Tell me there's somebody else in here that listens to classical music. And I'm not talking video game music; I mean Mendhelsson, Schubert, Mozart, Rachmaninoff etc.

I do. I have a handful of favorite classical composers. My predominate favorites though, would have to be Mozart, Beethoven, Choplin and Vivaldi.

I suppose my top three favorite pieces are:

1. Moonlight Sonata - Mozart
2. Funeral March - Chopin
3. Winter - Vivaldi

I am not a huge classical or orchestral music type person, mainly because I have a lot more fun listen to ~cRazY~ rock bands or really good rappers, or pretty much most other things. I would prefer to listen to classical type stuff over like most metal, top 40 stuff, and country but yeah that's about it.

Holst, Brahms, and Faure would be my all-time favorites from the genre, and Romanticism would probably be my time period of choice for classical.

I've also been listening to a lot more Berlioz lately.

i have a classical chillout gold album

also: i need to listen to more classical

Classical music is beautiful. I enjoy Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, and I also love opera.

I listen to Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Grieg, Strauss, and Bach.

Mozart and Beethoven are good composers.

Bach, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi/ and also occasionally Wagner. =)

love Shostakovich, Bach and Beethoven
havent really checked out allot of other composers
awesome blog for classical music http://leroisamuse.blogspot.com/

I listen to and enjoy pretty much everything classical. Lately I've been listening to just the classical station on the radio (but overall I listen to it less than I do the jazz station, and the two are pretty much all I listen to anymore).

I really love Classical music, and especially the really moving ones. Two of these for me are Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto (in E minor), and Bach's famous (or at least to me) Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

I don't really listen to classical music, unless you would categorise opera as being classical in the sense that Mozart is. But, I do listen to a lot of soundtracks, which could definitely be categorised as such.

I enjoy moonlight sonata composition.

I love classical music, especially classical guitar. Favorites are the usual: Back, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky etc. But i love Maurio Giavanni & Andres Segovia on the guitar side. amazing music. I love playing the Fur Elise on my acoustic guitar.

I enjoy moonlight sonata composition.

I remember playing this on piano, it was one of the first pieces I taught myself. I had heard it playing the original Resident Evil haha.

Tchaikovsky

Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky (and the Mighty Five of Russia. I just love Russian music.) some Vivaldi, Hendel, and Haydn. But for some reason I can't like any expressionist music...

I almost listen to only Classical and Jazz.
Haydn is probably my favorite composer, with his Trumpet Concerto in Eb

Sibelius, George Crumb, Steve Reich, Ligeti, John Adams (only China Gates), Stravinsky, Beethoven, Schoenberg (Survivor from Warsaw), Eric Whitacre, Elizabeth Joan Kelly

Anything Baroque is awesome, and not just the music...the architecture, hot baroque women......anyways I love Bach the most, especially his harpsichord suites

if you ever get a chance listen to some of Bach's "freestyles" on the harpsichord...he did this to warm up before actually playing...its pretty good, and amazing the kind of stuff he allegedly made up on the spot

Dmitri Shostakovich is my favorite composer of all time. I'm also a Romantic period fan, and Ottorino Respighi ranks high amongst my favorites. I also appreciate a variety of Felix Mendelssohn and Sergei Rachmaninoff. I suppose those are my four ultimate favorites.

I tend to overlook how much I like Beethoven, however, being that so many people know of him.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2 in c. my favorite piece.
I Also like Carmen Fantasy by Pablo de Sarasate
Frederic Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu is unbelievably fast, and I love the variations on Ah! vous dirae-je, Maman(A.K.A Twinkle twinkle little star) by mozart.

I like mostly the composers of the baroque era.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Georg Friedrich H�ndel
Antonio Vivaldi
Johann Pachelbel
Tomaso Albinoni
Jordi Savall

I enjoy most of the staples, bach, brahms, beethoven, etc. I would say one of the more recent composers I heard I really liked was Thomas Linley (The Younger), His Music from the Tempest was quite good. I enjoy harpsichord bits as well.

I really enjoy Chopin's work.

For me, it would be J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, D. Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin, F. Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bruch (Violin Concerto in Gm), Satie, Debussey, Scriabin, Ravel, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, some Bartok, Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, Hindemith, and for contemporary composers, I'd include Pendereki, Stockhousen, John Cage, and Philip Glass.

My favorite composers:


Johann Sebastian Bach (especially the St. Matthew Passion) Franz Joseph Haydn Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven Franz Schubert Hector Berlioz Robert Schumann Felix Mendelssohn Charles Valentin Alkan Richard Wagner Franz Liszt (his late piano pieces) Johannes Brahms Antonin Dvorak Leos Janacek Peter Tchaikovsky Modest Mussorgsky Edvard Grieg Franz Berwald Edward Elgar (not everything but I do love his First Symphony and the Wand of Youth Suites) Gustav Mahler (I don't like his Seventh or Eighth Symphonies though) Richard Strauss Carl Nielsen Charles Ives Igor Stravinsky Anton von Webern Sergei Prokofiev Silvestre Revueltas (in my opinion one of the greatest composers to emerge from the American continent; superior to Copland, Chavez, Barber, Ginatera, et al) Saburo Moroi (a very great and unjustly neglected Japanese composer; his third and fourth symphonies are genius) Dmitri Shostakovich (especially the Fourth and Fifteenth Symphonies; Lady Macbeth; Third String Quartet) Malcolm Arnold Frank Zappa Steve Reich John Adams Jorge Liderman

Beethoven's Ninth is amazing as well as the 1812 Overture.

But then again so are Chopin's Funeral March (which ironically nearly got me killed last week), Pachelbel - Cannon in D Major and the ever popular Moonlight Sonata.

Guys there's a great thread for classical in the Download links section. Feel free to request anything you like! :)

Thread 58159

I've been listening to Baroque & Chopin a lot lately, Yngwie Malmsteens new album is really great too "angels of Love"

I love classical along with other types of music and enjoy live classical at the San Diego Symphony-I have heard many composers and my wife heard Joshua Bell play once so we really love classical music and more-

Mozart for the time being.

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, too damn good.

I have a question! And I figure it would be best asked here...

I think I'm long overdue for getting into classical music. I find I really do enjoy it, as I do orchestral music in general, but I'm pretty much a newcomer to the subject. I'd like to collect some works to put on my iPod, but the problem is that there's just so much classical music to choose from, and I'd like to keep how much I download to a minimum.

Where do you guys think I should start? I figure it'd be best to begin with the mainstream stuff (Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc) but even then there's a staggering amount and I'm not downloading or purchasing all of it. All I'm asking for is some advice, suggestions or pointers.

I have a question! And I figure it would be best asked here...

I think I'm long overdue for getting into classical music. I find I really do enjoy it, as I do orchestral music in general, but I'm pretty much a newcomer to the subject. I'd like to collect some works to put on my iPod, but the problem is that there's just so much classical music to choose from, and I'd like to keep how much I download to a minimum.

Where do you guys think I should start? I figure it'd be best to begin with the mainstream stuff (Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc) but even then there's a staggering amount and I'm not downloading or purchasing all of it. All I'm asking for is some advice, suggestions or pointers.

Yes, I'd begin with the biggies. It sounds obvious, but really it's the best way to get a feel for things. Even within the output of the likes of Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky etc there are works that are less well known. These guys aren't 'mainstream' in an arbitrary sense or because they're 'easy' - far from it - in many cases they're the names that crop up because they made such a monumental contribution to music, changed it forever.

Have you checked out the classical thread I linked to above?

Here's something to start you off:
Thread 74443

Also I'm going to post a compilation of Baroque music soon if that's of any use :)

Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Chopin, and some Rachmaninoff and Shostakovitch mostly.

I'm pretty much in the same situation as Heffy. I want to get into classical music, but I have no idea where to start. I'll be sure to google/youtube some of the big names for sure. Does anyone know any pieces that are similar to "Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven"? I enjoy the really slow pace piano music the most. Don't get me wrong though, I like everything, and I'm open to everything, I just happen to prefer more slower music. Oh, and "Suiten fur Violincello Solo Nr.1 G-dur" is great as well. I just copied and pasted the title from the Evengelion Death and Rebirth OST... I believe it's by Bach though...?

Thanks for the Beethoven compilation, Lens of Truth. I'll be sure the download them all once I create more HDD space. Can't wait to see what you got in store for us with your next compilation.

I tend to find classical music way too structured for my taste most of the time and by that I mean I am not fond of the certain laws each composer has to follow to create their piece. This is of course evident in almost all genres of music but in classical it's effect is most notable.

Spite of that I do enjoy classical music but most of my favourites spawn from the 20th century. Wagner, Stockhausen, Fanelli and my all time favourite Debussy. I mean... Anyone can compose like Mozart but only a few can invent like Mozart.

Thanks, Lens! This seems like a good place to start off. Not sure I'll download all of it but the advice is much appreciated!

I'm pretty much in the same situation as Heffy. I want to get into classical music, but I have no idea where to start. I'll be sure to google/youtube some of the big names for sure. Does anyone know any pieces that are similar to "Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven"? I enjoy the really slow pace piano music the most. Don't get me wrong though, I like everything, and I'm open to everything, I just happen to prefer more slower music.

Just paste these into Youtube. Hope this helps.

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in Bb, D. 960: Second Movement
J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1: Prelude and Fugue in C# Minor (get a piano recording)
J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1: Prelude and Fugue in Eb Minor (get a piano recording)
Domenico Scarlatti: Harpsichord Sonata in B Minor, K. 87 (Get the piano recording with Vladimir Horowitz playing)
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique" in C Minor: Second Movement
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" in Bb: Third Movement
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor: Second Movement
Alexander Scriabin: Etude in C# Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Alexander Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F# Minor: Second Movement
Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 "Funeral March" in Bb Minor: Third Movement
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 2 in Eb, Nocturne No. 11 in G Minor, Nocturne in C# Minor (Op. Posth.)
Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 12 in E Minor - Kind Im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep)
Johannes Brahms: Four Ballades, Op. 10: Ballade No. 1 in D Minor, Ballade No. 2 in D, Ballade No. 4 in B
Johannes Brahms: Three Intermezzos, Op. 117: No. 1 in Eb, No. 2 in Bb minor, and No. 3 in C# minor
Johannes Brahms: Four Klavierstucke, Op. 119: No. 1 In B minor, No. 2 in E minor

And, of course, Erik Satie: 3 Gymnopedies, No. 1

Just paste these into Youtube. Hope this helps.

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in Bb, D. 960: Second Movement
J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1: Prelude and Fugue in C# Minor (get a piano recording)
J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1: Prelude and Fugue in Eb Minor (get a piano recording)
Domenico Scarlatti: Harpsichord Sonata in B Minor, K. 87 (Get the piano recording with Vladimir Horowitz playing)
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique" in C Minor: Second Movement
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" in Bb: Third Movement
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor: Second Movement
Alexander Scriabin: Etude in C# Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Alexander Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F# Minor: Second Movement
Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 "Funeral March" in Bb Minor: Third Movement
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 2 in Eb, Nocturne No. 11 in G Minor, Nocturne in C# Minor (Op. Posth.)
Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 12 in E Minor - Kind Im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep)
Johannes Brahms: Four Ballades, Op. 10: Ballade No. 1 in D Minor, Ballade No. 2 in D, Ballade No. 4 in B
Johannes Brahms: Three Intermezzos, Op. 117: No. 1 in Eb, No. 2 in Bb minor, and No. 3 in C# minor
Johannes Brahms: Four Klavierstucke, Op. 119: No. 1 In B minor, No. 2 in E minor

And, of course, Erik Satie: 3 Gymnopedies, No. 1

Hey, I saw this yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to listen to them. Going through them now. Thank you so much! All I can say is, "MOAR!! I WANT MOAR!"

Also... Erik Satie: 3 Gymnopedies, No. 1 <- absolute brilliance. Thanks again.

I like it just fine when it used well in movies and stuff but National Public Radio is a huge bore and makes me stupid lethargic.



I like mostly the composers of the baroque era.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Georg Friedrich H�ndel
Antonio Vivaldi
Johann Pachelbel
Tomaso Albinoni
Jordi Savall


You know what they say; if it's not baroque don't fix it.

:dohoho:

Seriously though, the classical thread has a lot of great things you can try.

The basic ones: Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Handel, Haydn
then theres Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Liszt, Glinka, Saint-Saens, Bethoven, wagner, Schubert, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Verdi, Lalo, Brahms, Mahler, Rachmoninoff, adn Resphighi.
I definitely reccomend listening to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov too

They are all GREAT composers :)

Is there any definitive performances for any of these composers?

Is there any definitive performances for any of these composers?

I'm assuming you mean a definitive recording, right? That can mean two different things: it can mean a recording approved by the composer, or it can mean a recording so effective in its interpretation that it has become a staple to classical audiences.

The only composer-approved recordings would be works by Rachmaninoff and later. Examples of these would be recordings of Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland conducting his own works, and Robert Craft conducting Stravinsky's works (mind you, not Stravinsky conducting his own works because he was a terrible conductor). I believe that Rachmaninoff approved Vladimir Horowitz's playing of his piano concerti. Philip Glass plays his own music, so those are the definitive recordings. Furthermore, it would entail the composer overseeing the recording of instruments that he himself could not play, such as Pierre Laurent-Aimard's recording of Gyorgi Ligeti's piano works. Usually if a work is dedicated to a performer, then a recording by that performer is the "definitive" performance.

However, for composers like Bach, Beethoven, etc. who died before recording was possible, an authentic recording that exactly captures the way the composer intended the piece to sound is impossible. However, there are many recordings that are better than others. But even still, listeners have their personal preferences. Something you should know is that performers often take great liberties in their playing that the composer did not intend (i.e. performances by Glenn Gould and Alfred Brendle, who sometimes have ridiculous interpretations).

For piano music, performers like Artur Schnabel, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, William Kappel, and Evgeny Kissin almost always deliver excellent interpretations. Charles Rosen also places great importance on achieving precisely what the composer intended (he's a musicologist and theorist in addition to being a very talented pianist). I would avoid pianists like Maurizio Pollini, Alfred Brendle, and Glenn Gould because although they are technically very good, their interpretations can sometimes be quite atrocious.

For symphonies, the outright best conductor was no doubt Wilhelm Furtwangler; his recordings are about as authentic as they get. Other outstanding conductors are Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Arturo Toscanini, Antal Dorati, Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, Fritz Reiner, and Sir Neville Marriner. Some decent conductors (I find, anyway) are George Szell, Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Herbert von Karajan, and James Levine. Of course, there are many others, but this should give you a partial list of conductors who have conducted major symphonic works.

Hey, I saw this yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to listen to them. Going through them now. Thank you so much! All I can say is, "MOAR!! I WANT MOAR!"

Here are some others you might be interested in:

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata": Second Movement
Schubert: Four Impromptus, Op. 90: No. 3 in Gb
Chopin: Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4.
Chopin: Waltz in A Minor, Op. 34, No. 2
Chopin: 24 Preludes: No. 4 in E Minor, No. 6 in B Minor, No. 15 in Db, No. 20 in C Minor.
Brahms: Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: No. 2 in A, No. 5 in F, No. 6 in Eb Minor.
Brahms: Seiben Fantasien, Op. 116: No. 2 in A minor, No. 4 in E, No. 6 in E.
Debussy: Preludes, Book 1: Des Pas Sur la Neige, La Fille aux Cheveux De Lin, La Cathedrale Engloutie
Ravel: Pavane pour une Enfant Defunte
Gabriel Faur�: Nocturne No. 11 in F# Minor, Op. 104, No. 1
Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2: Movement 3 "The Alcotts" (try to get the recording of Charles Ives playing this movement)
Arvo Part: Fur Alina

My family now knows that when Dies Irae (Mozart) is blasting in my room to leave me alone for a few hours. It's great to listen to when you're ticked at the world.
Or, alternatively, if I'm a little depressed, Moonlight Sonata can be heard.

Pretty much, I listen to the song that catches my mood.

all the composers above mentioned, plus:
Anton�n Dvoř�k
Carl Orff

I have a rather large collection of classical music myself. My favorites are Bach Sr. and Vivaldi (mostly because they're the ones I listen to the most), but I also like Handel's Water Music, Albinoni's Adagio, Barber's Adagio For Strings, and Mozart's KV 626 Requiem, as well as a handful of his other musics. Classical comprises the greater bulk of the music in my iPod, but I'm very finicky with what I like or don't like.

Thread 88350

Thread 83993

I tend to find classical music way too structured for my taste most of the time and by that I mean I am not fond of the certain laws each composer has to follow to create their piece. This is of course evident in almost all genres of music but in classical it's effect is most notable.

Rules? What rules? You mean music theory? Screw it, good composers (in my opinion) don't write by rules unless there's a good reason for them (like parallel fifths in choral music for example). To paraphrase the great Claude Debussy, in English, and with gratuitous swearing: "F*ck theory, I write what sounds good, goddamnit." :)

In any case, I enjoy pretty much any composer's work. My favourite songs at the moment are (in no particular order):

1. Bacchanale (Saint-Saens)
2. Death and the Maiden (Quartet no. 14, Schubert)
3. On the Nature of Daylight (Max Richter, still alive and kicking)
4. Orbis (Joe Hisaishi - yes, he counts)
5. Symphony no. 3 (Bruckner)

Debussy should have been born later; he would ve'been born to be a jazz legend. :D

Well yea, though there are many rules, and many of them are strict in defining the type of composition ( from sonate to bagatella or whatever else. . . ). That's why the classical era extended to as much as people unlike Debussy or Ravel started appearing :D
They went more experimental and laid foundations for usage of some previously unseen concepts like the sevenths, diminished chords used to create dissonanceand not just momentum clashes; and completely freeing the usage of modes to sound as opposed to ethics as one possible can.

I personally like anything that follows after classical music. To me classical music is like a learning phase to what we have now, and I expect that 100 years from now people will be considering this moment a learning phase to what they will have then. Will notes dance out of the paper,, my bet: the 4d LCD super-thin hybrid computer-toaster monitor screen?

Whatever the case, Chopin is in my opinion the overseer to the last classical era. Like Mozart was at his time and Beethoven during his. Personally whatever follows Chopin to me is contemporary-classical. Too bad not much is borrowed nowadays from Medieval music, (not accounting for Celtic music) but generally music borrows from tradition which is pretty cool.

Mussorgsky. Please, someone must like this guy. "Pictures at Exhibition" is a great composition of him. :)

Classical suits every mood, from the calming effects of Pachelbel's Canon in D to the shake you out of bed Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie or Beethoven's Ninth.

I love Classical music including Operas my favorite composer is Anton Bruckner and my favorite conductor is Gunter Wand

I like a good amount. I've played violin for about 12+ years, so I've been exposed to a good amount of classical music. In particular, I love Vivaldi, Bach, and Mozart.

Does anyone else like the British composers, like Vaughan Williams, Bax, Rubbra, &c?

I enjoy the old masters but always searching for a good modern score from movies/tv shows.

The classic ones, Chopin, Bachs, Faur�, Satie and Philipp Glass, Max Richter, Arvo Prat.

Solti doing Wagner is decades old and debated but a hall of fame classic

I really like Dvorak, especially his Allegro Con Fuoco of the New World Symphony. Such nice opening and closing.