I always think that these moments where the key shifts can create the ineffable in music and remind me of the words of Albert Einstein:
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." (From his essay 'The World As I See It' - 1931).
I would begin by citing this moment near the beginning of Sibelius' 7th Symphony - the horns with woodwinds (following the string dominated passage). It notable that this is recapitulated near the end of the piece. I find this kind of shift very mysterious.
Schubert loves to toss in unexpected chord and key shifts. Some of my favorite examples of this are from the Piano Sonata No. 16, particularly the first movement.
One I always look forward to is in Mahler 8 first mvt. A powerful modulation/key change from Aflat major to E major. On this clip it occurs at 20'22" but play from about 20' in to get the effect.
Yes, Ella Fitzgerald's version is lovely on her Porter Songbook. Kern is always good for a nice key change too...the middle 8 in All the Things you are for example.
Check out Chabrier. He really throws some shockers in his pieces. So much so that you sometimes can sense the orchestra is having a time playing in tune when the new, unrelated key pops in.
Liszt is excellent at modulating and does so experimentally--he had a real mastery of tone--while never making it hurt your head like Debussy, Ravel, and Scriabin. Modulation is a tool that must be used with restraint, it can really ruin a piece.
Mahler is another master of it; Das Lied von der Erde is filled with creative modulation that isn't narcissistic; that makes sense to what the piece is trying to say.
Not a modulation, but the end cadence of the chorale in Britten's War Requiem is very striking, ending as it does on a surprising Fmajor from a tritone dominated environment a semitone above. A hopeful gesture perhaps. The chorale starts at 1 hour 20'.
The one in Dvorak's cello concerto near the end of the first movement always stood out to me. Usually changing from minor to major is a progression to triumphant, but this is the other way around.
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