Jeffrey Hall wrote:

>I know what you are talking about.  As a relative newbie to CM (4 years),
>I listen to very little Bach.  I know, I know, this is sacrilege.  But I
>_love_ melody, and Bach just doesn't do it for me (not yet).

Jeffrey, you haven't looked in the right places. Try the following:

The tenor aria (Ich traue seiner Gnade) from Cantata 97
The Air from the third orchestral suite.
The Crucifixus from the b minor mass.
The opening of the Cantata "Ich Habe Genug"
The aria "Es ist vollbracht" (alas I forget the cantata number, help me out
someone)
And the gorgeous contralto aria from The Saint Matthew Passion, Erbarme dich.

These are some of the most gorgeous melodies ever written.

>I started the thread about "Your Favorite Movement".  Look at one of my
>picks: piano concerto 20 by Mozart, first movement, Beethoven cadenza.
>If more powerful, beautiful melody can be crammed into a single movement,
>somebody please let me know.

Sure it can:

Mendelsson:
G major organ prelude.
Slow movement from the A major organ sonata.
Nocturne from Midsummer night's dream.
Adagio of Mozart's Gran Partita
Handel: Lascia chio Pianga from Xerses (is that right?)
Handel: O Sleep Why dost thou leave me? from Semele
Prokofiev: first movement of the 7th symphony and the first movement of the
second violin sonata.
Bruckner: 7th sym.
Elgar: Nimrod from Enigma variations
Bach: Aria of the Goldberg variations.
The list goes on and on.
I envy you your newness to the world of CM. You have so much to look forward
to!

Kevin Sutton