How to discover and learn about classical music
Posted by: Fred Mulder on 08 May 2014
I'm keen to learn about classical music, but haven't got a clue where to start.
The genre is overwhelming, unfortunally I don't have a family member or friend who is very familliar.
Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction/source/website to get started?? I'm also curious about the context/story behind the music.
kind regards, Fred
I buy a lot of stuff from the eClassical site, they have really great prices and even though they are in the US they are happy to sell here.
They have daily deals and every so often they will sell 24bit for the price of the 16bit version. The offer at the moment is Bartock piano music, on Harmonia Mundi, played by Alain Planès and it is absolutely superb. The pieces are: Dance Suite (Sz 77), Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs (Sz 71), Six Romanian Folk Dances (Sz 56), Piano Sonata (Sz 80) and Fourteen Bagatelles (Op.6, Sz 38). Believe me they are an absolute joy to listen to and you can pick up the 24/96 version for about £9 or you could get the 16/44 version on Amazon for about £15 I believe.
Talking about joy, is it not amazing how good you feel inside when you listen to Beethoven's 6th?
Actually I’m really looking forward to this; for the music, believe it or not.
I have had the Pierre Boulez version on vinyl since the mid eighties & this is the first opportunity I have had to see it live.
Hey enjoy the opera and keep a firm grip on yourself during the orgy scene.
That's my wife's job 
That's my wife's job
Mmmmm! I do hope you were talking about the opera.
That's my opera junkie friend thinks.
He thinks that Opera music Mozart wrote are far better than anything else he's done.
I have never even listened to a complete set. I am familiar with a few excerpts and clips from the film Amadeus.
Big Bill, I bought from Eclassical on your recommendation, some Sibelius and Shostakovich. But the download procedure baffles me. I am used to HD Tracks, which manages the whole process efficiently. Can you give any advice please?
Big Bill, I bought from Eclassical on your recommendation, some Sibelius and Shostakovich. But the download procedure baffles me. I am used to HD Tracks, which manages the whole process efficiently. Can you give any advice please?
David I don't use their downloader, so if that is problematical then I can't help. I go into mypages and it shows a list of recordings I have purchased and I simply click on the links for each item - 1 link each for music & supporting material - and then I click and download them. For the music you get a zip file which you need to unpack and the supporting material is in pdf format.
If you have a problem then contact their support, they are always helpful and will quickly respond.
Please ask me again if you need any help, I will be at my computer most of tomorrow (Wed), so make a post and I will look out for it.
David something else has occurred to me about the eClassical site. There is a bug in the process of ordering. If you go through the order process right through to paying, then you get to a page which has the 'mypages' link on it and if you hit it you get an error screen. WORKAROUND: If, at this point, you go back to the home and screen and re-log in and then select 'mypages' all will be OK.
Thanks Bill. I'll bear all this in mind the next time I'm buying (which won't be far off!).
Thanks Bill. I'll bear all this in mind the next time I'm buying (which won't be far off!).
But have you been able to download the albums you have paid for?
btw their daily deal today looks interesting.
Yes I've downloaded my purchases allright. The process is not as slick as HDtracks though.
Yes I've downloaded my purchases allright. The process is not as slick as HDtracks though.
Ya get used to it though. Personally I prefer the old-fashioned manual download over the download programs. You get to put the stuff where you want it for one thing.
Glad you got sorted.
J.S. Bach Goldberg variations, with Glen Gould.
Brahms 4th symphony with;
Glad to see we're getting back to the OP's title. Surely one of the best ways to discover and learn about classical music is lots of listening to BBC Radio 3 (I assume it's now available overseas via the web). I started as an interested teenager and I'm still discovering new stuff through my early morning/commuting listening. Anyone wanting to dip a toe into the world of classical should just listen to a few hours of Radio 3 - if you don't find anything to tickle your fancy, then classical probably isn't for you.
Despite the periodic bitching about the license fee that the press still indulge in, I would happily pay my license fee for Radio 3 (and 4, and BBC 4) alone.
Mark
Glad to see we're getting back to the OP's title. Surely one of the best ways to discover and learn about classical music is lots of listening to BBC Radio 3 (I assume it's now available overseas via the web). I started as an interested teenager and I'm still discovering new stuff through my early morning/commuting listening. Anyone wanting to dip a toe into the world of classical should just listen to a few hours of Radio 3 - if you don't find anything to tickle your fancy, then classical probably isn't for you.
Despite the periodic bitching about the license fee that the press still indulge in, I would happily pay my license fee for Radio 3 (and 4, and BBC 4) alone.
Mark
Heartily agree Mark and don't forget internet Radio, there are some excellent Jazz stations at 320k out there:
http://50.7.173.162:8010/ Audiophile Baroque
http://50.7.173.162:8012/ Audiophile Classical
http://89.16.185.174:8004/stream Linn Classical
Hopefully NAIM will get there act together and split the channel into Classical, Jazz and Grateful Dead!