classical music recommendations

Post Reply New Topic

One thing to keep in mind is that many performances of classical works are in the public domain, so you can get CDs of them for free. I personally recommend against buying CDs unless you've listened to the music beforehand (I've always been a try-before-you-buy kind of person though).

On archive.org you can find a good amount of public domain works, but the quality is highly variable. https://musopen.org/music/ has a moderate selection with, generally, much better quality recordings.


Oh, I suppose I will post another recommendation! I guess I'll post my single favorite piece of classical. The last 2 movements blow me away every time I hear them! There has been a decided lack of symphonies posted in this thread, and that just won't do!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZzFruQCofM[/youtube]

Stargazer, that's crazy wild! I can't believe I just listened to half of it. If somebody had said symphony to me 3 weeks ago, I'd have run in the other direction. It's really hypnotic, but I have to pay for my bandwidth by the gigabyte.

So if I want to buy that, which one do I buy?

I know for the kind of music I usually listen to - well say, I'm not much into country music but I love Johnny Cash. The other day I was listening to the album he made before he died. I know that when one person records a song it sounds one way, when another person records it, it can sound totally different, and even when the same person records it but when they are elderly and losing their voice, it's something else entirely different too (in Johnny Cash's case, still amazing). But I can just imagine the difference between conductors and orchestras and eras they're recording in. So much too choose from!

I never get how these musicians can pay attention to their books and the timing of their instrument AND the conductor. Besides which, I never understood the point of a conductor - don't they know what they are doing? I'm sure they rehearse a million times!

Like movie directors - I picture Scorsese saying to De Niro, "In this scene act kind of crazy, ok?" (LIke what the heck else would De Niro do?)

I'm sure it's all more complicated than that in real life, I just don't have any idea how it works though.

They really stick to that black dress code.

Then it would seem I have been successful! But if you only listened to the first half, you've still got the best half left to go . For Mahler, Bernstein is one of the most well-known conductors...here is a link to a CD: http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Leonard-Be ... s=mahler+2

Abbado, Dudamel, and Rattle also made some really good versions. If you like that, I would encourage you to check out all of Mahler's other symphonies/songs also! His 2nd and 9th are my favorites, followed by his 3rd, 5th, and 8th.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDqCIcsUtPI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9RT2nHD6CQ[/youtube]

Last edited by mezzanotte on 24 May 2014, 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And obviously Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven!

But in this case, forget Youtube.... forget CDs.....

Instead, attend a live performance of Symphony No. 9 by a well-known orchestra.

That would be the best birthday ever, in my opinion. I will never forget the first time I experienced a live performance of Symphony No. 9.

I agree with this, live performances add a whole new dimension to the music. They are highly dependent on where you live though...people who live far from major cities will have difficulty finding any live performances, and even more difficulty finding ones worth going to! But I ca say that each and every concert I have seen live has been a heavenly experience!

It's really weird, but my previous experience listening to symphonies, like if someone forced me to listen to something for a few minutes, or something - it all sounded like one blurred not too great noise. Now I'm listening to all of these and I can hear individual instruments. I wonder how this happened.

When I was a child / teen, I grew up listening to metal, alternative rock, classic rock, electronic music and attended a lot of rock concerts and raves. I was like most others my age.. I got a thrill out of attending shows by local bands, and I played drums at the time. Classical was never fully in my consciousness because the local scene consumed so much of my time.

At age 18, I completed a college music class for art credits where we had to attend live performances (jazz, latin, world music, opera, ballet, classical) and write reviews of our experiences. So it was the first time I had to really pay attention to the intricacies of these genres.

A week before Christmas, I attended a concert that included Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major. That was when everything changed. I remember being sort of spellbound walking out of the concert hall that night.

Later, I attended Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. There are really no words to describe it. It's almost impossible for me to cry, but I had tears flowing down my face that night. That's how powerful it was.

I love a lot of genres of music, but nothing outside of classical has ever hit me on such a strong emotional level.

Ok dudes, next week I'm going to a concert. It says "international" music. Not sure what that means, but I bet it will be fun.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9MDmH21xKs[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEEtgESxV2E[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPLXNmKvLBQ[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa72UfM2bPA[/youtube]

There was a time when I fell asleep every night listening to this CD, particularly this movement:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfAr_94c9OM[/youtube]

Still loving it! May I request some opera?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV1yNgiEvIQ[/youtube]
English translation:
http://www.opera-arias.com/mozart/don-giovanni/

Last edited by Awake on 25 May 2014, 11:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

I think that's where my area of expertise comes to an end. lol