I've had a recording of Beethoven's full symphonies for a while now but I just recently discovered how good the 2nd movement of the 7th is. Great piece with a great central melody.

its his lesser known symphonies that i really like, like his 2nd, 4th and 8th, but still the 7t h will always be my all time fav.

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and St. Luke's Passion are seriously scary works. I love 'em!

Less scary but no less awe-inspiring is Messaien's Turangalila Symphonie.

If you really like the darker side, then it's hard to beat Skryabin.


On the lighter side, anything by Vivaldi rocks - even the overplayed 4 Seasons. His concerti (especially the ones for wind instruments) are awesome, and I'm particularly partial to the Gloria in D.

Perfection in harmony - J.S. Bach without the fiddly bits.

there's Edward Elgar, an english composer. He did some lovely pieces like:

chanson de matin
chanson de nuit
Salut d'Amoire
Enigma variations
The cello concerto (listen to Jacqueline du Pre's recording!)

For light classical pieces I would TOTALLY recommend the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
It is so beautiful, and very easy to listen to.
The opening track.

Another piece later in the movie.


EDIT: As the two pieces I recommended above are piano based, I thought I'd give some more piano based music. Chopin is always worth a listen. Beautiful compositions.

Fur Elise. Ridiculously famous piece xD


These aren't piano pieces, but they're very very famous and lovely to listen to.
Pachelbel's Canon in D.

Eine kleine nachtmusik (A little night music) - Mozart


Enjoy! ^_^

I heard a performance of Elgar's "Enigma Variations" recently, and I became very fixated on the beautiful variation called "Nimrod," which is the high point in the piece. I agree this music would be a good place to start on one's venture into classical.

The conductor explained how Elgar wrote each variation about someone who had touched his life, starting with the first variation, which was about his wife, and ending with a variation, for Elgar himself, that incorporated aspects of all the other variations.

Elgar's final variation, about himself, is a beautiful way to symbolize through his music how all the people he loved or cared about were part of him.

One of the other variations includes around 20 seconds at the beginning when the music shows, through sound, Elgar's dog running down a hill, springing into the water of a lake, and then dog-paddling around before climbing onto the bank and shaking himself off, LOL!

A middle variation, "Nimrod," is the most famous Enigma variation. The conductor described "Nimrod" as being framed by all the other variations before and after, which serve much like the frame of a painting to help transition the person experiencing the artwork from the space outside the piece of art, and then into the artwork itself, and then back out again.

I liked the analogy between a composition of music and a visual art composition, because, if you think about it, listening to music and viewing a painting are very related: they are both temporal experiences that require you to be aware of relationships of parts to the whole as you appreciate the piece.

Elgar - Enigma Variations - "Nimrod"
This YouTube video had the best recording I could find of the piece. It is repeated 3 times here, which is great for those of us who like to listen to a piece of music again and again! :)



Nimrod: Elgar the philosopher - YouTube