Classical Music: Break it down

[pro]

Looking for Classical Music Suggestions...

Where to start? Can you Break it down for me, it seems rather deep.... Era/Year/Recordings/Performers vs. original artist...

[Carlos Boll]

What kind of classical are you looking for?

[pro]

Hmmmm...

I guess I am looking to hear what are considered the best recordings of Movement / Time / Mood. From both technical and compositional standpoint.

or where to ask....

[BLP]

I guess that I'm not entirely sure what you are asking, but I'll say that if it's emotion you're after, my money's on music from the Romantic period. I find much of the best bang for the buck (emotionally speaking) in Romantic symphonies, especially Tchaikovsky No. 4 & 6.

If you give me a better idea what you're after, I'd be glad to help...

[pro]

Thats pretty close, Tchaikovsky No. 4 was my first classical purchased CD when I was 15! Specifically Op. 36 II

I just want to get turned on to great stuff...

[jindrich]

Beethoven "Choral Fantasy" opus 80

Virtuosic piano intro followed by a dialogue between piano and several instruments playing variations of the main theme, which is replicated later by the whole orchestra. Then a call and response game between all instruments with more variations of the theme lead to an introduction of the choral, sopranos, altos, then tenors and basses. The chorus is then joined by the orchestra. It all ends with an apoteosic tuti presto coda.

All forms of music expression into one single movement. All in around 20 minutes.


BEST piece of Music EVER written.

[piotr]

Hi,
My preferences go towards the more contemporary classical composers / recordings:

Arvo Part
Gavin Bryars
Steve Reich
John Adams
and (less lately, but still loving some earlier works of) Phillip Glass.

I like the fact that composers who are still alive and working can (and often do) have a hand in the recording process. Arvo Part's album "Alina" for example is an interesting record, as it contains basically two compositions, which are performed on the CD several times each. It's a beautiful album, with an oddly hypnotic quality, large part of which is the repetition of performances with minimal alterations. Bryars: I Love "Jesus' blood never failed me yet" which is radical in structre, but touching, gentele and truly moving. The genealogy of this piece lies in an audio recording of a unique vocal recording, which in Bryars' hands becomes elevated to new heights. Also love the special appearance of Tom Waits (!) on that CD. I think the best record of his though, in my opinion, is the "Man in a room Gambling", which in it's concept aludes to the format of short (+- 5 min) radio broadcast programs... lovely, rich materials with an odd vocal twist. Steve Reich has clearly had a monumental impact on so many musicians these days: including electronic and experimantal. My favorites of his: "Tehillim" and "Different Trains" (in which Reich builds musical structures based on fragments of voice recording of interviews with Holocaust survivers). John Adams: "Nixon in China" is amazingly massive in terms of both music and content... and as to Glass, I think my all time favorite would be "Glassworks", "The Photographer" and "Einstein on the beach"...

So there.
I am not sure if you are looking for older music suggestions, but all of the above are pretty firmly clasified as classical.

p.

[Dave Peck]

Not really sure what particular type of classical you're looking for, but if you want great recordings of it, check out the stuff recorded by Prof. Keith Johnson on Reference Recordings. The "Tutti" sampler CD may be a good place to start.

DP

[lord_bunny]

Originally Posted by jindrich

Beethoven "Choral Fantasy" opus 80

Virtuosic piano intro followed by a dialogue between piano and several instruments playing variations of the main theme, which is replicated later by the whole orchestra. Then a call and response game between all instruments with more variations of the theme lead to an introduction of the choral, sopranos, altos, then tenors and basses. The chorus is then joined by the orchestra. It all ends with an apoteosic tuti presto coda.

All forms of music expression into one single movement. All in around 20 minutes.


BEST piece of Music EVER written.

I'm a huge Beethoven fan... anyways, it's nice to make a bold and sweeping statement like that and still stay somewhat grounded in reality eh? My money's on the 5th, but thats just what hits me the most.

[PRobb]

Actually, in classical music you rarely hear the conductor yell "break it down".tutt

I'm not very well versed in classical (a failing I really need to do something about), but as someone who grew up with pop music, I find myself in general drawn more to chamber sized orchestras than symphony. I guess I like to hear the individual voices.

[mahler007]

These are some of my favorites, all on Deutsch Grammophon:

Beethoven 5th and 7th, Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic- will fry your brain, and was soley responsible for turning me onto Beethoven after maany years of being somewhat ambivalent. I've never looked back since

Schubert: String Quintet in C minor- Emerson Quartet with Rostropovich

Alfred Schnittke- Concerto Grosso No. 1 with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko violins, Yuri Smirnov conductor. Absolutely friggin' fantastic piece, written in 1976.

Bartok- Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine

On Philips
Stravinsky "The Great Ballets" (Firebird, Petrouschka, Le Sacre, and Apollo) Berrnard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra

Sony Classical
Witold Lutoslawski- Symphony No. 3 and 4, and Les Espace du Sommeil. LA Phil. with Esa Pekka Salonen

No label recommendation
Janacek- Sinfonietta- astounding piece- can't recommend it enough.

Mahler: Symphony No. 9- the 1st movements 1/2 an hour, and usess a two note motive- WOW

Beethoven- Op. 95 (Serioso Quartet) and the Grosse Fugue. What a beast :-)

Don't get me started on recordings of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas (especially when transcribed for guitar!) Check out K 175 in A minor- WOW!!

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Andrew

[BLP]

Disclaimer: I LOVE Romantic music!

With that in mind, I am also a fan Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" (even with the love theme, doomed to forever be linked to crappy cartoon imagery), Greig's Piano Concerto, Mahler 1 (I think it's kinda underrated), Sebalius 1 (see Mahler 1), Stauss (Richard), Wagner, Mussorgsky's Pictures at Exhibition (yes, the real-live piano one)... AHHHH!

Too much good music!!!!

[abell1234]

If your not faint of heart I think that the Kronos Quartet put out some of the best modern classical music albums. Also a fan of Shostakovich. And even though its so popular mozart's requiem is great too.

[pfo]

I barely know what I'm talking about here, but I love Beethoven's 7th, especially the first movement! There's a part right near the end where the basses do this amazing drone -- it sounds like a prop plane is flying through the hall. And then the piece just explodes. Gives me chills every time!

The second movement in his 7th is very famous and beautiful (and sad). It would be on a lot of "Beethoven's Greatest Hits" lists.

Of course there's always his 9th Symphony.....I always thought it sounded like a more "polished" Beethoven. It's pretty accessible, like a great pop record.

Again, I'm far from an expert!

[blackfish]

vaughn williams "the Lark Ascending"

trust me. it will bring you to tears. if i could write one minute of music this beautiful I would turn my axes to plowshares.

[corworld]

Some good pieces have been mentioned so far.
If you want to break it down by genre:

Orchestral - Symphonies and Tone Poems
Concertos - orchestra with soloist
Opera - Lots of singing and some great orchestral music
Choral - Choir music, much of it liturgical
Chamber - Duo Sonatas, String quartets, Piano Trios, Piano Quintets, Wind Octets
Lieder - Art songs with piano and voice
Solo - Mostly piano

All of these styles are worth checking out. Great composers like Beethoven and Mozart wrote masterpieces in almost every genre. Other composers like Puccini, Wolf, and Vaughan Williams stuck to a particular genre and became famous for that. I would say sample different types until you find what appeals to you personally.

[LAU]

EDGAR VARESE




.

[hanuman]

Somehow it started for me with piano music of Eric Satie. Simple, in a way close tot the architecture of pop. As said in NAMM 'Music makes you smarter' classical music takes you from one step to another.

[author]

Mozart is da shit!

Greatest hits: Sonaten.

Performer: You. thumbsup

[te-problematique]

The LSO do a great rendition of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony

[Marlowe]

Agreed, this one is so refreshing. It was like hearing the fifth for the first time.

Originally Posted by mahler007

Beethoven 5th and 7th, Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic- will fry your brain, and was soley responsible for turning me onto Beethoven after maany years of being somewhat ambivalent. I've never looked back since

Other recommendations:

1. Stravinsky: La Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite Of Spring)

2. Shostakovich: symphonies (I like the 8th & 11th), Preludes & Fugues (Piano)

3. Sibelius: symphonies (I like 2nd & 3rd best)

4. Bach: anything

5. Bartok: string quartets, Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste

6. Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht

7. Beethoven: piano sonatas

8. Gesualdo: Tenebrae or madrigals (book 4, 5 or 6)

[-Noodles-]

ride of the valkyries.

EPIC.

[Edmond Dantes]

I think a fun place to start is with Mozart.

The piano concerti #20,21,22 and the best 23!

Each will contain a them you have heard before in a soundtrack or what not.

Get the Ivan Morevic pianist/ Neville Marriner recording. They are simply the best. I have 10+ recordings of the 23rd concerto and can't listen to all the others without getting annoyed.

[Sigma]

Originally Posted by LAU

EDGAR VARESE




.

so thought Zappa

[BLP]

Any for a little Samuel Barber?

[pro]

Great contributions guys!!!!

[klaukholm]

The reportoire spans over half a millenium and there is a huge variety for any taste. My reccomendation is to sample some of every style and go from there.

Early baroque
Monteverdi "orfeo"

Purcell "Dido and Aeneas" (1689, but as the english were always behind its more more or less early baroque as well)

Bach
toccatta and fugue for Organ
Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin (get the Sergiu Luca recording)

Haydn
Cello concertos (Truls Mörk recording is excellent)
Symphony 88

Mozart
Symphony 40, 39
Violinconcerto no 3

Beethoven symphony 9
sonata appasionata for piano
violin concerto

Berlioz
Symphony Fantastique

Schubert
Arpeggione sonata (get it with a cellist playing as the instrument arpeggione is obsolete)

Brahms
Symphony 3 or 4 (any of the four really)
violin concerto

Verdi
Requiem

Mahler symphony 1 or 5
(hear those live please, recordings do not do them justice)

Schoenberg
chamber symphony 1

Stravinsky
Rite of Spring

Shostakovich
Symphony 5 and 9
cello concerto no1

Prokofiev
Symphony #5
Romeo and Juliet

Bartok
concerto for orchestra

Frank Proto
afro american fragments

John Adams
Chairman dances

[brle]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

My reccomendation is to sample some of every style and go from there.

Some realy nice recomendations here, so i´ll just continue

Bach: Mass in B mInor; Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists
Mozart: The Magic Flute; Östman/ Drottningholm Court Theatre
Tchaikovsky: 6th: Mravinsky/Leningrad Philh.
Brahms: 4th; Kleiber/Wiener Philh.
Mahler: The Song of the Earth; Bernstein
Satie: Piano Works; Ciccolini
Ravel: Orchestral Works; Boulez
Rachmaninov: The Bells; Pletnev/Russian National Orch.
Schoenberg:Transfigured Night; Boulez
Ives: Orchestral Music; Tilson Thomas/Chicago SO

[Jim vanBergen]

Wonderful- I was flabbergasted when I tried to consider what the BEST of classical music could ever be in my mind...if I were to start buying recordings, the "definitive" of each style of music, composer, and the conductor AND soloists' interpretations will have your head spinning. It did to mine, at least!

To be safe, I'd start with Deutsche Grammophone recordings, VERY consistent, very neutral.

I'd also begin with the major highlights from specific artists. As soon as you touch opera, it's off into a far field compared to a symphony or a piano concerto. I'm a huge opera nut but if you really love chamber works then you should stay within the same realm, yes? or are you looking to expand your horizons, or just start listening to and exposing yourself to amazing music, or amazing recordings?

For Romantic music, you HAVE to begin with Beethoven, Hayden, Mahler, Mozart, and Schubert. These guys are, from a historical standpoint, considered the best romantic composers of symphonies. But there is SO MUCH MORE! I mean, one of my favorite pieces of music is Stravinsky's Firebird, but in terms of pop classical music, how can you ignore Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, or R&J (he's not considered Romantic by some historians, which blows my mind)

And opera... another entire kettle of fish!

Keep this thread going!!!

[klaukholm]

The reasoning behind my list is that it contains mainly pieces that have been a trigger of classical music interest for various collegues of mine.

There is not always a good correlation between the best pieces in the rep and the best "trigger" pieces.
Some of these pieces are not very suitable as triggers on CD, but can be amazing with the right orchestra in the right hall.

For me it was playing Mahler 1 and later Respighi "Feste Romana" also in the orchestra.