[Psychonaut]

Always loved hearing it, always hated acquiring it. I have a very limited classical mp3 collection, consisting of just Johann Strauss, Wendy Carlos, and some Bach. I'm sure there are many here who know more than me, any willing to share some of their top picks?

[UNTeMac]

Otorino Respighi - Pines of Rome
Johannes Brahms - A German Requiem
Gustav Holst - The Planets
Samuel Barber - Overture to the School for Scandal, Adagio for Strings (choral version if you can find it)
Leonard Bernstein - Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah"; Mvt. II "Profanation"
Aaron Copland - Solo for Clarinet and Orchestra
want more?

[Nicko]

Hmmmmmmm

Pretty much anything by Beethoven (Symphony No. 5, Eroica), Tchaikovsky, Holst, and of course Mozart.

[yellow no.5]

Everything Nicko/UNTiMac said

Haydn/Mozart/Bach if into really *classical*-sounding music.

For really lush, impressionistic music:
Hector Berlioz
Felix Mendelssohn
Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Modest Musorgsky
Fryderyk Chopin
Rachmaninov & Liszt for really virtuostic music

For 20th Century:
Bela Bartok
Dmitri Shostakovich
Igor Stravinsky
Charles Ives (pretty *out*)
Steve Reich has some very cool minimalistic music.

You mentioned Wendy Carlos. Did you know Wendy was born William? Pretty cool.

-yno.5

[starman]

I found this CD years and years ago called "Classical Music for Dummies" (this was LONG before the series of "Dummies" books) for $1. It was a CD of 99 tracks with little clips of famous classical tracks so that when you hear something and you can't think of it, you have a reference for it. Helps a LOT. I don't think it's around anymore, but I'm sure there are lots of CDs like it now.

Mike

[kovacs]

Some of my best classical albums include:

Dvorak: The new World ( 9 th. Symphony )
Mendelssohn: Die hebriden
Smetana: The Moldau
Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
Verdi: Requiem
Bach: Tocatta & fugue

I'm pretty sure you will instantly recognise some of these, especially the last 3...

[nonhuman]

Originally posted by kovacs:
Bach: Tocatta & fugue

Yes yes yes! My absolute, all-time, favorite piece of music ever! (In D minor, of course. )

Also, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and anything by Tchaikovsky.

[Monique]

First you have to determine the period you like in classical music and the best way to do so would be to go to the library and borrow some cd and listen to the music. Myself, I prefer baroque to any other style in classical music and when I was young i preferred Beethoven and Tcaikowski. So, it depends on you do not borrow the taste of others for your own. The classical music area is very vast and very different from one era to the other.

Don't forget Pacelbel's Canon and that pinano concerto by Rachmaninov (I forget the name) - it's the one in Groundhog Day .

[Oneota]

Berlioz's requiem is pretty darn cool, too.

Oh, and I doubt it was a concerto by Rachmaninoff in Groundhog Day. A concerto generally requires an orchestral accompaniment of some sort.

Rach's 3rd concerto was in "Shine" though. One of my all-time favorite concertos -- I even bought the score so I could follow along while I listen!

[ARENA]

- Anton Dvorak: Symphony 9 "From The New World"
- Antonio Vivaldi: "The Four Seasons"

[lawgeek]

An appreciation for classical music is both a blessing and a curse. Each piece, by a composer, even if only somewhat popular, has probably been recorded hundreds of times. So when you talk about classical music, you don't just talk about, for example, Beethoven's 5th, you talk about Furtwangler's Beethoven's 5th, or von Karajan's version, etc. Every performance can be very different, even if performed by the same musician. For example, I probably have 10-15 versions of Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto, and 3 performances of it by Vladimir Horowitz, and each performance is vastly different. So classical music is great, but it also causes you to relentlessly buy new CDs.

Oh yea, don't listen to classical music in MP3 format. Most classical music has such a wide range of sounds that the quality of the music will almost certainly be compromised.

[Powaqqatsi]

M�ditation by Massenet r0xx0rs

Funny thing is, I'm one of the few people of my age that can really appreciate classical music.

[Oneota]

Originally posted by lawgeek:
Oh yea, don't listen to classical music in MP3 format. Most classical music has such a wide range of sounds that the quality of the music will almost certainly be compromised.

That's why I encode all mine at 192Kb VBR. Sounds as good as the CD.

[gumby5647]

Originally posted by hayesk:
Don't forget Pacelbel's Canon and that pinano concerto by Rachmaninov (I forget the name) - it's the one in Groundhog Day .

Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini


Gumby recommends:

For the "Light and Bright" classical stuff:
Jupiter-The bringer of Jollity (holst-planets)
Shostakovich-Festive Overture
Pachelbel-Canon in D
Shostakovich-Fire of Eternal Glory
Shostakovich-Piano Concerto No. 2 Mov. I
(from Fantasia 2000)
Respighi: Pines of Rome 1st Mov.
Debussey: Clair de Lune
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Copland: Fanfare for the common man
Ravel: Bolero
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra-Finale


Dark Classical:
Holst: Mars-The Bringer of War
Barber: Medea's Dance of Vengeance
Stravinsky: Firebird 5th mov.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 IV mov.


If you want more good classical music recommendations....IM me: gumby5647

[dav]

some of my favorite recordings:

rubinstein collection vol.56 beethoven sonatas
beethoven concertos - george szell, leon fleisher
beethoven symphony no.6, bruno walter
bach, cello suites - rostropovich
bach, any glen gould, esp. the well tempered clavier (i&ii)
bach, english suites - murray perahia
arvo part, tabula rasa
arvo part, te deum
handel/scarlatti, murray perahia
chopin: etudes, murray perahia
schubert: sonata in a minor, radu lupu

[maxelson]

Bach- Particularly of the Glenn Gould variety
Two and Three Part Inventions
The Well Tempered Clavier
Toccatas and Fugues
Goldberg Variations (both the 1955 and 1978). CANNOT be without the GOLDBERGS.

While works are important, it is vital that one pays attention to the performer(s)/ conductor. Differences between performances, interpretations can be as wide as one Hamlet to the next. For me, Gould puts this almost casual perfection on his interpretations of Bach. He is not technically perfect, but his interpretations are so full of vitality (he often loses himself in it and you can hear him actually humming and signing along with a given line). Hell, he was even known for taking a less than perfect piano and making it sing like a diva.

[maxelson]

Whoops. Sorry. Wasn't done.
For baroque (and some true classical) era, I tend to go with The Academy of Ancient Music. It is just my taste.
For Mozart, it is hard to beat Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Neville Mariner). Beethoven's most fiery and widely ranging interpretations are by Daniel Barenboim. Mozart Piano Concertos- Robert Levin. NO Doubt in my mind (check out his completion of Mozart's Requiem). For conductors, I'll listen to anything by Christopher Hogwood (AAM, H & H Society). More as I ponder this.