Classical music, where to begin?

Question

The wifey is quiet interested in listening to classical music and I really don't know anything about it. Where's a good place to start for a novice just wanting to get a taste of the good pieces. Help and opinions gratefully accepted.

Answer 1

The most played composer in the world is Mozart. Try his 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' which you probably already know.
Beethoven's Unfinished is fantastic and a classic.
A favorite of mine is Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E-minor.
Bizet's Carmen has marvelous music and it was remade as a black opera with the toreador being changed to a boxer.
Bach has marvelous stuff but maybe a little heavy for someone to start with.
Franz von Suppe, his Poet and Peasant is incredible. He has some other great things too. Powerful music with great beats and rhythm.
Operettas by Verdi (Aida) have beautiful music and concerning American composers look at Gershwin. (Rhapsody in Blue)
For heavy but great stuff look to Richard Wagner, his Valkyrie and Niebelungen plays are great.
Chopin has beautifully lilting melodies.
The only ones I would warn you away from are Bela Bartok and Hindemith. They have crap that sounds like an orchestra tuning their instruments, badly. ;-)
Tchaikovsky is another great. (The 1812 Overture with digital cannons).
Brahms lullaby is probably the best known lullaby, period.
Makes me think of an album I have 'Bachbusters', which is Bach played on an 'authentic period synthesizer' on the Telarc label.
Hope that gives you a happy start

Answer 2

One of my favorite sites (CoCoA) offers free downloads of classic recordings.

Try listening to examples of different genres and periods to find out what kind of music coincides with your personal taste:

Recordings of "early music" by;
The New London Consort
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
The Tallis Scholars

Renaissance Composers:
Dowland, Byrd, Tallis, Ockeghem

Baroque Composers:
J.S.Bach (of course)
Handel (The Messiah etc.)

Classical Composers:
Mozart, Haydn, Dussek

Romantic Composers:
Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Holst (The Planets), Gilbert and Sullivan

Modern Composers:
Satie (Gymnopedies 1, 2 and 3 and Gnossiennes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
Britten (Sea Interludes from "Peter Grimes")
Phillip Glass (Short Ride in a Fast Machine)
Stravinsky (Firebird Suite, Petrouchka)

I have also produced an interactive E-book as an introduction to Classical Music, available on CDR. Email me for details if you are interested.

Answer 3

Go for the obvious classics, the easy to recognize ones

Holst - Mars & Jupiter from The Planets
Beethoven - 9th Symphony - Ode To Joy
5th Symphony
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Mozart - too many to mention
Rodriguez - 2nd Mvt Concierto De Aranjuez (Guitar)
Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

It really depends on you own taste, there is just so many different types

If you want samples I'm sure I could send you some


Try to find a CD of Classics used on TV, or '100 best classics', all the well know and popular tunes on one disc

Answer 4

Your local music store should have something like "[Beethoven's / Bach's / Mozart's] greatest Hits" or "All time classical favorites". Buy a couple. If you like the third movement of Beethoven's 4th symphony on the excerpts disk, go back and buy the whole symphony. If you can find a clerk over 30, ask him/her to give you a hand.

If you live near a large city in the US, you may be able to find a classical station on the lower end of the radio dial; many NPR stations play it at least some of the time.

Almost everyone likes Beethoven's symphonies, Verdi's operas and Mozart's piano concertos. They are all easy to listen to.

Answer 5

I really like Mozart and Bach, they are the most popular and well known (along with Beethoven). If you get on Limewire you can download different stuff by these guys for free so you can listen to them. I like the singer Andrea Bocelli also, he does classical opera music, including some Mozart which is really cool. He did a version of Ave Maria that is unbelievable.

Answer 6

I think classical opera is alright and Verdi is numerro uno ! but I also like some stuff sung in German mainly because it sounds kinda wrong !
the real answer is to go down to a car boot sale and buy about 20 lps and just listen!
another inspiration is a Japanese bloke from the seventies called Tomita I've got his electronic version of Holst's "The Planets", it's brilliant full of ancient synths and radio static most excellent. apparently hes done lots of albums so there should still be a few out there!!!

Answer 7

I started listening to classical music in my teens because of a history lesson. It was about the bombings during the ww2 being given names of classical music by the Germans. The one that got me interested was the name given to the bombing of Coventry(i lived there at the time) It was Moonlight sonata by Beethoven, so I went to the record shop and bought it. When I listened to it, it blew me away like no other music had done before. I then got a mixed record and opened up other composers that way. I suppose I already had a bit of a head start though as my dad loved brass bands and played them very loud. I think if you 'dipped your toe in' you might like it. Have fun xx

Answer 8

Here's two good ones for starters : - Pachelbel Canon in D, Beethoven Moonlight Adagio
Best place to get a taster is to go to iTunes, choose classical at the genre, then listen to the samples on the top 100 downloaded.

Answer 9

I was the same - I wanted the famous classical songs on CD but didn't know what they were called or who wrote them. In the end I went onto Amazon.co.uk, looked up classical and went for their best seller - 100 Best Loved Classics (I think that its called) it had most of the Popular Classical songs on it and you can see which composers you enjoy and then work from there. I hope that this helps.

Answer 10

Go into HMV or somewhere like that, go to the classical section, and look for a CD that has a compliation of different things on it, I would recommend anything with Bach, Vivaldi or Mozart on it, they are quite accessible. I'd stay away from opera for the time being as that can be quite difficult to get into at first. The other thing to do, is support your local orchestras by going to concerts locally, you can find information in your local library about any concerts coming up.

Hope that helps!