Classical Music

I'm trying to get into Classical Music. I'm looking for any good suggestions you guys have. What I don't want are the 20-30 usual selections that everyone always suggests.

I just found this one watching DareDevil and now I'm enjoying Yo Yo Ma unaccompanied Cello pieces. But I love these.

Unaccompanied Cello Suite No 1 in G Major by Bach
Requiem: III Sequentia Lacrimosa Mozart.

Any other Suggestions?

sethp said:

I'm trying to get into Classical Music. I'm looking for any good suggestions you guys have. What I don't want are the 20-30 usual selections that everyone always suggests.

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I don't know what those are, but Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade is good as is Maurice Ravel: Concerto de Aranjues.

Others include Bach's Brandenburgs

If you go to Amazon, you can find things like "111 Amazing Classical: Brain Power" for a buck or so. There are quite a number of collections like those.

For Classical guitar, look at John Williams, Liona Boyd and Rich Barry among many others.

Look at the Peer Gynt Suite

If you watched the old cartoons like Bugs Bunny, you'll recognize pieces from The Thieving Magpie, Barber Of Seville and a number of others.

Try Rossini, Donizetti and of course, Mozart.

Not the operatic works, except overtures, but other pieces.

My husband's two favorites are Mussorgski's 'Pictures at an Exhibition; the Ravel orchestration', and, because he's fond of Baroque music, Pachelbel's Canon in D. If you know any piece of classical music instantly, it's Canon; the first few bars are enough for the 'Ohhh yeah...' moment.

He's an amateur classically-trained pianist, and when he plays, he has a definite bias toward Chopin, especially Etude Opus 25 No 11, all those crashing chords and rippling scales, or Chopin's 'Heroic' Polonaise Opus 53 in A Flat Major; if you hear it you'll recognize it immediately. He also likes Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsody No 2', (I think there's even a Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny cartoon where they're playing this piece) but it's instantly recognizable, at least in the opening movement. I like Schubert, and Schumann, but especially Rachmaninoff; Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor Opus 23 no 5 is a favorite of his to play because he knows I like it.

Probably some predictable choices there, but I think they're accessible and not impossibly high-brow or snooty/snobbish to know and appreciate, and they're all beautiful and involving to listen to. I love the piano, it combines all the best qualities of the percussive with the musical, and I love to hear it played well, whether by a world-famous virtuoso, or by my husband solely for my entertainment.

Some others you might give a listen to:

Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No 1 in G Minor (Opus 25)
Debussy's Arabesque No 1 in E Minor
Chopin's Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, Opus 64 No 2
Mahler's Kindertotenleider - Male Voice & Orchestration

If you are into a bit of cello, try Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B Minor. Julian Lloyd Webber does a good version. Shostakovich's Cello Concerto Number 2 in G is also worth a listen.

Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEYb8haV60

Consider Jaques Loussier

Jumping in feet first isn't always the best way to begin. Perhaps you may want to begin with a similar music as a half step

Consider Jaques Loussier's version of "Air on a G String" https://youtu.be/pKYCPk-JZoU

Loussier is a classical trained pianist, but interprets various Bach, Satie and Debussy classics with a jazz flare

Hope you enjoy

Modern

Perhaps something from the modern library

Consider something from Arvo Pärt

https://youtu.be/FkHEjiuYBuM

Some fine suggestions but you can't go wrong with Beethoven. If you want to avoid his most famous symphonies like the 5th or 9th give the 7th a listen. Any of his piano concertos or sonatas is worth your time too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKRkKbV5qzc

DONT LET ANY LIMEY NEAR YOUR ORGAN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTtyBJTstVk

BORODIN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h4vGRiNYLo

SATIE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zlhVA6hfbA
DEBUSSY

I'm about half-way through a playlist running right now of a little over 950 pieces that shows just over 90 hours duration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzQdgTxIsac
TCHAIKOVSKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNJdWzCiBfo
SAINT-SAENS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSdMl5nqYrs&feature=plcp
TACOBELL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx5higoGiPw
RSVP BACH

It took me a long time to love Classical Music. It started with Beethoven symphonies; notably Nos 3, 6, 7 & 8. My love of No 9 took a while but that last movement (the 'choral') takes my breath away. As a sampler, try looking at or listening to this; it's brilliant, [and not too long]; notice how the people listen to it. It's also worth remembering the Beethoven was totally deaf when he wrote it.

I've always fancied the Harpsichord. Scarlatti's the man for me, although Bach & others wrote for it. try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71iUAFFQ8ik

If you ever want to hear the ultimate in seduction, try this one.
Pavarotti at his best [it's from la boheme]. If you see it in translation, you'll understand the seduction.

We've all heard "Air on a G-string". Try this orchestral version.
Jacques Lousier is the usual one, and very good it is, too.

PS.
I forgot to mention Tchaikovsky 1812 overture. It's great, especially with the Canons.
And then there's Wagner; "Ride of the Valkierie".
and loads more. . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUmDJrKlDxM

ORGAN IMPROVISATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3crnTGyNA0&index=10&list=PL0CD6D3C40AD4501E

ZWARTS DAD WAS A FAMOUS HYM COMPOSER

NOIRTRASH said:

ZWARTS DAD ...

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OK, OK, we get it. You know how to post links and use All Caps.

Hey Sethp:

There are a lot of great suggestions in the thread already.

I really enjoy the Academy of Ancient Music, particularly when Christopher Hogwood was at the helm. They study/research the original performance by the original composer and try to match the instruments to that, so you hear it exactly how Bach, Beethoven and such meant it to be.

I love their performances of Vivaldi's the Four Seasons and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto's.

You said you liked the cello. Amazon has a very neat ninety-nine cent mega hours long compilation of cello music. Well worth checking out and if you find pieces on it you really like hunt down that particular composer for more.

Enjoy.

Please keep us posted on what you find and what you think!

I'm pretty sure most people will recognize ' Sir Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance, Op. 39: Land of Hope and Glory '