Classical music advice?
- Thread starter bigorexia
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You are a man (or woman) of good taste! As it happens I'm listening to Chopin's Piano Sonata in B Flat Minor Op.35 as I type. Here's how it works, search the internet for Spotify, download it, install it, search for any of your favourite famous composers and away you go. I recommend starting with the aforementioned Chopin. Of course you have to put up with irritating adverts, but it's worth it.
EDIT: Oh, and if you have a radio handy (and are therefore possibly in a car) then find Classic FM. Again there are adverts, but what can you do?
EDIT: Oh, and if you have a radio handy (and are therefore possibly in a car) then find Classic FM. Again there are adverts, but what can you do?
The original Saint's Row has an excellent selection of Classical music on it's soundtrack [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Row_soundtrack], almost 60 pieces.
I should imagine that game is pretty cheap now, especially pre-owned (probably cheaper than a 60 track compilation CD), so just buy that game and drive around listening to the Classical station, (or buy up all the Classical tracks from the music store and play them on the 'My Radio' function).
That should give you a good basic idea of which composers you like, then you can expand from there.
I should imagine that game is pretty cheap now, especially pre-owned (probably cheaper than a 60 track compilation CD), so just buy that game and drive around listening to the Classical station, (or buy up all the Classical tracks from the music store and play them on the 'My Radio' function).
That should give you a good basic idea of which composers you like, then you can expand from there.
While Classical music is used as a broad umbrella, it acutally refers to a particular era from the mid 1700s to the early quarter of the 1800s. While not all the composers I will mention are from the Classical era, they may strike you interest as well; since I prefer the Baroque era composers. Bela Barotk's Hungarain Pictures and Two Pictures are excellent pieces. Then there are Chopin's Preludes and Etudes with feature some impressive piano work as well as establish his signature sound. Then we have Handel's Taffelmusik (water music), but that is more of a Baroque piece. If you have some patience I'd also recommend Brahms Piano Concerto in Dm, Op. 15. But something easier to digest by him would be his Symphonie No. 1. And then there is the one of the masters, that most people know, J. S. Bach. For starters I would recommend his Violin Concertos 1 & 2, The Well-tempered Clavier as well as his four great Toccata and Fuges (D Minor, F Major, D Minor Dorain, and Fantasy in G Major). Then there are Les Folies D' Espagne by Jean-Baptise Lully and Les Indies Galantes by Jean-Phillipe Rameau (both Baroque composers). Then there are the obivous two, Beethoven and Motzart. While I am not a huge fan of Motzart, Beenthoven is another story all together. For Motzart I recommend Piano Concerto in E Flat and Piano Concerto in G. For Beethoven I can say that his greatest pieces are his string quartets and piano sonatas. Listen to Op. 130 in B flat Major, Op. 131 in C sharp major and Op. 132 in A minor. I figured this is too much already, so if you need to find anything more just let me know. Hopefully this will give you a start on your own so that you may begin to explore on your own. Good luck.
I'm personally a big fan of Haydn. The best thing I can suggest is to Google a few famous composers, and type them into YouTube. At the moment, the BBC are running their yearly season of classical concerts (the Proms), which have a wide range of styles. You can watch/listen to some of them at BBC.co.uk on iPlayer.
Just because someone likes Classical music doesn't mean they have good taste, espically when they know little to nothing about the said music. But it's nice to see someone interested in something other than pop or rap or what-they-call rock and r&b these days.Steve Dark said:
Even though it makes me sound like such a layman for saying so, Beethoven is still my favourite. Almost everything he did was aces, and it's a more involved experience to listen to. Mozart and a lot of the other semi-well known Classical composers always struck me as a bit "elevator music".
That said, if we're getting into Baroque territory, Vivaldi and Handel are some good bets. I'm not much of a Bach fan, except for Toccata and Fugue (In D Minor!) but that's more of a novelty factor. Still, best thing he did, and there's some debate over whether he even wrote it or not.
That said, if we're getting into Baroque territory, Vivaldi and Handel are some good bets. I'm not much of a Bach fan, except for Toccata and Fugue (In D Minor!) but that's more of a novelty factor. Still, best thing he did, and there's some debate over whether he even wrote it or not.
I love me some Gershwin. Rhapsody in Blue is my favorite piece of music.
If you want a good place to start, why not watch the original Disney movie Fantasia? That's how I got started as a kid.
If you want a good place to start, why not watch the original Disney movie Fantasia? That's how I got started as a kid.
It doesn't; which adagio for strings? I'm pretty sure that there are very few composers who haven't done an adagio for strings...bigorexia said:
Anyway... the music that got me into "classical" music:
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in e minor.
Stravinsky - Le Sacre de Printemps (The Rite of Spring).
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons (Yes, it's horrendously overplayed. That doesn't mean that it is bad).
Bach - Double Violin Concerto in d minor.
Debussy - Children's Corner (for piano).
Prokofiev - Classical Symphony (Prokofiev's 1st).
Tchaikovski - Sleeping Beauty (much better than Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, as long as you forget about the parts that Disney bastardised for the film...).
Strauss (Richard) - Also Sprach Zarathustra (famous for being in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
Strauss (Johann) - The Blue Danube (also in 2001).
