"Romantic" in quotes because I don't mean Romantic as in late Schubert
through early Mahler, I mean "romantic" as in snuggling by the fireplace
with your sweetheart.

Rachmaninov's slow movements are the gold standard, I guess.  The 3rd
movement of his 2nd symphony, the 18th variation from his Paganini
Rhapsody, and so on.  What turns you on?

10 responses total.

I tend to hear instruments as voices so an orchestra is a choir, a chamber
ensemble is a group of friends, and a solo instrument is one-on-one
conversation.  Maybe this is why I tend to think of the most romantic
music as simple (as in non-complex) music played in an intimate setting by
either a piano or a cello (base voices). 

The one piece that immediately comes to mind is Mendelssohn's Songs
Without Words, Op.19, No.1.  I don't think I've ever heard John play it
where the routine of life didn't stop for a few while the music summarized
lots of feelings.  It is an elegantly beautiful piece of music. 

Yeah, that's a nice one.  I think for me it would have to be "vocalise" by
(I think) Rochmanin.  It's such a lovely peice that it just makes me stop
whatever I'm doing and relax a bit, whenever I hear it.

The composer is Rachmaninov.  Yes, "Vocalise" is exceptionally
beautiful in that way.  Rachmaninov had a serious knack for that.

I know how to spell it.  The only reason that I misspelled his name is because
my brain moves faster than my fingers, it all. <Snif>

Wait'll you get to my age and your fingers move faster than
your brain.

Myself, I find that music intended to sound romantic is too sappy for my
tastes.  The music I find romantic tends to be dissonantly beautiful -
heartache and love all in one, I guess.  So, Stravinsky's less violent pieces,
such as the slower movements from _Rite of Spring_, are the example that
springs to mind - pieces on the tail end of the Romantic period.  

I love those but don't find them particularly romantic.

I find the Bachianas Brazileiras #5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos
romantic, at least parts of it. I don't think it was intended to be, 
though. It's a favorite of mine, anyway.

(It's scored for a soprano and 8 cellos. That's part of it.)

The second movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony gets me every time. 
There's just something about the simple melody in the English Horn and the
contrasts in teh strings... oooh.  

Ooh, yeah, Dvorak.  Good stuff, that.  Have you heard his Piano Quintet in
A Major?  Probably the best piece of chamber music I've ever heard..

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