The Classical Music Thread (merged)

[splent]

Or better yet, Rich, come to Chicago next year, and see my choir perform Verdi's requiem in March.

And drink some mountain dew while you are at it.

[Starkweather]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

[ariich]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

With a chronic case of Splentfail.

Or better yet, Rich, come to Chicago next year, and see my choir perform Verdi's requiem in March.

And drink some mountain dew while you are at it.

I absolutely love Verdi's requiem. It'd be my favourite ahead of Mozart's if it wasn't so damn long!

And I've had Mountain Dew plenty of times. They used to sell it here when I was at school, before they decided it had too much colouring in it and made it illegal

[splent]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

Sing a Wagner chorus.  

Plus the guy was an egotistical asshole.

[ddtonfire]

I'm a huge Bruckner fan, but he might be a little deep for someone who is just beginning to explore classical. Even so, I'd recommend his 4th or 9th symphony. He, more than most other composers, is very open to interpretation, so the quality of the piece really depends on the conductor. You usually can't go wrong with Wand, Mehta, Dohnanyi, Welser-Most, or a few others. Cleveland, Berlin, and Vienna always do good Bruckner recordings. The symphonies themselves are long, winding, kind of ADD, but you always receive the award of a ridiculously good ending (Coda of Finale of 4th is probably the most epic ending ever written and the coda of the Adagio of the 9th is the most beautiful, and if you like metal, check out the coda of the first movement of the 9th and tell me that isn't heavy, angry and sophisticated all at once. BTW, the codas themselves are around 4 minutes long each). Sorry, I could ramble about Bruckner forever, so I'll just stop now and move along...

I'd definitely recommend Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel's arrangement), especially by Chicago because their brass section has always been . You definitely can't go wrong with The Planets by Holst; Mars is the precursor to progressive metal (seriously!) inasmuch as Symphony X stole that 5/4 rhythm in "The Divine Wings of Tragedy" (timestamp 1:42) It's also ridiculous heavy. Venus is one of my favorite parts, it's eerily ethereal, creepy, and mysterious. It was one of the first compositions to use a fade-out ending.

If you want more accessible music (accessible music on a Dream Theater forum?!), go with Beethoven (3, 5, 7, or 9) Mozart, JS Bach, or Handel. Some of their music is ridiculously clever, music theory-wise.

[splent]

Dont' forget Beethoven 6, I LOVE that one, it's on Fantasia

Brucker is harder to get into, I've sung his Mass,

[Fluffy Lothario]

Rodrigo - Guitar music compilation (as I don't have any classical guitar music and his is great)

Surely it has the Concierto de Aranjuez, or Fantasia para un gentilhombre, or both. They're both really good.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Oh, and I have, on my laptop and not once listened to yet:

Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique
Tchaikovsky's 1st Pianoconcerto
All bar the 1st Brandenburg Concerto
Beethoven's Violin Concerto
A Wagner 'Best Of' without opera ie just the musical themes

Plus, I have a bunch of Chopin Nocturnes, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Smetana's Ma Vlast, which are all on 1 or 2 listens.

SO MUCH CLASSICAL

[Dunns Beard]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

Sing a Wagner chorus.  

Plus the guy was an egotistical asshole.

I agree with the asshole statement, his comments regarding Mendelssohn are disgusting and his lofty view of his work is laughable really (i.e. Parsifal should only be played at Bayreuth because it is sacred; Bayreuth can only play HIS works), Cosima didn't help by almost trying to deify him after his death. I still love his music. Wagner choruses are amazing though, is it just that they're tough to sing that you don't like them? "Steuermann chorus" from Flying Dutchman, "Pilgrim's chorus" from Tannhauser and the "Grailhouse rock" from Parsifal are some of my favourites.

May I suggest getting Berlioz's Requiem.  That's really intense and ahead-of-his-time music right there.

His requiem is my favourite of anyone by a long way. I'd recommend it to anyone. I'd love to hear it live when the brass bands kick in. Colin Davis is the king of conducting Berlioz, and his recording with the LSO is untouchable.

My recommendations to anyone would be Liszt's (Battle of the huns, Orpheus, Mazeppa) and Dvorak's (Spinning wheel, Water Goblin, Noon Witch) tone poems, they're absolutely amazing but not too long. Good to just put on and rock out to. Also Respighi's Roman Trilogy (Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, Roman Festival) if any of you guys haven't heard it, awesome stuff.

Going to see the Vienna Phil conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Proms this year doing Strauss's Don Quixote (one of my all-time favourites) and Brahms's 4th Symphony. Ridiculously excited about that.

[ariich]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

Sing a Wagner chorus. 

Ok so it's not pretty music, but that doesn't make it any less good.

Plus the guy was an egotistical asshole.

Well yeah, definitely, but that doesn't stop my enjoyment of his music.

Rodrigo - Guitar music compilation (as I don't have any classical guitar music and his is great)

Surely it has the Concierto de Aranjuez, or Fantasia para un gentilhombre, or both. They're both really good.

Nah neither, but I've heard the Concierto countless times and, in all honesty, I prefer Miles Davis' arrangement.

Not heard the Fantasia though; if I like this disc then I'll be sure to check it out.

Listened to the Vespers last night, really good recording and of course incredible music.

Listening to the Vaughan Williams disc now. Flos Campi is amazing (heard it before) but the Oboe Concerto was nice, and the 5th Symphony is wonderful. Incredibly epic sounding in parts.

[Dunns Beard]

Splent, how is it possible to hate wagner?

Sing a Wagner chorus.  

Ok so it's not pretty music, but that doesn't make it any less good.

Actually I'd say that Wagner's music is pretty and beautiful, especially the choruses. I find it so easy to listen to. It has tunes which you can hum along to but still has such power and emotion. Lohengrin, for instance, whilst having a dumb story contains such beauty that I find it's impossible not to adore, "In Fernem Land" and the Wedding March being the most famous bits. Die Walkure also, famous for its powerful third act containing the Ride of the Valkyries and the Fire music is most beautiful in its first act with the gorgeous scenes between Siegmund and Sieglinde.

[ScottOfRedemption]

I saw, last week, Bang on a Can perform Messiaen's Quartet for the end of time, and it was unbelievable
Now on saturday I'm going back because they're having an all Steve Riech day! and he's going to be there!
I can't wait

[kirbywelch92]

Face it, Classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will always be around. I love Rock music, but it will never have the influence or the lasting appeal. So, now we discuss all the great things about Classical music and some of our favorite pieces.

I would say my favorite piece is definitely the Allegretto movement in Beethoven's 7th Symphony, while Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

[In The Wake Of Poseidon]

Arvo Pärt

That's all I gotta say for now.

[Tick]

Mozart is the shit!

[Fluffy Lothario]

while Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

What's a good one or two to start with? I love his 1st PC, but apart from a whole disc of Nocturnes, which was a bit monotonous, I still haven't looked further with him.

At the moment, my hot list includes Tchaikovsky's 1st PC (which is, quite frankly, baffling), Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique (which I like, but not as much as the hype suggests I should), and a whole bunch of Rachmaninoff (which dominates like three bastards). I'm also finally giving the Carmina Burana a bit more time to breathe.

[MetalMike06]

Eduard (sp?) Lalo, a French composer from the 1800s, is one I've gotten into recently.  A popular work from him is a symphony/violin concerto "Symphonie Espagnole."

[ariich]

Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

All of the best? Hell no! Beethoven is at least as good for piano sonatas!

EDIT: By the way I merged the two classical music threads together.

[Portrucci]

Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

All of the best? Hell no! Beethoven is at least as good for piano sonatas!

EDIT: By the way I merged the two classical music threads together.

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (aka Moonlight sonata) is the best sonata no question.

[ariich]

Nah No. 8 ("Pathetique") would have to be my favourite. The late ones are pretty amazing as well.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Yeah, his last is jawdropping.

[Portrucci]

just watch this vid. yes the whole thing. its just jaw dropingly amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmTMgERioY

[James007]

If you haven't listened to Howard Goodall's Eternal Light - A Requiem, you owe it to yourself.  This is a wonderful new work.

You can hear snippets of the pieces here.

[kirbywelch92]

Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

All of the best? Hell no! Beethoven is at least as good for piano sonatas!

EDIT: By the way I merged the two classical music threads together.

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (aka Moonlight sonata) is the best sonata no question.

I will agree with that, I just didn't want to sound too cliche with always pulling the "Moonlight Sonata" card. I find that the whole sonata really demonstrates why the piano is possibly the absolute most important instrument in music as it's capable of embodying every single element that makes music so great.

[LudwigVan]

Chopin writes all of the best piano sonatas.

All of the best? Hell no! Beethoven is at least as good for piano sonatas!

EDIT: By the way I merged the two classical music threads together.

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (aka Moonlight sonata) is the best sonata no question.

Nah No. 8 ("Pathetique") would have to be my favourite. The late ones are pretty amazing as well.

Yeah, his last is jawdropping.

Beethoven's piano sonatas were like mini-symphonies.  They're chock full off amazing ideas that he later expanded on in the great orchestral works.   Don't forget about the Appasionata and Waldstein sonatas.  Epic stuff. 

[Bombardana]

classical music n00b here. what would I like if I like Silhouette by Opeth?

[ariich]

RIP Sir Charles Mackerras: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment+arts-10646000

I saw him conducting at the BBC Proms last summer; he was such a great conductor and musician and produced so many good recordings.

[James007]

RIP Sir Charles Mackerras: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment+arts-10646000

I saw him conducting at the BBC Proms last summer; he was such a great conductor and musician and produced so many good recordings.

His recording of the Complete Mozart Symphonies in the late 80s/ early 90s for Telarc are some of my favorite listening.  He'll be missed.

[Portrucci]

I saw Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's name mentioned in a Herman Hesse novel I'm reading and I endeavored to check him out. He is, of course, one of J. S. Bach's sons (the eldest). And I'm just loving his stuff! Particularly his harpsichord concertos and sinfonias.

check this link out; it's his Sinfonia in D minor.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMpgEmTPT7A  

[jsem]

Listened to Haydn's Mass No. 9 yesterday.

Amazing.

[James007]

Listened to Haydn's Mass No. 9 yesterday.

Amazing.

[jsem]

Bach Cantata Day:

BWV 150, BWV 67 & BWV 42 listened to today.

Eargasmic.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Can someone suggest me a good Mahler symphony to start with? I need some new classical.

[LudwigVan]

I love #5

[Portrucci]

I've only got the 9th, as conducted by Andrew Litton. Amazing piece of work (especially the 1st movement). Will check out the 5th