Classical music and composers
 

I need a little help and advice here as i have been getting into it more and more and my knowledge is scarce.Just so you know:I can't stand Verdi but i love Mozart,Beethoven and Toscanini.My knoweledge and appreciation is at your mercy so make the most of it,if you like.

Get Stravinsky - The Rite Of Spring, it's a fucking masterpiece

I know The Rite Of Spring already,thanks.I was thinking about more.....nevermind.

hmm, i don't know very much about classical music either, but my boyfriend plays it to me sometimes (he is a piano geek) and i like debussi and rachmaninoff and ligeti, but i couldn't tell you where to start with those.

classical is such a huge and overwhelming group of music.
i guess its like a classical fan trying to get into rock and pop!!

it's even more over-whemling than that, rock has been around for about 55 years. "classical", (a broad term to call anything medieval, baroque, classical and romantic) has been around for the best of 500 years.
try and listen to chopin's ballade in g minor.
will convert you towards the romantic end of the spectrum. then check out liszt, karganov, rachmaninoff and schumann.

if you're into mozart, then i guess haydn would be a safe bet.

Turangalila Symphony by Messiaen is nice. Can't beat a bit of Ondes Martenot action.

I've been listening to a lot of Hildegaard von Bingen lately. She's lovely. And if you can get any Gidon Kremer playing Schnitke...well, it's just sublime.

I'd second the Haydn recommendation as well.

Best bet is to listen to Radio 3 for a week. Gershwin's composer of the week. The early music show on Saturdays comes highly recommended. Mmm. Early.

Haydn and Verdi are both unlistenable to me.

Mussorgsky and Stravinsky I like. Going earlier, I don't mind Josquin.


Glice, if you just recommended Gershwin, even tangentially, I am going to have to kick you in the face.

Ha. Yeah, why not? I thought I hated Gershwin as well, but he's been on all week and I'm actually quite enjoying it.

You, Mr Clone, like pomp. You say: Mussorgsky and Stravinsky. I say: you're a Wagnerian. I bet you have evenings of wearing a cape and wanking to the climax of the Tristan chord, don't you?

The problem I have with Wagner is the opera angle.
I like the music, but I hate the operatic style. Even the composers I like are strictly relegated to instrumental works.

Tricky. What about liturgical works? Or early music? Plainchant? (all much of a muchness, but also all different enough).

Wagner is the very silliest music imaginable. And if you can't appreciate silly music, then there is something profoundly wrong.

Early music is fine. It's just opera that I can't stand.

Fair enough. You're very much not alone. Opera takes a bit of effort (it's not necessarily that easy to read the libretto and listen) but is well worth it for my money.

Arvo Part. Everyone should listen to him. Miserere or Tabula Rasa, good places to start.

Sjostakovitsj
Sibelius
Rachmaninov
Mahler

Delibes - Lakme, patricularly the main aria, one of the most beautiful pieces ever written
Kurt Weill - Seven Deadly Sins
Feeney - Dracular
Heiner Goebbels - Surrogate Cities
Richard Strauss - Thus Spake Zarathustra
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana, try and get the recording with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

My vote goes to stravinsky, rachmaninoff, and saint-saens.

And Khachaturian! Sabre dance is one of the best songs ever written, and one of the best endings to a song too.

And his concerto for piano and orchestra. It's got a saw in it ;)

Janacek.

I llove gorecki, symphony 3 the symphony of sorrowful songs (every indie rockers classical piece of choice), Ligetti for bonkers harmony and dissonance without being conceptual and boring, Mozarts clarinet conciertos (no particular reason, i just like it, quite druggy though)and ravel for some romance. I want to explore some more of the Ligetti type twentieth century stuff so any tips welcomed. are we including the more classical jazz in here as well?

try stockhausen's helicopter quartet-a string quartet playing in 4 seperate helicopters!

It's as shit as it sounds. Helicopters drowning out music.