The Classical Music Recommendation Thread

[TockTockTock]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

I can definitely recommend stuff to you. I suggest starting with a compilation, that way you get the best music from every musical period. I believe a lot of stuff that is for sale on Amazon is also available in a store, if you don't like/can't do shopping online. But check this out anyways: Amazon.com: Classical Compilations.

From those selections, I would suggest compilations similar to this: Amazon.com: 25 Classical Favorites: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Antonio Vivaldi, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Johann II [Junior] Strauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georges Bizet, George Frederick Handel, Maurice Ravel, S. There are some other ones in this series that feature different music so I recommend checking those out too. They all have a similar cover so they're not hard to find.

If you prefer to shop on iTunes with a gift card, I HIGHLY recommend this: Classical Music News: 24 Hours of Classical Music From Naxos on iTunes. I purchased this compilation about a year ago and I love it. It's only about $10 as well, and you're getting over 300 pieces of music, including Handel's Messiah in it's entirety. What I like about it is that the music is drawn from every important musical period in history, from Medieval until the 20th century. If you like to burn CD's, it's pretty easy to split this one into playlists that will fit on the disc.

Out of the two that I've suggested, I strongly recommend the one from iTunes. It's such a great deal!

Edit: The iTunes compilation gets all the music from the Naxos Music Library, and I invite you to check out their website as well: Classical Music - Streaming Classical Music. They have some pretty good articles under the "Education" section in the sidebar on the right

Thank you. This will keep me busy for a while.

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by Jack Pat

Thank you. This will keep me busy for a while.

You're very welcome!

[Palatable Vera]

I'm pretty entry-level with classical music. Here's what I have so far:

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 and some of those Slavonic dances.
Shostakovich: Symphonies 1 and 5
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust and Smyphonie Fantastique
Stravinsky: The Firebird
Beethoven: Symphonies 1 to 9, sans 6
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4 to 6, Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, The Storm, and Overture solennelle 1812.
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

I'll look into everything else posted so far, but if you have any other recommendations, please do tell.

[starrynight]

Originally Posted by Palatable Vera

I'm pretty entry-level with classical music. Here's what I have so far:

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 and some of those Slavonic dances.
Shostakovich: Symphonies 1 and 5
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust and Smyphonie Fantastique
Stravinsky: The Firebird
Beethoven: Symphonies 1 to 9, sans 6
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4 to 6, Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, The Storm, and Overture solennelle 1812.
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

I'll look into everything else posted so far, but if you have any other recommendations, please do tell.

Well listen to Beethoven 6, I think it's the best of those. But listen to a quicker performance not a really slow one. His piano concertos 1, 3, 4 and 5. The Coriolanus Overture.

Tchaikovsky symphony 3 is very underrated. Also listen to his first piano concerto, serenade for strings, and ballet music (start with the shorter suite versions).

Shostakovich symphony 10.

Dvorak - cello concerto, serenade for strings.

Stravinsky - rite of spring

[Scarlett O'Hara]

I recommend Secret Garden. Their music is delicious.

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

I'm looking into Henry Cowell, and Stockhausen. I need an entry point for both. Remember, also, I'm a seasoned avant-garde, and classical listener, so no need to worry about accessibility.

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by Skaligojurah

I'm looking into Henry Cowell, and Stockhausen. I need an entry point for both. Remember, also, I'm a seasoned avant-garde, and classical listener, so no need to worry about accessibility.

I'm not terribly familiar with Henry Cowell, but I do know Stockhausen's music having studied some of it in a music history class. My personal favourite of his is Gesang der Junglinge.



A good "entry point" to Stockhausen's music, I think, is the series of pieces he called Klavierstücke (wikipedia: Klavierstücke (Stockhausen) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). There are 19 of them; here's the first 4:



I also recommend Zyklus:



And for something a little more adventurous (and creepier), I suggest Mikrophonie I & II:

I


II


Hope this helps you.

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Many thanks for the suggestions. I downloded Mikrophon I and II, and am going to start on them soon.

Got a piano collection of Henry Cowell. Not bad stuff:

[Burning Down]

You're welcome. That Cowell piece is very cool. I'm going to look into more of his stuff. Also, the way it's played reminds me of George Crumb's Makrokosmos, at least Book I, with the reaching into the piano and that. I mentioned the Makrokosmos piece to loose_lips a few weeks ago and he liked it and downloaded it

[dhalberger]

I'm looking for some upbeat, "inspirational" or romantic type of music that is almost akin to rock music, but is less "loud" (if you catch my drift). An example might be that music at the end of the movie "Remember the Titans" (Trevor Rabin - Titan Spirit).

Thanks.