The Greatest Piece of Music Ever Written

Who is Geroge Crumb? :)

My pick is not only Adagio for Strings for best American composition, but for best of all time. I would probably also pick Barber as one of the top composers of all time.

Wow... I havent seen this thread yet..., but the greatest work?

I would say Bach's St Matthew's Passion or his Mass in B minor.

To name the "greatest piece of music ever written," we'd have to first come up with a standard by which all music could be fairly judged.

And for such a standard to be fair, it would have to have been understood and agreed upon by each composer.

As far as I can tell, there is only one such standard. That is, every composer who ever wrote down a piece did so with a purpose. The purpose itself varies. It could have been for financial gain, to win a contest, to prove that he/she could, for fun, to make the most popular song ever, or just to keep from being bored.

Judging by this standard, I believe it could be possible to name the greatest piece ever written. But unfortunately it's quite impossible to measure the fulfillment of each of these purposes so that they may be compared. While we can certainly look at how financially successful a piece was, or how popular it became (Happy Birthday might win here), it's quite impossible to know how truly well the composition of a piece kept a person from being bored or served to make his/her children happy.

In the past I would have debated with someone who would argue that Michael Jackson was as good a composer as Beethoven. But not now. I no longer think it's fair to judge a composer or his/her works by standards which were not imposed upon him/her. Michael Jackson may have written to make money. If Beethoven was ever writing for the same reason, then I can definitely see there being a case for stating that Michael Jackson was a better composer than Beethoven. He may have been better at writing music that fulfilled the goals he started out trying to accomplish.

...then I can definitely see there being a case for stating that Michael Jackson was a better composer than Beethoven.

I mean, come on. Could Beethoven Moonwalk while shouting "Hee-Hee!"

Case-Closed!

Dpes Michael Jackson actually compose his own music or does he pay someone to and he sing's to it. Thats generally the system used by post "pop" stars

Dpes Michael Jackson actually compose his own music or does he pay someone to and he sing's to it. Thats generally the system used by post "pop" stars

He wrote many of his own songs.

Symphony - Beethoven 9th, 5th

Piano Concerto - Beethoven 5th, Schumann 1st

Piano Sonata - Beethoven Apassionata, Liszt B minor

Short Piano - Chopin's Ballad

Violin Concerto - Mendelsson

Violin Sonata - Beethoven, Franck

Orchestral piece - Pictures at the exhibition, La Mer

I am forever deciding the greatest piece of music in my opinion...so like teccomin, i will break up into catergories, except in periods.

Baroque: Tocatta and fugue in D Minor for Organ - J.S.Bach

Classical: Beethoven's Seventh Symphony - Allegretto Movement (so beautiful)

Romantic: The First three Scherzo's and Ballades 1 and 3 by Chopin (I know thats 5, but man they are amazing pieces)

20th Century: Rachmaninov's 2nd and 3rd Concertos

Impressionistic: Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit

Serial: Suggestion Diabolique - Schoenberg

Jazz: Gershwin's - Rhapsody in Blue

Pop: BAHAHAHAHA I detest pop.

Old thread is old.

I'm a huge fan of trance/techno pop/rock/pop/and a lot of other things.

So, uh... If I were to go by category, it'd be a huge list. In interest of brevity, right now my absolute most favourite things ever are (these change per week at least twice!):

Capsule ( YouTube - jelly and

Pierre Henry

Henry Cowell

Louis Vierne

Bad Religion

Royksopp

Air, though the last album was sorta scrafty.

And then there's about a million other things.

thomas eisenberg - 256' pianos

Bach Chaconne

now this is the most beautiful and gentle piece ever written, if you are not moved by it, there's something deeply wrong on this planet

arvo part - spiegel im spiegel

slower version, which i love more, oh, man, it's been decades since i listened to this, and i'm about to cry...

YouTube - Spiegel im Spiegel (Arvo Part)

Something's deeply wrong on this planet!

Something's deeply wrong on this planet!

yes, i already knew that...

Baroque: Tocatta and fugue in D Minor for Organ - J.S.Bach

You know, there is a lot of evidence circulating around that this piece isn't actually by Bach, and that he wrote a transcription from a violin solo of another composer's hand. You can search around for the articles on the web. They're quite surprising.

I'd probably go with...

Bach's Mass in B Minor

Mozart's Mass in C Minor

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Missa Solemnes

You know, there is a lot of evidence circulating around that this piece isn't actually by Bach, and that he wrote a transcription from a violin solo of another composer's hand. You can search around for the articles on the web. They're quite surprising.

sounds interesting I would like to get my hands on the violin solo:)

however I googled it and could find anything......

Mahler 2

cookie cutter answer:

Mozart's Requiem

Beethoven's 9th

Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's 9th...

DAMNIT!

But in all seriousness:

The Art of Fugue

A Musical Offering

B Minor Mass

St. Matthew's Passion (I would say all the passion settings if, you know, they all still existed.)

Really, there's little point in mentioning the obvious; namely, how impossible it is to answer this question. How does one even define a "piece" of music? Is it one movement? Multiple movements? A part of one movement? Someone earlier said all of Mozart's piano sonatas, and in many ways, those together act more like one piece of music than some multi-sectioned works of less, err, consistent composers. So should I really have said all of Bach's cantatas? Or maybe the complete works of Mozart or Bach? Mozart and Bach?

But if I were to choose one piece, as in one "song" (so to speak), then I would probably choose a canon from one of the first two Bach works I cited, or something from the Renaissance, probably by Palestrina. :D

You.

Bach - Prelude 7 in Eb from WTC book 1. This "prelude" is simply one of the greatest works of the Master.

Thanks for the heads-up! :)

I pulled out my WTC book and gave it a go... yep its definitely one of the better preludes - I must have overlooked it (can't remember playing it in the past). Anyhow, not 100% it is the best works of all time, but it might be one of Bach's best.

Mahler's 5th and 8th Symphonies

Beethoven's 3ed and 6th Symphonies

Dvorak's 7th 8th and 9th Symphonies

The Holst band suites and the Planets Suite

Without a doubt "Oops, I did it again", especially in the unforgettable interpretation by B. Spears.

Structurally, harmonically, melodically a BRILLIANT tour-de-force of vocal music which will SURELY withstand the test of time and be for the future a standard of the vocal repertoire.

how true.

not