1. The top C in Allegri's Miserere
There you are, just chilling out with a bit of 17th century choral
music like any self-respecting person would do, and then all of a
sudden, BAM! High C! Emotional overload! Skip straight to it by pressing
play below…
2. The climax of Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Everyone sing along! "Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus
Elysium!" This is such a fist-pumping moment. How fist-pumping? Well,
it's supposed to encapsulate the joy of humanity, of being alive,
Germanic might, the brotherhood of man and basically all worldly
positivity, which is a pretty tall order. Does
Beethoven manage it? Take a listen… (the answer's 'yes', by the way.)
3. The opening chords of Elgar's Cello Concerto, played by Jacqueline Du Pré
Few pieces are so iconic that they can be defined by a few chords
alone, and few musicians are so iconic that they can be defined by one
piece. In a word, 'whoompf'.
Watch the performance
here .
4. The Tristan Chord
How can one chord redefine the way we think about music? Well, it's simple. All
Wagner did when he plonked this gorgeous little progression into the opening of his opera
Tristan und Isolde
was use an augmented fourth, an augmented sixth and an augmented ninth
above the root to imply a completely different harmonic relation. Easy,
yeah? Oh, just listen to it…
5. Don Giovanni is dragged to hell
Much of
Mozart's
Don Giovanni
is actually quite humorous, with amorous japes and farce aplenty, but
things take an incredibly sinister turn right at the end when the Don
himself (think of him as a folkloric version of Russell Brand with
comparable dress-sense) is finally forced to atone for his sins. There's
a slow knock at the door, Giovanni opens it and is confronted with a
stone state of the Commendatore, who drags the screaming Don into the
fiery netherworld. Yikes!
Watch the whole scene
here .
6. When all 40 voices come together in Spem in alium
Spem In Alium is a choral classic given a new audience thanks to a certain E.L. James, but we prefer to think of
Thomas Tallis'
piece as it was intended - a whacking great 40-part motet with one of
the most breathtaking ensemble entries in the whole repertoire. Press
play below to hear those 40 parts suddenly arrive all at once…
7. "Zaaadoook The Prieeest!"
You know how it is. You're just bumbling along, minding your own business, maybe there's some
baroque music in the background… KAPOW! Mass choral entry! Something about a priest! Make sure you're sitting down for this one.
8. The Rite Of Spring causes a riot
Imagine being so maddened and confused by a piece of music that you
start a riot. A bit like how parents of Justin Bieber fans must feel,
maybe. Anyway,
Igor Stravinsky's
Rite Of Spring was the original authority-botherer, with its rhythmic
and textural originality causing the audience at its premiere to turn
into a gibbering rabble, 40 of whom were ejected from the theatre. Give
the
Augurs Of Spring section a listen and try to resist the urge to flip a table.
9. When Ride Of The Valkyries turns up in Apocalypse Now
When he was composing
Die Walküre , it's probable that
Richard Wagner didn't have the Vietnam war in mind. However, since Francis Ford Coppola's
Apocalypse Now, this exhilarating music has become associated with exactly that. And helicopters. And explosions.
10. The high notes in the Queen Of The Night aria
As
well as being an OMG moment, this is a "did I just hear that
correctly?" moment. Actually, it's more like an "is that an alien
singing, and why has my champagne flute exploded?" moment. Just listen.