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LeotCol's avatar

Any suggestions for classical music I should listen to?

Asked by LeotCol (2275points) April 27th, 2010

I have always liked listening to classical music. But I’ve only ever listened to it accompanying something else or on the radio. I don’t have much of a knowledge in this area, does anyone have any suggestions for specific classical music I should listen to?

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20 Answers

jrpowell's avatar

I asked about this a few years ago and got some good answers here.

Disc2021's avatar

First band that popped into my mind was The Beatles. Highly influential, highly relevant band as far as classical music goes. If you understand certain things that were happening at the time, you appreciate the music much more and all of the expression that went into it.

njnyjobs's avatar

There are various categories of classical music. You have a repertoire of pieces that have become traditional wedding songs that includes “Bridal Chorus” from Wagner’s Lohengrin as a processional and a couple’s exit to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A lot of movie themes have adopted classical music.

Many styles of music exist within classical music, like symphony, opera, choral works, chamber music, Gregorian chant, the madrigal, and the Mass.

Of recent times, bands have crossed pop and classical musics that produced very interesting pieces. One particular that comes to mind is Bond

ragingloli's avatar

@Disc2021
the beatles are not classical music

thriftymaid's avatar

My all time favorite is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Start there.

liminal's avatar

Holst: The Planets

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

MichaelRichard's avatar

i’m into hard rock so ive always liked the more energetic, high-spirited stuff like “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg and “Carmen” from Bizet, Beethoven’s also got some fun stuff like “Ode to Joy” and others. But if you’re in a more serene kind of mood, you can’t beat “Moonlight Sonata”. That song is so heavy.
cheers.

RexCredo's avatar

This is my classical music list. It’s very mainstream and a good starting point:

Bach, Johann Sebastian:
Air
Cello Suite No.1, 1. Prelude

Beethoven, Ludwig van:
Fur Elise
Moonlight Sonata
Piano Concerto 5 in Eb Major – Op 73
Symphony No 6 – Allegro Ma Non Troppo

Brahms, Johannes:
Hungarian Dance 1

Handel, George Frideric:
Messiah – Pastoral Symphony

Haydn, Joseph:
Trumpet Concerto in Eb major – 3rd movement
Emperor Quartet – 2nd movement
Andante from Symphony No. 94 “Surprise”

Liszt, Franz:
Hungarian Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra

Mascagni, Pietro:
Cavalleria Rusticana – Intermezzo

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus:
Rondo a la Turc
Horn Concerto No 4 – 3rd movement
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Pachelbel, Johann:
Canon in D Major

Ravel, Maurice:
Bolero

Satie, Erik:
Trois Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1 (Lent et Douloureux)

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich:
Swan Lake Waltz

Vivaldi, Antonio:
Concerto No. 1 for Mandolin, Strings and B.C in C Major, RV 425: I. Allegro
Le Quattro Stagioni – Concerto for Violin in E Major, RV 269, Op. 8:1, “Spring”: I. Allegro

janbb's avatar

Schubert’s Trout Quintet
Dvorak’s New World Symphony
Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

absalom's avatar

You must listen to Shostakovich and Mahler.

frdelrosario's avatar

That Chopin is not yet mentioned says so much about Fluther.

Let me suggest going to a record store and spending $2 on a used copy of The Big Giant Sampler CD of Classical Music, which might include one or two compositions that you really like, and can continue your search from a more specific point in musical evolution.

Rent some movies. Try Amadeus, Copying Beethoven, Impromptu, Fantasia.

jazmina88's avatar

what fabulous answers!!!!!
Debussy – Claire De Lune
Picture at an Exhibition I’m thinkin Rachmaninoff

Find a classical radio station. That’s immediate. Enjoy yourself.

Factotum's avatar

Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite is pretty cool.

marinelife's avatar

@jazmina88 Pictures at an Exhibition, which is a very good suggestion, is Mussorgsky.

mattbrowne's avatar

Here’s something awesome and somewhat unusual

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faure_Requiem

First time I heard it I felt like melting away.

Snorkledorf's avatar

I’ve always loved Bach’s Little Fugue in G Minor. Played on an organ with good bass, nothing beats it! :)

monocle's avatar

My favorites composers are Tchaikovsky and Schubert, so I suggest them.

The_Idler's avatar

This playlist

The first track is Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which is dramatic and incredibly epic.
Just think you should hear it.

After that it goes onto baroque, which is the music between medieval and classical, and involves lots of lute, mandolin, organ and harpsichord. I like baroque better than the mid classical and romanticist eras (for now at least) because I love the sound of those instruments, the trills and the obvious exhibition of personal skill, which I find orchestral music often lacks.

Famous Baroque composers were Vivaldi and Bach.

btw, anyone want to recommend me some good baroque, please?

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