Most inspiring piece of music ever

[Thoth-Amon]

Exactly.

I'd sooner take a guy/girl with nothing but a guitar and his/her voice than classical music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNdeJAHVFQs

This does so much more for me than the vast majority of classical music I've heard (and admittedly I haven't explored classical music as much as I probably should, but I'm in no real rush to do so.)

Um... so... you haven't heard all that much of it but you KNOW that none of can have the emotional content of that Primordial song?
The classical pieces that most people are familiar with are the 'popular' classics... i.e. Moonlight Sonata, Eine Kleine Nacthmusik, Pachelbel's Canon... nice music but not even close to the best or deepest works of the genre.
Its cool if you like this or that genre more than classical... everyone's different. Hell I listen to metal on a more regular basis than classical.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I've been on a bit of a Schoenberg kick lately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ic3ZLj5RPw

That's a great piece! Schoenbergs most accesible and IMO best work. I like some of his 12 tone stuff but too much of it comes across as academic. The only composer of that school who consistently holds my attention is Berg and that's probably because he often broke the rules of serial music.

 

[skeptik]

I think that the point that he more or less failed in trying to make is that people probably feel obligated to some degree to exalt the 'higher' form of music when they encounter such a significant phrase like 'inspiring', and they it would behoove them to refrain from naming some 'low' pedestrian music as inspiring if they wished to present themselves as a discerning and intelligent consumer of the arts. Which is why the majority of people on this forum listen to metal almost exclusively, I would guess, yet almost everybody named some classical pieces (and some other 'acceptable' intellectual pieces of music like jazz) in favor of the preferred metal bands. I personally am not entirely sure what it means exactly for a piece of music to be inspiring, though I would imagine it to be triflingly subjective, so I don't really know what I would say. I certainly don't look for inspiration when deciding whether or not a piece of music is good.

 

[Vilden]

 

[MelissaRWE]

i wish i had something worth adding to this list. ive been going through it and everything im reading is better than what im thinking. lol. Great list though. I'll have to look a few of these up and play them around the office for inspiration.

 

[EternalMetal]

 

[Thoth-Amon]

 

[epicusfuror]

In Metal it would be Manowar's Gods of War album.

Songs like "Odin" and "Hymn of the Immortal Warrior". The choir endings are inspiring.

 

[Silcathia]

Exactly.

I'd sooner take a guy/girl with nothing but a guitar and his/her voice than classical music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNdeJAHVFQs

This does so much more for me than the vast majority of classical music I've heard (and admittedly I haven't explored classical music as much as I probably should, but I'm in no real rush to do so.)

Well, of course, to each his own. I'd sooner take most classical music than a guy or girl with a guitar and voice. The details worked out so wonderfully in this music are a means of expressing a variety of deep emotions, wit, and thought. I listen to a variety of music, but classical music is dearest to me for this reason.

Personally, I find that music like that posted in the above video is ok if I feel "in the mood" to listen to it. On the other hand, if I listen to something like Prokofiev's 1st violin sonata or Mozart's clarinet quintet, I am swept away to, and sometimes frozen in, another place. Classical music, in this way, does much more for me.

 

[Monco10]

Bruce Springsteen - the river

 

[Thoth-Amon]

Well, of course, to each his own. I'd sooner take most classical music than a guy or girl with a guitar and voice. The details worked out so wonderfully in this music are a means of expressing a variety of deep emotions, wit, and thought. I listen to a variety of music, but classical music is dearest to me for this reason.

Personally, I find that music like that posted in the above video is ok if I feel "in the mood" to listen to it. On the other hand, if I listen to something like Prokofiev's 1st violin sonata or Mozart's clarinet quintet, I am swept away to, and sometimes frozen in, another place. Classical music, in this way, does much more for me.

I had that quintet on yesterday.

 

[The Emptier]

Bruch's violin concerto no.1 is pretty inspiring

 

[Silcathia]

Bruch's violin concerto no.1 is pretty inspiring

Agreed! I especially enjoy the third movement. Hopefully I will be able to play this work half-assed some day haha.

 

[Cythraul]

It certainly seems at first blush that 'inspiring' is a rather fuzzy, ill-defined term, but I think people have an intuitive understanding of what's meant by the term even if it is difficult to articulate. I think the "subjectivity" of the notion of 'inspiring' has more to do with its extension rather than its intension. The intension is fairly well-understood intuitively, but what falls under the term's extension has a lot to do with how an individual relates to a given piece of music.

Also, classical music seems pretty appropriate to the topic from my own perspective, but I realize that many simply don't find classical music engaging in the way that I do. Whatever. As much as I like classical music though, nothing ever really moves me to quite the same degree as my favorite metal does. That's not a judgment about the quality of either form of music; it's just a fact about my own personal experience.

Non-metal that I find inspiring/moving/whatever:

Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor (particularly the last movement, the last couple of minutes of the piece always gets me)

W.A. Mozart - Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major: I've seen a few people before refer to Mozart as 'poppy classical music' or 'the Britney Spears of classical music'. I find those sorts of statements to be neither interesting nor particularly informative. The piece is one of the most beautiful I've ever heard, and its "accessibility" in no way detracts from its greatness. It's certainly far from trite.

Metal I find inspiring:

Candlemass - Samarithan: The first time I heard this song I was captivated by the vocal melodies. When I find a piece of music inspiring it has more to do with how it is constructed and the power it exudes rather than the mood that's being conveyed.

Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name: One of my favorite songs of all time and probably the best Maiden song ever.

I'm sure there are a lot more, but those were the first ones that popped into my head.

 

[damnromulans]

The beauty of inspiration is how varied it can be between different people, IMO. I grew up playing classical music in orchestras so I think it's only natural for me to associate the beauty of the genre with achievement, success and pride. Many of my greatest personal achievements are tied in with memorable performances.

Metal is a kind of music that I often lump in with classical for its closeness to my heart. I love a good pop or dance tune but metal is special, I can't really describe it. Melodic guitar solos in general are generally the most inspirational parts of metal songs. I live for moments and passages.

I find pipe organ music played in churches to be incredibly inspirational. The fact that something that's basically a glorified keyboard produces such a rich and full sound moves me to tears.

Religious music in general (instrumental/choral stuff, I'm not talking "Shine Jesus Shine") inspires me.

 

[The Emptier]

Bachs organ works are genius....and i'm not talking about toccata and fugue in D

Holst's "Mars" from the planets is fucking awesome

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Steve Vai's "Tender Surrender"

Yngwie Malmsteen's... Well... A lot of his stuff... But maybe "I Am A Vking". Worst lyrics ever but most jamming song ever.

 

[Caligulan Blood]

Abigail williams song "the departure"

 

[Hell Patrol]

Picking something completley dfferent to everyone else, I gotta say Deep Purple's- Perfect Strangers. Theres an ethereal qualtity to that song, it really get's me.

 

[Beoftw]

shred and classical go hand in hand. composed similarly, and with a lot of thought.


Vivaldi - Four Seasons: Winter
Vivaldi - Storm

Tony Macalpine - hundreds of thousands
Tony Macalpine - tears of sahara
Yngwie Malmsteen - Blue