____twoism

I have recently got into exploring classical music. I never really appreciated it before, now I am changing my mind.
So I'm after reccomendations for really quality stuff. Things I know I like so far are by Satty, and the famous really dramatic one of the Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg.
That's all I know by name, so I was hoping a common BOC appreciation might spark some suitable suggestions...?

Flyingpurplepeopleeater wrote:I have recently got into exploring classical music. I never really appreciated it before, now I am changing my mind.
So I'm after reccomendations for really quality stuff. Things I know I like so far are by Satty, and the famous really dramatic one of the Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg.
That's all I know by name, so I was hoping a common BOC appreciation might spark some suitable suggestions...?

I would say that the less bombastic or pompous end of the classical spectrum is the place to be. So Samuel Barber's Adagio for strings (as used in the Elephant Man) or the spirtual works of John Tavener, Aram Khachaturian are good places to look. Holst's The Planets Suite is full orchestra, but has some beatuiful well-known movements. Also TCHAIKOVSKY / DVORAK: Serenades for Strings or Mozarts Requiem.

Here are a few of my favourite composers.

-Phillip Glass
-Ravel
-Igor Stravinski (a must hear!)
-Eric Satie
-Chopin

Good luck finding a good Stravinski download, Ive been searching for it for a long time, and finally bought a 3-cd box for just 3 bucks....apperantly people don't like good music...
Pm me if you want a rip or something...

Kinda related but definitely a must-see:

1. Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma
2. Paul Potts sings Con te Partiro

Damn... a voice like that... gave me goosebumps everytime again... it even made me put on a cd from Andrea Bocelli once again...

PS: If you want modern classical then you definitely need to check Max Richter and in the same genre but more electronica/minimal-ish: Murcof. Both are highly recommended by yours truly!

I'll tell ya, a good composer is Camille Saint-Saens...I suppose one of my favorite pieµces is "Bacchanale" fomr Samson and Delilah. Edvard Grieg is also very good, very wonderful melodies and emotions on his part. And then Alberto Ginastera is great too.

Yay.

My absolute favorite piece of classical music.. and I can't pinpoint why is:

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor

I tried posting a link to the Wikipedia entry, but links are borked.

Just sit back and listen to the whole thing, if you can grab a copy. It's been with me for just about twenty years now and is the one piece I keep going back to over and over.

There are other great works out there, Chopin's Prelude's and Nocturne's also come to mind as they're routinely on my playlists.

Not very boccy, but DAMN MAN JUST LISTEN!

I have also been looking to get into classical music. I find myself drawn to melancholic and sombre melodies. Does anyone here know of any composers that write music like that? I'm slightly familiar with Satie and have heard a couple other names tossed about, but honestly don't know much about it.

john cage is good.

All of Bach's suites for cello are amazingly beautiful. PM me your soulseek name and you can get Pablo Casals' (famous Basque cellist) renditions of them. Seriously some of my favourite music of any genre.

mechanismj wrote:I have also been looking to get into classical music. I find myself drawn to melancholic and sombre melodies. Does anyone here know of any composers that write music like that? I'm slightly familiar with Satie and have heard a couple other names tossed about, but honestly don't know much about it.

These....

I would say that the less bombastic or pompous end of the classical spectrum is the place to be. So Samuel Barber's Adagio for strings (as used in the Elephant Man) or the spirtual works of John Tavener, Aram Khachaturian are good places to look.

Cheers for all the reccomendations guys, will check them out when i get the chance later.
Has anyone else found that listening to classical music lifts their mood?
I had always heard it but I recently had some on in the background and a couple of times I just realised I was feeling more content.
What's weird is that a lot of it I didn't really like, it was as if the music was actually doing something to my mind. Something about the patterns and structures just seems to really click with me even when I think a lot of it sounds kind of ridiculous.

wwbjd wrote:Yay.

My absolute favorite piece of classical music.. and I can't pinpoint why is:

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor

I have this in my classical CD multipack thing! Just listening now

Fredd-E wrote:Kinda related but definitely a must-see:

1. Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma
2. Paul Potts sings Con te Partiro

Damn... a voice like that... gave me goosebumps everytime again... it even made me put on a cd from Andrea Bocelli once again...

The dude just won!

Honestly, he has one of the greatest tenor voices I've ever heard in my life. Really nice, shy, normal guy with a job in Carphone Warehouse, he just walks in and does that. Wow.


Flyingpurple, my favourites:
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
Elgar - Variation 9 (Nimrod) from Enigma Variations,
Mahler - Adagietto
Handel - Sarabande
Satie - his Gymnopedies & Gynossienes
Debussy - La Mer
Faure - Pavane

mechanismj wrote:I have also been looking to get into classical music. I find myself drawn to melancholic and sombre melodies. Does anyone here know of any composers that write music like that? I'm slightly familiar with Satie and have heard a couple other names tossed about, but honestly don't know much about it.

I would suggest Barber's Opus Dei and Gustav Mahler. I'm not a classical expert though.

On the melancholic or sombre side, Max Richter and Johann Johannsson are both great (I've only heard one album of the latter though), albeit they are both contemporary composers.

Apart from that, Beethoven, Grieg and Schubert are all wonderful (although not necessary sombre).

I'm gonna start exploring the works of Claude Debussy, after hearing ''Prelude A L-Apres-midi d-un Faune'' I am hungry for more. It's so beautiful man, think I'm gonna cry.

I think Arvo Pärt is one of the greatest minimalist out there. Listen to Tubula Rasa or Te Deum and try not to cry. Fairly impossible.

Both Te Deum and Wagner's Das Rheingold got me interested in opera. Problem is, try finding the old stuff (the Mozart's, Beethoven's, Wagner's) that has a great orchestral output. You get all these versions and you gotta find one that really grows on you. Luckily, the second Rheingold I heard was the one I started to love (it had more depth in it's sound and somehow it wanted to be a bit experimental). But it's hard, so normally, I'll try to get things first hand.

B. wrote:I think Arvo Pärt is one of the greatest minimalist out there. Listen to Tubula Rasa or Te Deum and try not to cry. Fairly impossible.

I was going to post arvo part when i saw this thread title ..i was surprised not to see him mentioned until your post actually..

tabula rasa is sombre and beautiful for the person looking for sombre & meloncholy listen to Tabula rasa

Vordhosbn wrote:I'll tell ya, a good composer is Camille Saint-Saens...I suppose one of my favorite pieµces is "Bacchanale" fomr Samson and Delilah. Edvard Grieg is also very good, very wonderful melodies and emotions on his part. And then Alberto Ginastera is great too.

Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals is awesome as well as his Symphony No. 3-- a must hear!

I also HIGHLY recommend anything by the Russian composers. I feel like when you narrow it down to a select group, no one can write music as emotional as theirs, full of beautiful melodies:

Stravinsky: The Firebird
Alexandr Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia
Rachmaninov: Any and all of his preludes and piano concertos.

Verdi's Requiem is rousing