Thread: The most erotic piece?

What do you find to be the music that describes pure lust, sex and eroticism. That when you listen to that piece of music you will find yourself in love with whatever turns you on mentally and physically. I'm not a pervert but my healthy mind thinks sexual thought very often, so for me it should be vital part of music.

In my opinion it's
Ravel - Daphnis and Chloe suite prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm6zNYZoHJs
Shoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDeDoe8iZl0
Wagner - Trisan Isolde prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLoHcB8A63M
Debussy - La plus que lente prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Kk-xsFtJ8 (best rendition!!!)
Scriabin - poem of extacy - prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x0O327pSZA
and of course, forgive me Tchaikovsky haters
Tchaikovsky - Romeo Juliet - prev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VMCiewc7mE (the main theme)

The prelude to Der Rosenkavalier is highly erotic. The scene in "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District", the Shostakovich opera, where the heroine gets involved with a hired worker employed by her husband while he is away.
The entire opera Salome bt Richard Strauss is extremely steamy and kinky.

I may be a bit of an oddball, but I find early music erotic. Music from the Renaissance to the very early baroque conjures up visions of wenches, maidens in need of rescue, and of course all the scantily clad green elves and dryads at Renaissance festivals add to the illusion. Huzzah indeed!

Anyone who hasn't heard Basil Poledouris' soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian, set your prejudices aside and give it a listen. It contains some of the most hedonistic music I've ever heard. There is a marvelous section called simply "The Orgy" in 3/4 time with lots of horns and castanet-like percussion which is the very essence of sumptuous sensuality.

Of course it doesn't get much more erotic than Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, implicit even in the title.

There are a few others, but most of the classical repertoire seems geared more toward romance and love than toward eroticism (which men in general find as two separate things). Most music I would find erotic is ambient electronica or slow groove jam music.

Similar topic found here.

My earlier contribution found here.

hmmm i think ... jeux by debussy, poem de la estase by scriabin, symphony no. 3 by szymanowski and above all harmonium by john adams

Well, I'll definitely go with the prelude to "Der Rosenkavalier"--that's about as descriptive as you can get, at least IMO. And Salome's final scene is pretty much right up there for "Kinky".

And I'll fall into the usual trap of "Liebestod". "Daphnis et Chloe" has some very erotic passages, as does the music to Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande". In college, we all used to joke that Ravel's "Bolero" did the trick, assuming that you could last for seventeen minutes.

And while it might not necessarily be 'erotic' per se, the third movment of the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony is rapturously beautiful, at least IMO--the perfect Bear Rug, Brandy and Fireplace music.

Tom

All of Tristan und Isolde Act 2, up till the consummate cadentio-interruptus when Melot et. al. burst on the stage -- this music sets up a pretty impossibly high standard for erotic music in the late 19th century. I think a few valiant tries to recapture it's 30+ minute intensity include

Massenet: Esclarmonde -- love music in act 2. Pretty clear orchestral depiction of the act of lovemaking, after the main character's have their duet.

R. Strauss: Sinfonia Domestica -- has another pretty shameless (Strauss at his best!) rendering of passion in there.

Schoenberg: Parts of Gurrelieder, Orchestral Songs (op. 6 I think), Pelleas und Melisande -- a bit more heavy going than the others, but all this is still from his turbid still-almost-not-quite-tonal-atonal period.

Originally Posted by Weston

Anyone who hasn't heard Basil Poledouris' soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian, set your prejudices aside and give it a listen. It contains some of the most hedonistic music I've ever heard. There is a marvelous section called simply "The Orgy" in 3/4 time with lots of horns and castanet-like percussion which is the very essence of sumptuous sensuality.

Great recommendation Weston. Isn't it true that Poledouris came up with the tune for that orgy from his daughter? If you're looking for erotic film music, well that's another huge repertoire! Some of the best was by Jerry Goldsmith. He considered his steamy score for Basic Instinct one of his best, and it's easy to hear why -- extremely sultry, dangerous music (with a couple literal love-making cues that don't end well tossed in). A more recent example I discovered is Frederic Talgorn's obviously Goldsmith-influenced score to Anthony Zimmer.

Luciano Berio's tape piece Visage for the more or less unprocessed voice of Cathy Berberian and electronic sounds leaves one in no doubt about its subject matter. And very entertaining and graphic it is. That it is structured as a baroque concerto is remarkable.

this is link to what Jeremy mentions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8zPvHns3EQ - passionate like much berio u know it's italian

Thanks Jaime

Putting the jigsaw together, this is the first movement of Visage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Y3V...eature=related

This is the second
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL0TH...eature=related

This is the third
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8zPvHns3EQ.

As I said, it's like a baroque concerto.
The way the voice is handled is different in each movement.
There is only one word in the whole work. All the rest is gibberish. The word is 'parole', which is Italian for 'words'. It appears precisely twice: between the first and second movements, and between the second and third.

Originally Posted by Jaime77

this is link to what Jeremy mentions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8zPvHns3EQ - passionate like much berio u know it's italian

I love it! Thanks for the link. I confess I don't hear the baroque concerto structure nor the sensuality, but it does give me goose bumps. I wouldn't feel comfortable hearing it after midnight. I must check out more of this Berio.

Originally Posted by Falstaft

Isn't it true that Poledouris came up with the tune for that orgy from his daughter?

So I have heard, yes, and she was 9 at the time. Wikipedia says it resembles Holst's Jupiter, but I don't really hear much connection.

[Edit]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Marchant

Putting the jigsaw together . . .

I want to rescue her!

The duet Wann kommst du, mein Heil? from Bach's cantata 140:

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

Certainly this duet between the bride and the bridegroom was interpreted as a symbolic representation of the Church awaiting Christ... but like many ecstatic visionary expressions of the spiritual (think St. John of the Cross' poetry, the Song of Solomon, or the Ecstasy of St. Theresa) the work is clearly imagined in an erotic manner... and randy bugger that Bach was I have little doubt of his awareness of this. This version isn't bad... but I have several versions that are far better at expressing an urgency and passionate impatience.

Richard Strauss' Frühling from his Four Last Songs... here sung by Renee Fleming:

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

Franz Léhar's Meine Lippen sie Kussen so heiss:

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

Reynaldo Hahn's A Chloris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QamSjqX5ApM

Just a few off the top of my head.

Oh great with the links there st.lukes - handy. I never thought of Strauss' four last as being erotic but actually come to think of it there is that quality to that song.

Isnt the prelude to Salomé meant to depict an ejaculation?!

Originally Posted by emiellucifuge

Isnt the prelude to Salomé meant to depict an ejaculation?!