shainhouse Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I am talking about traditional western classical, just for this discussion. I have recently inherited some old records of classical pieces. Some Beethoven, Bach, Chopin and others and all I can say is WOW! Anyone have any recomendations towards kick-ass pieces, performers or symphonies? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Edvard Grieg ~ Peer Gynt Suites Gentle Monkey and I once did a last minute drama project to "hall of the mountain king" with hillarious results. By far one of my favorite memories of highschool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Excellent stuff Shainhouse. Just like any form of music, classical has its fair share of great music. Chopin is obviously one of my favorites due to that whole Polish Connection thing. I also enjoy Modest Mussorgsky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted February 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Thanks already. I'm gonna check these out. I have heard Peer Gynt, it's great. Once you develop that ear for the music and begin to differentiate the pieces, you realize how fantastic the music is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokonon Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 nothing beats a little strauss for me when i am feeling goofy! that music is so fun. i meditated to it once for so long i felt like i was synchronized swimming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Ludwig Van's glorious ninth worked for Alex Got milk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" I used to listen to this all the time as a child. I loved the fact that the LP was transparent green. and you like this... you may like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Gruvsten Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 i love classical music...it's what i heard the most growing up...well and anne murray and neil diamond but I had a great uncle who was a classic pianist/organist, played pipe organ recitals all over the world, I inherited a massive collection of original Deutsche Gramophone 78's and 33's of it, all in wicked shape, I pull some out up at my folks place every now and then. For me, I tend to gravitate towards the piano based pieces...that's where the mind,music and mathematics are most transparent. But god damn the immense power an orchestra in the right hall has is breathtaking. So for piano, definitely Glenn Gould's Bach Goldberg Variations...Sony has picked up the GG library and is releasing remastered versions on CD(don't buy old Classical CD's, lots were mastered from the vinyl masters, and sound wrong) My fave piano recording is Vladimir Horowitz's The Last Recording...unfuggingbelievable, so much dynamics and such precise but fluid playing - my great uncle played alot of Haydn and Bach and that's the bulk of this recording. And for some fun watch the Victor Borge video...yeah it's campy as shit but when he does play.... And go for the big shit, Vivaldi's 4 Seasons, Tschaikowsky's Nutcracker Suite, Strauss has all the cool waltzes, Beethoven and Mozart for the symphonies, and make sure you get your ears around Ravel's Bolero...my all time fave. For full effect get Allegro Non Tropo and watch it with trippy 70's Italian animation. Acutally, anybody who hasn't seen this NEEDS TO! Do yourself and those around you a favour...don't listen to mp3's of classical music and don't listen to it on a crappy stereo either. And if yer just looking for a bit of info or help breaking apart the various eras, check out www.naxos.com - they have a freebie book you can get and lots of info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 quote: Allegro Non Tropo and watch it with trippy 70's Italian animation. Acutally, anybody who hasn't seen this NEEDS TO! Good call! Epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B & Z Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Here is the "stock" Bach: Get the "Goldberg Variations" played by Glenn Gould (the 1955 recording) and just listen to it over and over again in the car or whenever you are bored. I guarantee that it will become a favourite and you will learn to love every note. Do the same with the Bach Brandenburg Concertos (all six). They too will quickly become favourites. Then put on the Sex Pistols! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Bach wrote perfect music. Best argument for alien life forms ever. I like the violin partitas, they're fun, and pretty invigorating. Gould actually recorded two versions of the Goldberg variations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I'm a fan of Mozart. I don't actually own anything except a bunch of mp3's. I'm sure the RIAA wouldn't go after someone for downloading Mozart mp3's considering his music wasn't around at the time of copyrights. I also enjoyed the movie Amadeus. Great story and fantastic soundtrack. I'd highly recommend seeing that if you haven't. It's an interesting snapshot of the time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Franz Liszt was the rock star of his generation (early/mid 1800's)... critics of his day hated him but his compositions are tremendous quote: Liszt's personality appears contradictory in its combination of romantic abstraction and otherworldliness with a cynical diabolism and elegant, worldly manners. But though he had a restless intellect, he also was ceaselessly creative, seeking the new in music. He helped others generously, as conductor, arranger, pianist or writer, and took artistic and personal risks in doing so. The greatest pianist of his time, he composed some of the most difficult piano music ever written (e.g. the Transcendental Studies) and had an extraordinarily broad repertory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Although it's not "classical", if you like orchestral music, Frank Zappa's album, The Yellow Shark has my highest recommendation. It was done with The Ensemble Moderne, who devoted themselves to learning Zappa's music: they'd show up for rehearsal hours early, tackle pieces Zappa didn't think humans would be able to play, immersed themselves in a hexaphonic sound system (so that the audience felt they were sitting inside the orchestra), and even allowed themselves to be sampled by Zappa so he could experiment with arrangements using a Synclavier. But the music is astounding. This is the album you lend to people who like orchestral music but don't think they'll like Zappa. The music ranges from solo piano, to dual piano, to small orchestra, to full ensemble, to almost "performance art" pieces with narration (done by members of the EM who didn't know they could narrate). Aloha, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Musicface Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I've loved Bach and Vivaldi since I was kid, and would recommend many of the same pieces that have been mentioned. A plug for Stravinsky, "The Firebird" is amazing. They play a little bit at begining of Yessongs, the first live Yes album. I have an old LP of it somewhere, it might be Zubin Mehta conducting but I can't remember. The excerpt from Fantasia 2000 is actually quite good too, although that's not the whole thing. Holst's "The Planets" is also great - check out "Mars" if you want to know where John Williams got the idea for a lot of the music from Star Wars, particularly the Imperial themes. Peace, Mr. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Oh yeah, Stravinski was the man. To pique your interest, the premiere of his The Rite of Spring (a ballet) in 1914 (I think) inspired a remarkable riot only a few minutes into the piece. Stravinski and Najinski (the choreoegrapher) barely escaped with their lives as the high-society black-tie audience absolutely trashed and destroyed the new theatre. And it's an instrumental piece. Could you imagine a new piece of music causing the standard NAC audience to destroy the building? Stravinski was the Sex Pistols of his day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Musicface Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Oh I almost forgot, we were talking about Vivaldi and Four Seasons and such were mentioned, the orchestra stuff is great, but if you're interested in great choral music, Vivaldi's Gloria is fantastic. Not everyone likes classical choir works I know, but this one is quite accessible IMHO. - M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Not Bob Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I'm partial to certain works by English and French composers ... Vaugh Williams (Fantasian On A Theme By Thomas Tallis and Sinfonia Antarctica), Satie (the Gymnopedies), Debussy, Berlioz ... is Barber English or American? I enjoy his work, too. Second bradm's vote for Zappa, I also enjoy his Orchestral Favorites album ... The Perfect Stranger is worth it if only for the descriptions of the pieces (one piece is described as "An elderly Republican couple attempting to have sex while breakdancing" ) RnB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B & Z Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Unfortunately classical music suffers from the same commercial forces that have ruined rock music...only the safe and familiar are promoted and acknowledged (remember the Scammy's err Grammys--the day that any experimental cutting edge contemporary classical or free jazz is acknowledged is the day the earth stands still) Only the Romantic classical tradition is embraced...the three B's are constanly shoved down the listener's throat..Bach, Beethoven & Brahms ....do we really need to see some little prodigy playing Mozart or Chopin anymore? However to $urvive the classical music biz has to do this... the joke for the modern day composer is not that you can get your piece played once but TWICE!!! Not knocking the music itself, I say yes dive in full force and absorb all you can but don't cut yourself off from the incredible sounds of this century! Try some of these Arnold Schoenberg Bela Bartok Maurice Ravel Claude Debussy onto the more "out" try John Cage Varese Stockhausen Paul Hindemith Ligetti, Kagel, Morton Feldman etc..... Frank Zappa demands you try it!! Some of my fav peices are Khatchachurian violin concerto (David Oistrach v) Sibelius violin concerto (Ida Handel v) R.Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending, Oboe concerto Bela Bartok String Quartets, Viloin Sonatas Prokoviev Piano sonantas Shostakovich Symphonies Darious Milhaud Alberto Ginastera String Qts. & Piano works It's a huge world to step into but well worth it! N_n Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 ya, Ravel is another composer I enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcane Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 The Yellow Shark just isn't the same without a Jacuzzi, your main squeeze, and a good bottle of port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Not Bob Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I agree with B&Z ... continuing the Frank Zappa theme, in his autobiography (more or less) he has a whole section on the plight of the modern orchestral composer ... it was entitled "Living Composers Need Not Apply". It pretty much says it all. RnB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Not Bob Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 quote: Originally posted by arcane: The Yellow Shark just isn't the same without a Jacuzzi, your main squeeze, and a good bottle of port. Arcane, you rock ... Mercenary is a lucky man RnB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcane Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 quote: Originally posted by Rob Not Bob: Arcane, you rock ... Mercenary is a lucky man I'm blushing. I'm lucky I found someone willing to indulge my hedonistic tendencies (mainly because he's a more ardent hedonist than I am). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I'm with ya b&z, but I'm scared your list might scare some people off. Just remember, new listener, sometimes your ears should not be music critics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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