I've never been a fan of Classical Music, purely because I've never actually sat down and truly listened to it.
For me, Classical Music has a certain stigma attached to it.......Music for the older generation perhaps?? Not intending to offend anyone here at all.
Recently I've noticed that with the outstanding sound coming out of my Naim set-up, along with a recently upgraded Portable Rig with IEM's, I'm hearing things in my music collection I've never heard before. This is really enjoyable!
My Music taste is wide and varied but I have no Classical Music at all.
Would some of you fine folk be kind enough to recommend 4-5 "must have" Classical Albums (CD or Vinyl) that you think would be a great introduction to this Genre.
Classical is such an enormous area of music, from solo instruments through to huge symphonies, choral and loads more. I'll recommend two albums to you:
Bach's violin concertos by Rachel Podger on Channel Classics
Biber/Muffat Der Turken Anmarsch played by John Holloway on ECM New Series
Both are wonderful, IMHO of course!
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by mikeeschman
You can't go wrong with Beethoven Symphonies.
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by Graham Hull
This site has a recommended list of works broken down by periods:
When I started listening to classical music I began with 20th century composers such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev. They just sounded more exciting than Mozart but my tastes have since matured.
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is a must have.
Spotify has a great range of classical music or there is always the local library.
Forget the reverse snobbery, just enjoy.
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by fatcat
Haydn Symphony No. 94 Is good place to start.
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by Gale 401
The Planets and the 1812.
Stu
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by CFMF
Bach - Brandenburg Concertos
Mozart - Piano Concertos 20 and 21
Beethoven - Symphonies
Ravel - Piano Music
Shostakovich - Symphony 5
BBM
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by JackRabbitSlims
Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
Appreciate it
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by Bart
I always found Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to be rather accessible to those new to listening to symphonies.
Posted on: 31 August 2011 by mutterback
In "classical" music, there are some new groups making tremendous recordings - both in terms of engineering and performance. I love Brooklyn Rider's Dominant Curve. Lets my system shine. Another great group is Eighth Blackbird.
Deutche Gramaphon has an Entree series with some of their most popular recordings. New classical CDs can be expensive, but you can get used CDs for $5 and auctions of mixed batches of used LPs on Audigon for $1-2 each. You could spend $100 and get a random sampler set of 50 LPs, keep what you like and ditch the others.
If you really want to learn more, Charles Rosen's book The Classical Style, is fantastic. Its also one of the the best written non-fiction books I've ever read, and by far the best book on music.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by chimp
Holst, Planet suite.
Vivaldi's, Four seasons.
Saint saens, Carnival of the animals & Danse Macabre.
Rimsky Korsakof,Sheherezade.
All of these are positive starters, easily accesible and helps build up an understanding of classical music.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by chimp
Also try the classical experience compilation cds, I think there are 3 in total, they give a fairly broad spectrum of popular peices, this may also be of benefit as you can cherry pick the ones that stand out and take it from there.
Regards
Don.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by bazz
A few personal favourites that got me started with classical music:
Mahler Symphony No 1 - hypnotic.
Any of Schubert's early symphonies, wonderfully lyrical stuff.
Khachaturian violin concerto - especially when played by David Oistrakh
Unmissable piano: Mitsuko Uchida's five cd set on Philips of Mozart's piano sonatas. Two disc sets: Andras Schiff's ECM recording of Bach's six partitas, Steven Osborne's complete Ravel solo piano works on Hyperion and Nelson Freire's wonderful 2010 recording of Chopin Nocturnes.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by Sigmund
What do you like to listen to? Let's take it from there.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by Sigmund
Here's a couple of links I use to check things out.
Both are approachable works and offer rewarding listening.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by Guido Fawkes
I'd start with Knife Edge,Sinfonietta by Emerson, La by Leoš Janáček absolutely blistering piece of music that really rocks. I'd also try some Jean Sibelius especially Finlandia and his 2nd Symphony. I don't listen to much classical music these days, but these pieces stand out for me along with Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by Huwge
Britten's young person's guide to the orchestra is often coupled with some accessible pieces and in and of itself gives a good introduction to an orchestra.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by JackRabbitSlims
WOW! I'm impressed with all the response's I got - this Forum is great.
Thanks so much for all your suggestions.
@Sigmund: - right now, I listen to 60's through to today Rock, Pop, Prog Rock, Alternate, Little bit a Country, Blues, Folk.
As I said - I'm just loving the sound coming from both of my rig's that ALL music i'm playing sounds so damn good and engaging, so why not broaden the horizons a bit ??
Thanks once again.
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by EJS
A suggestion from left field: Bach's suites for cello solo. I guess this isn't "beginners" music, but the gorgeous sound of the cello should make it easier to access and if you stick with it, who knows how you will feel in a couple of years? The suites certainly have stood the test of time as some of Bach's greatest achievements!
EJ
Posted on: 01 September 2011 by Sigmund
Given that you like prog rock, I think you might like this. I listened to it yesterday and was really impressed with the playing and the sonics. Here's a link with audio snippets - Bantock, Pagan Symphony, et.al.
