Carl St. Clair, music director of the...

Carl St. Clair, music director of the Pacific Symphony. “Whatever I’m doing at the moment--that’s my favorite piece,” St. Clair says. But pressed for a list, he offered these works:

* Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”: “It’s an incredible symphony, a world within itself. In it, Beethoven leaves the womb of his classical fathers and runs right into this completely Beethovenish world, which is unbelievable.”

* “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” from Mahler’s “Ruckertlieder”: “Because of its absolutely sheer beauty and meaning and text. What Mahler does in these seven minutes gives the same feeling of his Ninth Symphony or the Adagietto of his Fifth Symphony. It’s an aspect of Mahler which a lot of people don’t know about, simply because it gets overshadowed by some of his more grandiose works.”

* “Greeting” from Leonard Bernstein’s “Arias and Barcarolles”: “This is another piece that ranks right up there because of the absolute beauty of its simplicity.

* Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: “This is at the top of the list of pieces that bring me great joy and feelings of victorious jubilation when I conduct them, simply because it starts at such a desolate place and ends with such bright feelings of optimism.”

* “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s Requiem: “This is a very powerful piece for me, where I feel only beauty and peace.”