Classical music.

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I've been listening to classical music more and more lately. I am a 26 year old and I stil enjoy other forms of music, but I recently discovered the appeal of classical and orchestral music. I think it's the relaxing atmosphere it brings. No vocals makes you appreciate the music for what it is.

My favorite instrument is the piano, but I am also partial to the violin. I downloaded some mp3's, mostly Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach, and some interpretations of these by some modern musicians. But, what does the AppleInsider community recommend? I'd like to get some more but have no idea what to search for either at the store or on the net (gnutella).
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.



    I bought it for the "Oh Fortuna" oft played part but love the rest of the songs. It has vocals but they are soothing and done very well(in another language...Latin?...so you don't worry about the lyrics).



    Piano- I'm no Classical Buff but I do like Chopin.
  • Reply 2 of 25
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Almost anything pre-Beethoven, that is, Classical, Baroque or Renaissance. If you like Mozart, you'll probably like Hayden. If you like Back, you'll probably like Vivaldi. If you like more relaxing music, try Handel and the English composers. If you like more exciting music, try the Italian (especially Venetian) composers.
  • Reply 3 of 25
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I don't remember where I got it, but I actually have an orchestral version of the Super Mario Brother's soundtrack (the original Nintendo one!) It's great!



    If someone wants it, I can upload it somewhere.
  • Reply 4 of 25
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    If you like Piano, try Chopin the nocturnes : by Rubinstein and listen it after a good hard day of work : it's great.

    Try Piano from Debussy too, it's so impressionist.

    There is so many pieces of Piano, one of the greatest is the Goldberg variations of Bach played by Glenn Gould the 1981 version.



    But one advice : go listen to live music in concert, Listen in real the Carmina burana from Carl Orff : a tremendeous experience, listen to piano live or better than the violin in live : the sound is far far better than in HIFI .



    I use to go in classical concert with my wife when i live in a bigger town , i have eard famous artist : it was an enlightement. Now i am i n a small town, and it's the thing i regret the most.
  • Reply 5 of 25
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I really love the stuff for unaccompanied piano and violin, too.



    Bach's art of the fugue and goldberg variations for piano (or harpsichord), sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin or cello.



    Beethoven's piano sonatas, especially later ones.



    Mozart's piano sonatas, too. You can buy all of Mozart's or Beethoven's piano sonatas on a couple CDs.



    Chamber music by Schubert.



    And if you like the pristine sound of instruments, howsbouts some vocal-only music? Great pure vocal early music by Josquin, Gesualdo, Tallis. It always gives me this kinda creepy feeling like I'm transported to a different time.



    For orchestral stuff, I really love the Russians, like Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Any of those symphonies. Kinda modern sounding but not too outlandish like the Germans were doing at the time (I think the Russians would have been arrested if it was too outlandish.)
  • Reply 6 of 25
    [quote]Originally posted by CosmoNut:

    <strong>I don't remember where I got it, but I actually have an orchestral version of the Super Mario Brother's soundtrack (the original Nintendo one!) It's great!</strong><hr></blockquote>While it's certainly not Classical, I too have all five albums performed by the Tokyo philharmonic orchestra:



    Orchestral Game Concert I

    Orchestral Game Concert II

    Orchestral Game Concert III

    Orchestral Game Concert IV

    Orchestral Game Concert V



    and several symphonic game albums others including:



    Actraiser Symphonic Suite

    Final Fantasy Celtic Moon

    Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale

    Final Fantasy VIII Fithos Lusec Wicos Vinosec

    Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite

    Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: Hyrule Symphony



    ...and I have many other non-orchestral game albums.
  • Reply 7 of 25
    gregggregg Posts: 261member
    Don't forget Tchaikovsky.



    Join the Musical Heritage Society. You can find them online. It's been awhile since I let my membership lapse, so maybe it's different now. They never made me buy things, just stopped sending me the catalog if I didn't. They always had articles about the music and composers. It was worth sending the stamp each month just to learn from reading those. Now you can decline the featured selection online.
  • Reply 8 of 25
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    I recommend Bach: anything, and of course Glen Gould is great . . . but sometimes he can get a little metronome-ish. Check out hs solo cello pieces they're played so often that they're kind of too familiar . . they've almost become cliche because they are just everywhere . . .but they are really great to here . . .many people like Rastapovich, I personally think that he is a bit slurry, Yoyo Ma is good and of course Casals is great too.



    Beethoven piano is also great: I like Brendel but many people think he is sloppy, (he's also a good poet) and also Klein is good . . . but these guys (Bach & Beethoven) are obvious.



    I also like Mahler's songs: they are grand, in the tradition of Romanticist music but not too grandios or kitschy. I listen to the last movement of his song, Das Lied Von Der Erde (the song of the earth) as often as possible... it is epic and also simply about the final parting of two life long friends.

    Also good is his Das Klagendlieder (the song of lament(?)) this is slow and brooding and dramatic . . . these have vocals and in parts are a little difficult to accept (as is much orchestral classical music to today's movie saturated audiences) BUT the way Mahler treats the voice is subtle and varied. I think that the Boulez cunducted version of the latter peice is the best I have heard though I can't find it anywhere. . . I heard it on the radio . . I listen to some other second rate versions.



    Debussy, Chopin even Satie all good piano works though they all are best when in a indulgently sentimental mood



    I also like more contemporary classical music which is more difficult, not so sentimental and lyrical: such as Edgar Varese (Ionization), or Lutoslawski (his Streichquartet(sp?)) Penderecki and even, yes John Cage (music for prepared piano)



    I try to avoid at all costs"

    Hayden

    Tchaikowsky

    Rimsky-Korsakov

    prokofief

    swedish composers
  • Reply 9 of 25
    Just a few examples:

    For solo piano, I love Beethoven sonatas, Chopin etudes/mazurkas and *anything* by Debussy, Scriabin and Hindemith

    For Orchestra: Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart symphonies; Beethoven, Mozart, Saint Saens, Prokofiev, Greig piano concertos; Elgar's cello concerto; Beethoven violin concertos;

    Bartok string quartets....I love much of Stravinsky, Debussy, Bach, (Richard) Strauss, Ravel, Grainger, Ives, Adams, Bartok, Steve Reich, Crumb, Partch, Cowell, Messiaen, ..... Tomorrow, I could type out a different list..there's so much great stuff out there that will stand the test of time and will be listened to in the next century....
  • Reply 10 of 25
    ...and to my ears at least, MP3 encoding completely destroys any recording, being specially noticeable on orchestral work....MP3 seems to make the soundstage of the orchestra so "confused"...it is impossible to pinpoint the location of instruments and groups of instruments in space. It's like listening to the orchestra with all the instruments coming from an indeterminate place, and a set of curtains draped across the front of the stage. Hopefully when broadband is ubiquitous (will that ever be?) and mass storage becomes so much cheaper, we will see the end of MP3 as a standard. Ouch!
  • Reply 11 of 25
    agent302agent302 Posts: 974member
    I happen to be a big fan of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.
  • Reply 12 of 25
    Some more ideas: <a href="http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=208076936/pagename=/RP/CDN/CLASS/comp_srch.html/SearchName=TELEMANN,+GEORG+PHILIPP/OList=2&quot; target="_blank">Telemann</a> , <a href="http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=208076936/pagename=/RP/CDN/CLASS/orch_srch.html/OList=1"; target="_blank">I Solisti Veneti</a> , <a href="http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=208076936/pagename=/RP/CDN/CLASS/perf_srch.html/SearchName=GALWAY,+JAMES/OList=3&quot; target="_blank">James Galway</a>



    And at cdnow.com (and other online stores too I guess) you can listen to sound samples for every CD.
  • Reply 13 of 25
    I highly reccomend Beethoven's late quartets (very complex and beautiful stuff) and of course his symphonies. The second movement of the seventh can soothe any savage beast.



    Mandricard

    AppleOutsider



    P.s. HMurchinson--You might try finding a translation of the Carmina Burana lyrics, which are indeed in Latin. You might be surprised...
  • Reply 14 of 25
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Thanks guys (and girls). After work I will be going to my local music shop.
  • Reply 15 of 25
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    I know all the details of the indie rock scene but when it comes to classical music I´m lost. I often listen to classical night radio (some pan european thing) and I often hear music I like (around 4 am. or something) but I never get the composers or the name of the pieces so please bear with me:



    I like "disturbed" classical music. Something like what Kubricks used in 2001 just when the space ship approach jupiter. The soundtrack for those really wild thoughts and imaginations you have when you have a high fever and can´t decide whether you are dreaming or awake (and those monkeys flying through your room is a natural part of the decoration). You know, that kind of music.



    Could someone please tell me what I am looking for (beside the asylum for mentally disturbed people)?
  • Reply 16 of 25
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    More details: The kind of music Eno would make if he did classical music
  • Reply 17 of 25
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,016member
    In my professional opinion, history's best composer was Beethoven. But, Mozart was perhaps the most talented composer.



    i am a music teacher and am currently pursuing my Master's Degree. If there is anything i can help with let me know.



    Some good composers to consider:



    Renaissance: Josquin de Prez

    Weelkes

    Byrd



    Baroque: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli



    Classical: Mozart and Haydn



    Classic/Romantic: Beethoven



    Romantic: Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner, Berlioz, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky



    Impressionist: Rachmaninoff, Debussy



    Modern: Hindemith, Stravinsky, Copland





    just a few
  • Reply 18 of 25
    If you want to be enlightened, listen to Bach

    If you want to be moved to tears, listen to Puccini

    If you want to be swept away, listen to Rachmaninov (symphonies and piano concertos)

    If you want to find out about man's struggle, listen to Beethoven



    But whatever you do, listen to Bach as much as you can, and as the doc said, do go to concerts: it's a totally different experience, in fact it is the only experience. I'd rather go to a concert, than buy a CD which is not to say that I don't buy CD's.



    The above recommendtions are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but they are a good starting point.



    - T.I.
  • Reply 19 of 25
    There are some excellent suggestions here. As Doc and The Installer suggest, DO go to a live concert and get a good seat. Somewhere in the middle and a third of the way up from the stage. That should cover most indoor venues. This is the real deal...



    Anders, Music for Airports, Music for Film and Apollo- Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois and Roger Eno, these are all very soothing in a symphonic sort of way...



    S.J.Ollendale, you are right on the money. Even with a T-1 line, any music you download is crippled sonically. Especially noticeable with classical and jazz if your accustomed to hearing live music or even a good high end(belt-drive turntable/moving-coil cartridge or CD player with seperate digital to analog converter) music system. I'm sure the resolution of downloaded music will increase with time.



    Unfortunately, Classical music(and REAL Jazz) is becoming an Art that only the upper classes are enjoying as music programs get cut from the public schools and young people think the junk, um, err, music that they hear on MTV is it. Hey, I like junk food once in a while... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    [ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: breakskull ]</p>
  • Reply 20 of 25
    gregggregg Posts: 261member
    Anders, sample some Stravinsky.
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