège Wallonie Bruxelles, François-Xavier Roth)
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces, Book I, Op. 12 (Sviatoslav Richter)
Edvard Grieg - Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major, Op. 13 (Dong-Suk Kang, Roland Pöntinen)
Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (Leif Ove Andsnes, Berliner Philharmoniker, Mariss Jansons)
Franz Liszt - Deux légendes (Francesco Piemontesi)
Franz Liszt - Totentanz (Krystian Zimerman, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa)
Henri Duparc - Chanson triste (Véronique Gens, Susan Manoff)
Johannes Brahms - Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 (Quartetto Italiano, Maurizio Pollini)
Johannes Brahms - Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40 (Isabelle Faust, Teunis van der Zwart, Alexander Melnikov)

cosign Zimerman's Totentanz, an absolutely crushing performance and that recording of the Horn Trio, those would both be my first choices as well.

For the Brahms quintet I always come back to jeno Jando with the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos despite the many powerful alternatives. It just does everything right. Coupled with an equally fine recording of the matching Schumann piece.

The disc of 24 Lyric Pieces by Richter is probably my favorite of his final years of activity.

I'm going to do some special pleading for upcoming decades re: grieg. Please do include the String Quartet, the Op. 54 Lyric Pieces, and the Op. 66 and Op. 72 Norwegian Dances. Important presentiments of Debussy and Bartok throughout these.

Very much agree, re: Richter's late recording of the Lyric Pieces.

I've already drafted the 1870s and the Grieg quartet is on it – I'm incredibly fond of it as well!

I'll try to include opp. 54, 66 and 72. At the moment I'm mostly worried about the 1880s, which are going to be absolutely brutal.

op. 54 is urgent and key especially because of the final piece Klokkeklang (Bell-Ringing) which essentially beats La Cathedrale Engloutie to the punch (it's on that Richter disc btw)

listen to op. 66 and 72 and I think you'll agree at least one set needs to be listed

I definitely want to include them – if anything, his later piano works are even more poetically persuasive than the ubiquitous 'Arietta' and the like, even when the aggressively prosaic Håkon Austbø is playing them (I actually quite like his approach!).

Austbo is exactly who I have been listening to lately, i dig his flinty Grieg playing (i only know him in Messiaen prior to this).

essentially beats La Cathedrale Engloutie to the punch

Well that got my attention. This is indeed very appealing. *adds Grieg to ever-expanding list of 19C purveyors of solo piano works I shouldn't have neglected*

cziffra's totentanz from 1962-09-20 is all-time

much love for mussorgsky as well, nice to see the russians start showing up in force

my vote is brahms - horn trio

An unfuckwithable choice. The scherzo often pops into my minds ear unbidden.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Argh zing is crashing every time I try to vote! I wonder if this is a bug with the update that came a few days ago

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Dammit I could not vote because of zing glitch but i was gonna give it to Horn Trio myself!

I was the only Liszt vote in the end! I was a bit distracted this time around, but gave Deux légendes my last-minute nod.

Yeah, I didn't know as many and didn't research as many but I did give my vote to the Brahms horn trio.

I think I may have forgotten to vote.

:(

don’t think I voted in this one, but the answer is the Brahms piano quintet

A mighty piece

It rules (Quartetto Italiano + Maurizio Pollini ftw, although I also love the Belcea Quartet + Till Fellner among more recent recordings).