Suggestions for getting into classical music?
What are some good CDs for a complete newbie? Any good compilation CDs? Any single-composer CDs?
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Maybe not what you are looking for BUT my friend Sean Kelly just released a classical guitar album called "The #1 Classical Guitar Album". You can check it out here......... http://www.numberoneguitar.com
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Not sure what you're looking for, but I would start with the usual suspects - Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, etc. There's a Very Best of series of CDs out now.
I personally like Mozart and Beethoven. |
Originally Posted by GatorDeb
What are some good CDs for a complete newbie? Any good compilation CDs? Any single-composer CDs?
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Eh, by "classical music" do you mean music from the classical period, or any music pre 1900s? The actual classical period only dates from around 1730ish - 1820ish.
If you just mean "pretty music written by old white guys" when you say classical, I would try a composer or two from each of the major periods of music to see what style you actually like. I tend to like the late renaissance period into the early baroque. Most of the composers in the Romantic period are also gold as well. Classical is actually my least favorite era, far too much structure and too simple for my tastes. |
If you don't mind doing a little reading, I'd pick up The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music. It does well enough as a basic intro to the format as it covers terms, people and more, and there's a companion website through the Naxos record label (major classical label) that includes something like 75 hours of listening material referenced in the entries in the book. You can browse through, and listen to samples of pieces or composers that might interest you.
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I figure I'll have plenty of time for classical music when I'm retired.
That is not to say I don't like to listen to composed or orchestral music, but I'm not going to put enough effort into things to be able to name a Mahler symphony by ear. I suggest Kronos Quartet. :up: |
The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
Beethoven's 5th, 7th and 9th Symphonies, and The Emperor Piano Concerto Mozart's 40th and 41st, Eine Klein Nachtmusik (sp?) Shubert's Unfinished 8th Syphony Rachmaninoff #2 Are some of my personal faves... This is from a Post on Yahoo I searched for you: Composers Titles of Works Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata 80 - Ein Fest Burg Cantata 140 - Wachet Auf Well Tempered Klavier (Volumes ! and II) Magnificat in D Major Toccata and Fugue in d minor Chaconne Prelude and Fugue in A minor Concerto for Organ in A minor taken from Vivaldi's L'estro armonico Concerto in D minor for Two Violins Gustav Holst The Planets Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Symphony of Psalms Soldier's Tale Scott Joplin The Entertainer Maple Leaf Rag The Chrysanthemum Pineapple Rag Georges Bizet Carmen (opera) Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata (opera) Requiem Mass Pyotr Tchaikovsky Swan Lake (ballet) The Nutcracker (ballet) Symphony No. 4 Symphony No. 6 Jean Sibelius Finlandia Symphony No. 2 Antonio Vivaldi L'estro armonico (string suite) The Seasons Gloria John Rutter Requiem Mass Gloria Magnificat any of his cd's Eric Whitacre Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine Cloudburst Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas (opera) Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique Johannes Brahms Shicksaslied Symphony No. 3 Piano Concerto (any of them) Frederic Chopin Prelude in E minor Nocturne in C# minor Any of the waltzes Fantasie Impromptu Claude Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun Claire de Lune Dmitri Shostakovich Festive Fanfare Fire of Eternal Glory Opus 102, Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Antonin Dvorak Symphony No. 9 "New World" Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 "Choral" Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral" Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" Fur Elise Any of the piano concertos Waldstein piano sonata Moonlight piano sonata Pathetique piano sonata Tempest piano sonata Appassionata piano sonata Any of the string quartets Fidelio (opera) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 40 Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" Coronation Mass Waisenhaus Mass Alma Dei Creatoris Requiem Mass Exsultate Jubilate Don Giovanni (opera) The Magic Flute (opera) The Marriage of Figaro (opera) Richard Wagner - all opera Tristan und Isolde Der Ring des Nibelungen (4 opera cycle) Das Rheingold Die Walkure Siegfried Gotterdammerung Parsifal Lohengrin The Flying Dutchman Maurice Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin Jeux d'eau Concerto for the Left Hand (only!) Percy Grainger Lincolnshire Posey Molly on the Shore G.F. Handel The Messiah Israel in Egypt Water Music He wrote a lot of hymns as well, look them up. Franz Haydn Symphony No. 94 Joke string quartet Bird string quartet Insanae et Vanae Curae Gian Carlo Menotti Amahl and the Night Visitors Arvo Part Magnificat Spiegl im Spiegl Te Deum Berlin Mass Symphony No. 3 De Profundis Fratres Festina Lente Cantus for Benjamin Britten Silouans Song |
If you have any interest in Opera, I highly recommend this cd:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Aria-Passion-Opera-Tito-Gobbi/dp/B000002S5M/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1199828576&sr=1-8" target="_AriaPassionOpera" alt="Amazon link to ">Aira: A Passion for Opera</a>. It's a compilation of various Arias (surprise, surprise) and they choose some of the best renditions for many of them, IMO. As for symphonies and such, Mozart is probably the most boisterous and easily likable and is a great place to start, but you'll probably find a different composer to be your favorite. There is a reason that Mozart, Bach and Beethoven are some of the most recognized though. Of the three, Bach is my least favorite. Somebody else here recommended Carl Orff's <i>Carmina Burana</i>. While it's an absolutely outstanding piece, it may be a fairly brutal introduction to choral music. However, there's a good chance you might recognize its opening piece ("O Fortuna") as it has popped up in movies here and there - it's actually on the soundtrack to <i>The Doors</i> and to boot, it is also the only non-Doors track on it. -ringding- |
John Cage - 4' 33"
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I will second the personal fave of Gustav Holst's The Planets. It is an accessible piece with a modern feel to it and it has influenced many movie soundtracks.
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Do they have a classical FM station in the real vice city? Start there.
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mphtrilogy - don't hold out now :mad: ;)
Thanks for the suggestions! I think I will start with the Aria one. Isn't there like a Best Classics compilation with one each of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc.? |
I thought I would resurrect this thread to mention a show I saw recently on PBS: Keeping Score: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with Michael Tilson Thomas.
Whether you are new to classical music or an aficionado it is a fascinating look into Stravinsky's innovative masterpiece from its origins in Russian folk music, Nijinsky's ballet (which I did not know that much about), and examination of the various orchestral elements and performers. Highly recommended. EDIT: Available via youtube... embed vids spoilerized for size. Spoiler:
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Start with one of those "classical thunder" type CDs. Heavier, shorter pieces like Carmina Burnana or Verdi's Dies Irae are easy to get into and abit more accessible. Then slowly dive into other works which need a bit more "involvment".
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Originally Posted by DaveWadding
(Post 8414672)
John Cage - 4' 33"
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mph pretty much nailed all the big ones...
I'm partial to Russian Romantic-Era composers. I cannot possibly listen to enough Rachmaninoff. Dark, whimsical, passionate, and just plain beautiful. The man may have been the greatest pianist in the last century as well. In fact, if anyone has any recommendations on newer compositions that are in the same vein, drop me a line - I'd love to check out some actual living composers like that. I would say to check out a few of the streaming classical channels online. WQED.org has a fantastic stream, and they list everything that is being played for that hour. Another way to get into stuff is to start by grabbing some soundtracks of your fave films. Composers like Hans Zimmer (gladiator), Horner (braveheart), Greame Revell (the crow), etc. |
You'll find there are an infinite array of CDs for every major classical work, and an infinite number of opinions as to their quality. At this point, you should really only care about the music itself rather than worrying about whether you should listen to Vivaldi on period instruments or not, or whether you want Bach's Italian Concerto on harpsichord or piano, or whether you want the classic Beethoven's Ninth (that's recorded in mono) or a contemporary recording (in stereo). You'll also find there are plenty of cheap budget CDs of most works - that isn't an indication at all of quality. I've had a lot of success with Naxos discs for some of the standard warhorses - and a lot of them are available at emusic or amazon.com as cheap downloads.
Overtures are a nice way to get a complete piece that doesn't demand a lot of effort. Try those of Mozart, Offenbach, von Suppe, and Rossini, or Strauss waltzes, Debussy & Satie solo piano pieces, Vivaldi concerti, Sibelius tone poems. My current favorite classical CD is the Best of the Renaissance, by the Tallis Scholars. WCPE.org is another great internet radio station. |
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