[Jodles]

I'm always on the lookout for music to add to my collection, and I'm really interested in pieces of classical music that others find "eargasmic" or that gives you "frisson", if you will (frisson = french term for when the hairs raise on your body when listening to a particular piece of music.. there's a guest lecture about the phenomenon on iTunes U at Berkeley for those interested).
 
The only piece I know for sure gives me sort of frisson every time, is Scarbo in Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel, at about 8:20 in (after having listened to the whole cycle as a whole...). And I absolutely love Sigurd Slåttebrekk's performance of it (it's on Spotify, but in rather poor compression...).
 
Anybody else?

 

[Lex2]

What is eargasmic to some might be earectile dysfunctional to others, but what always works for me is the last movement of Beethoven's 9th. Mozart's Tuba Mirum (Requiem) is another. Yet another is the Kreutzer Sonata.

 

[Jodles]

True, but that's what makes this so interesting!
 
Nice additions. I can honestly say I haven't listened to these so much. Will give them a spin.

 

[jiamenguk]

Beethoven's 9th! Thread ends, world explodes, the cake becomes the truth. 

 
Though Verdi's Dies Irae parts of his requiem also sounds great if you've got George Solti's version of it
 
On a completely unrelated side note, the new layout is white... (I'll focus myself on the feedback and bugs forums 

)
 
Furthermore, I'd argue the last minute of the 1st movement of Beethoven's 9th is more effective in the respect of making hairs stand and the ejaculation of body parts (I don't mean to make it sound that scary)

 

[Jodles]

Haha, have got to check that when I get home! But I think I'll do with standing hairs!! Haha

 

[audiofil]

Edvard Grieg (co-national with you) certainly has quite a few hair raising pieces.
The Piano concerto, Symphonic Dances and Peer Gynt or Holberg suites fully qualify.
 
A recent hair raiser for me is Schubert's 8th symphony. The first movement is extraordinary.
A thrilling roller-coaster is Bruckner's symphonic work, especially his Scherzo's.
 
There are of course many many others depending on taste, mood and experience.
Just about any piece of classical music is bound to touch that sensitive string in every music lover's heart.

 

[jiamenguk]

Something else, that I'd strongly recommend, is to go to your local concert hall and listen to any of the mentioned pieces. If you live in london, you just have to go to the BBC proms this year, it's just a really enjoyable experience, and be sure to bring interested friends as well. It's an entirely different experience from the recordings
 
I get the hair standing feelings everytime I've gone to a classical concert, though it's also slightly draining sitting there for 2 hours

 

[351Cleveland]

Just about anything by Richard Strauss is eargasmic to me, particularly Also Sprach Zarathustra, Death and Transfiguration and Don Juan.

 

[pekingduck]

The first movement of Mahler Symphony No. 2... very very intense!!

 

[JohnFerrier]

Contemporary orchestral candidate: Salonen, Helix for Orchestra.

 

[DeusEx]

Quote:

I'm always on the lookout for music to add to my collection, and I'm really interested in pieces of classical music that others find "eargasmic" or that gives you "frisson", if you will (frisson = french term for when the hairs raise on your body when listening to a particular piece of music.. there's a guest lecture about the phenomenon on iTunes U at Berkley for those interested).
 
The only piece I know for sure gives me sort of frisson every time, is Scarbo in Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel, at about 8:20 in (after having listened to the whole cycle as a whole...). And I absolutely love Sigurd Slåttebrekk's performance of it (it's on Spotify, but in rather poor compression...).
 
Anybody else?

 
It's Berkeley.  Just like Stanford isn't Stanfurd, and Caltech isn't CIT, fyi.    
 
Most classical music is always very "enjoyable" to listen to, but IMO violin concertos are mind-blowing, especially the Tchaikovsky (Janine Jansen or Julia Fischer's performances), Mendelssohn (Hilary Hahn's), and Beethoven (Hahn or Jansen).  Shostakovich's string quartet's are also strangely stimulating..    

 

[khaos974]

There are the classical things like Beethoven's 5th, 9th, Kreutzer, Mozart's Requiem, Brahms' 4th, Rachmaninov's 2nd and 3rd concerti...
 
But the last things I've heard that truly gave me frisson were Scheherazade (conducted by Reiner) and Ravel's Concerto Pour Main Gauche (Boulez)
I really recommend Scheherazade.
 

 

[mbhaub]

For that hair-raising excitement, there are few composers who do it as well as Tchaikovsky. The outer movements of the 3rd (the Polish) symphony have those moments where the tension build to a tremendous climax. (Muti on EMI or Markevitch on Philips get exactly right.) The finale of his 1st piano concerto is also thrilling.
 
Then there's the Sibelius 5th symphony and the Vaughan Wiliams 2nd (the London). And so many more hair-raising works that take a lifetime to listen to.

 

[Jodles]

Quote:

It's Berkeley.  Just like Stanford isn't Stanfurd, and Caltech isn't CIT, fyi.    
...

No, sometimes it's called a typo. I'm fully aware of that
 
It's really interesting to see all of the replies and the pieces that works for different people! I recently rediscovered Saint-Saëns 2nd piano concerto. The third movement is really like a thundering fireball. The recording with Stephen Hough is great!

 

[eyeresist]

Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antartica (symphony no. 7) - epic stuff, orchestra with organ and wind machine.
 
Of available versions, Previn on RCA is best, but as it was recorded in the early 1970s you might want something more recent - in which case your best option is Bakels on Naxos. I generally find Bakels' interpretations too cold and stiff, but somehow everything came together on this recording, which was praised for its sound.