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Classical Recommendations


Dan H.

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I've been listening to Chopin a lot recently and have really been enjoying it. Kinda looking to spread out into some other classical artists, but I really just don't know where to begin.

Does anyone have recommendations for good composers or classical artists? What should I be listening for? Help!

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What do you prefer? Sonatos? Chamber music or larger orchestral works? Off the top of my head these are some larger works,

Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto

Schubert's 8th (unfinished) and 9th symphonies. His 5th is also a delightful, underrated, piece.

Beethoven's 3rd (Eroica), 5th, and 9th symphonies (the starting place really)

Mozart's Piano concertos (anywhere you dwell there is genius to be found).

Elgar's (the chap in my picture) cello concerto

 

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I don't know what I prefer yet, this is my first time jumping into classical music. I mean I like Chopin a lot, but I could see myself really enjoying larger arrangements and more instruments too

I'll check those recommendations out and see what grabs my attention, thanks Diez

Edited by Dan H.
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If you like Chopin (and I'm a huge fan as well, my favourite two songs to play on the piano are Nocturne No. 1 in Bb Minor and Nocturne No. in Eb Major), perhaps check out Claude Debussy, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and fellow Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.  

I'm a melody junkie so I'm usually drawn to classical material with strong melody structures.  With that in mind, there are a few Operas that I really like, particularly Carmen by Georges Bizet, La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, and Turandot by Giacomo Puccini (mainly because of the aria Nessun Dorma, best sung, in my opinion, by Placido Domingo).  

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I really like Wagner though his stuff is a bit...how can i put this?  Deep end.  I don't claim to know every fuckin' thing about it, i just like the way it sounds.  Beethoven is also a favourite.  Shostakovich is another.

6 hours ago, downzy said:

 perhaps check out Claude Debussy, 

There's a great film on Debussy directed by Ken Russell starring Oliver Reed as Debussy.

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If you want to try piano pieces a good starting point is the named Beethoven sonatas, ''Moonlight'', ''Hammerklavier'', etc. - the ones that earned a moniker tend to be the more famous and (arguably) greatest ones. Schubert's final three sonatas are also absolute masterpieces of the genre - music on a whole other plateau. Mozart's piano sonatas are underrated in my opinion, and continue exploring Chopin.

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On ‎2017‎-‎01‎-‎13 at 8:05 AM, Len Cnut said:

I really like Wagner though his stuff is a bit...how can i put this?  Deep end.  I don't claim to know every fuckin' thing about it, i just like the way it sounds.  Beethoven is also a favourite.  Shostakovich is another.

There's a great film on Debussy directed by Ken Russell starring Oliver Reed as Debussy.

Perhaps getting a bit off topic, but another great film is Immortal Beloved which depicts the life of Beethoven..it's a wonderful film with a great story, amazing music, and Gary Oldman as Beethoven is extraordinary.

Edited by Whiskey Rose
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31 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

Beethoven makes me think of violence...damn Clockwork Orange :lol:  It really fits though, grand visions of destruction.  I hope I'm not a closet serial killer or something :lol:

did you ever see Immortal Beloved? idk how much is real but it was great. the scene where Beethoven was in the lake staring at the stars and the Ninth Symphony was playing...mmmmmm :)

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On 1/13/2017 at 8:05 AM, Len Cnut said:

I really like Wagner though his stuff is a bit...how can i put this?  Deep end.  I don't claim to know every fuckin' thing about it, i just like the way it sounds.  Beethoven is also a favourite.  Shostakovich is another.

There's a great film on Debussy directed by Ken Russell starring Oliver Reed as Debussy.

 

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18 hours ago, Whiskey Rose said:

Perhaps getting a bit off topic, but another great film is Immortal Beloved which depicts the life of Beethoven..it's a wonderful film with a great story, amazing music, and Gary Oldman as Beethoven is extraordinary.

LOL i didn't even see your post before i posted about this film....great minds :)

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  • 3 months later...

Limited edition (15,000 copies) : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-New-Complete-Various-Artists/dp/B01FW8XWSG/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1493886644&sr=1-1&keywords=mozart+225+the+new+complete+edition

Itmight be cheaper at amazon.de

 

"This wonderful set has a limited edition of 15,000. My version is already in the high 6000s and I had ordered my copy very early. Some commentators on Classical Music forums or web sites mention receiving numbers as high as the 9000s. Get it before this magnificent and wonderful set is sold out just like prior legendary sets like the “Arthur Rubinstein: The Complete Album Collection” that are now sold for up to 10 times its original price."
 

51V0h2XEDaL.jpg

 

 

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On January 12, 2017 at 8:43 PM, Dan H. said:

I've been listening to Chopin a lot recently and have really been enjoying it. Kinda looking to spread out into some other classical artists, but I really just don't know where to begin.

Does anyone have recommendations for good composers or classical artists? What should I be listening for? Help!

check out PHILIP GLASS - try his "solo piano" album, this song MAD RUSH is on there.  he also did the soundtrack to the film "the hours" which is great.  all of his albums are pretty solid.  

  

 

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57 minutes ago, Sunset Gardner said:

debussy… check out "prelude to the afternoon of a faun." 

Other than "Clair de Lune", that might be my favorite piece of music ever composed. I listen to it when I take a shower and feel seriously incredible when I get out. 

The emotions Debussy invokes in a single piece of music is incredible. Never have I heard a composer do such a job in a few minutes. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
2 hours ago, supercool said:

Resultado de imagen de norbert elias mozart english

Mozart, portrait of a genius by Norbert Elias, one of the best books about Wolfgang.

It's a great read to understand the sociological context of Mozart. I recommend it.

 

I have Maynard Solomon's biography which I highly recommend.

The problem for any Mozart biographer is dealing with the composer's juvenile scatological humour. You are writing this high-brow tome about an absolute genius, a genius who transports you to heaven and back through his music, and wade through his letters trying to discover the person and are left with a man who liked fart gags!

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Elias

13 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

I have Maynard Solomon's biography which I highly recommend.

The problem for any Mozart biographer is dealing with the composer's juvenile scatological humour. You are writing this high-brow tome about an absolute genius, a genius who transports you to heaven and back through his music, and wade through his letters trying to discover the person and are left with a man who liked fart gags!

Elias tries to give an explanation to that scatological humor. It's all a matter of context, this kind of humor was normal back then. But it was also a symptom of Mozart's rebellion against the very strict social hierarchy. 

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28 minutes ago, supercool said:

Elias

Elias tries to give an explanation to that scatological humor. It's all a matter of context, this kind of humor was normal back then. But it was also a symptom of Mozart's rebellion against the very strict social hierarchy. 

I'm not convinced, but it is a decent enough try.

It is a source of much embarrassment for Mozartian scholars, those letters.

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/23/2017 at 2:34 AM, DieselDaisy said:

I'm not convinced, but it is a decent enough try.

It is a source of much embarrassment for Mozartian scholars, those letters.

It kinda sobers up the near saint-tier status people put him in, which makes him even more compelling as an artists imo.

Its also pretty hillarious because everytime I watch the IASIF episode where Danny Devito says "Poop is FUNNY" I think of Mozart

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7 hours ago, Dan H. said:

It kinda sobers up the near saint-tier status people put him in, which makes him even more compelling as an artists imo.

Its also pretty hillarious because everytime I watch the IASIF episode where Danny Devito says "Poop is FUNNY" I think of Mozart

Yes, Mozart was a gambling addict with an addiction to fart gags. Wagner was an anti-Semite who stole people's wives and money. Ludwig terrorised his sister-in-law over the custody of his nephew. R. Strauss got himself wrapped up with the Nazis (although in his defense, he was probably trying to save Jewish members of his family). Brahms was a decent enough bloke but he did like prostitutes - as did Schubert who (probably) died from syphilis. Schumann went mad and ended up in an asylum. Only Haydn comes across as normal. Who'd be a musical genius?

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