Who Says Classical Music Can't Be Sexy?

NOTE: Some language in this post may be too explicit for some readers.

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With Valentine's Day around the corner, my mind keeps coming back to two things. One of them is music.

The other? Well, I've often wondered why we find plenty of sex in almost all the fine arts — literature, movies, painting, sculpture, opera — but not in the classical concert hall.

Music can be impossibly erotic even if it's not ostensibly about sex — "classics fully clothed," you might say. Maria Joao Pires' performance of the first Nocturne by Chopin is something I find totally steamy. And Jessye Norman's luxurious rendition of Wagner's "Liebestod" is nothing short of a sensual head rush.

It's not easy to depict even a simple kiss in something as amorphous as music, but that doesn't mean composers throughout history haven't tried. Below are five examples of some really steamy classical music. Some of it is brazenly explicit, so read on if you're over 18.

Have some favorite "sensual classics" of your own? Tell us about them (with appropriate language, please) in our comments section.