Recommend me Some Classical stuff

dulpit

Hey, so I am not an expert in classical music (not a clue about it really) but i enjoy bits when i listen to lyric fm and stuff...

I have Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on my MP3 player, mainly cos of V for Vendetta, but also cos it never fails to cheer me up in the morning, if i listen to it before work i'm happy all morning (plus there's a bit at start with some horns that reminds me of Batman )

So i was wondering if people in the know would be able to recommend to me some pieces of music to listen to, nice upbeat things (like the 1812 overture)
Preferably something easy to get a hold of, even well-known stuff (stuff i'd probably recognise anyways)

Cheers all
Dulpit

tSubh Dearg

If you like kind of bombastic stuff, can I recommend Beethoven's 9th Symphony, or I quite like Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet overture as you can really hear the story in it.

Another recommendation would be Holst's Planets, which has a nice mix of loud (Mars) and quiet/eerie (Neptune).

Let me have another think and I'll probably come up with a few more things.

Doshea3

If you like Tchaikovsky then you must hear the First Piano Concerto. You'll recognise the beginning of it at least. If you like that, then Rachmaninoff's piano concertos are great also (particularly No. 2). Oh, Tchaikovsky's "Capriccio italien" is fun, too.

Nice upbeat things. Let me see. Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches come to mind (No. 2 is a good one—the middle section is "Land of Hope and Glory"). The suites from Bizet's "Carmen" are worth hearing too. As is Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (in the Ravel orchestration if you prefer orchestral music). Rossini's overtures are nice and lively. Verdi's Requiem is good and dramatic. The purely orchestral movements from Wagner's operas are worth hearing also.

Hope that helps somewhat. All of those should be easy to find in HMV Grafton Street or Tower Records. The Naxos label has lots of good recent recordings at a bargain price.

dh2007

I used to listen to a lot of Tchaikovsky when I was a child (yes I know I was a bit strange!) and as well as loving the 1812 Overture I used to listen to Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker Suite. You probably already know the suites because they're used so often in ads and films.

Other upbeat pieces would be The Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg (in the hall of mountain kings, anitras dance etc. I love Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saen. Other recommendations would be:

Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev (much better than Tchaikovsky's!)
Sabre Dance by Khachaturian
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba by Handel
Minute Waltz in D flat major by Chopin

If you want something the polar opposite to the above try:
Lacrimosa by Mozart
Un bel di by Puccini
Miserere mei by Allegri
O Fortuna by Carl Orff
Clair de Lune by Debussy
Liebestraum by Liszt

banquo

What's that really famous opera piece by Wagner? Think it's a chorus or ensemble piece. The part everyone knows is just a I7-IV, but it's really catchy, perfect for entry level.

The 1st movement of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony is good to get you going in the morning I find, particularly the first 3 minutes. An expostition to begin the day!

The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote:

What's that really famous opera piece by Wagner? Think it's a chorus or ensemble piece. The part everyone knows is just a I7-IV, but it's really catchy, perfect for entry level.

Are you talking about The Flight of the Valkyries? It's from...er...Die Walküre. Though I think the instrumental version is a bit more palatable.

Kevster

OI! ...:o

... ...you must get Johann Pachelbel's 'Canon In D Minor', Luigi Boccherini's 'Minuet', and JS Bach's 'Air On The G String'. I will happilly arrange to have these and more sent to you if you like.

The closing to Rachmaninov's 'Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini' is also beautiful.

The Mad Hatter

Kevster wrote:

OI! ...:o

... ...you must get Johann Pachelbel's 'Canon In D Minor', Luigi Boccherini's 'Minuet', and JS Bach's 'Air On The G String'. I will happilly arrange to have these and more sent to you if you like.

The closing to Rachmaninov's 'Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini' is also beautiful.

Er...do you mean the Canon in D major? If so, then I'll vote against you on this one. There's much better in the same style.

dulpit: Try some Shostakovich. (I'm currently Shostakovich's premier advertiser, as I'm writing my thesis on him.)

banquo

The Mad Hatter wrote:

Are you talking about The Flight of the Valkyries? It's from...er...Die Walküre. Though I think the instrumental version is a bit more palatable.

No no, although I can see how you'd get that from my pretty empty description... There's a scene in Schindler's List where loads of German officers are singing it at a party.

Looks like this [in my head]:



Good old Sibelius 5! Played quite fast.

The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote:

No no, although I can see how you'd get that from my pretty empty description... There's a scene in Schindler's List where loads of German officers are singing it at a party.

Looks like this [in my head]:



Good old Sibelius 5! Played quite fast.

Arg! It sounds familiar, but I can't place it! Doesn't help that I haven't seen Schindler's List, I suppose...

Kevster

The Mad Hatter wrote:

Er...do you mean the Canon in D major? If so, then I'll vote against you on this one. There's much better in the same style.

dulpit: Try some Shostakovich. (I'm currently Shostakovich's premier advertiser, as I'm writing my thesis on him.)

Yes, sorry, I meant Canon in D Major. What by Shostakovich would you recommend? I have nothing by him in my collection.

The Mad Hatter

Kevster wrote:

Yes, sorry, I meant Canon in D Major. What by Shostakovich would you recommend? I have nothing by him in my collection.

Absolutely anything!

The jazz suites are probably the easiest of his stuff to listen to (though I don't like them a great deal myself, tbh).

The symphonies and string quartets are tougher going, but are a really great reflection of him as a composer.

My personal favourite is the twenty-four preludes and fugues for piano, though I think that's more of a personal thing.

He's a figure who's worth reading up on as well, not least for consistently (and extremely subtly) giving the finger to the Soviet authorities.

banquo

Before hearing any Shostakovich I'd heard that his music 'sounded' rebellious, which made me wonder how any music could really 'sound' rebeliouss without being totally bombastic. Then I heard one of his symphonies in the NCH and was like 'Oh, thaaats how...'

The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote:

Before hearing any Shostakovich I'd heard that his music 'sounded' rebellious, which made me wonder how any music could really 'sound' rebeliouss without being totally bombastic. Then I heard one of his symphonies in the NCH and was like 'Oh, thaaats how...'

Well, in fairness, a lot of it is totally bombastic...

Actually I saw a review in some magazine last year (didn't bother to buy said magazine) describing his music as nothing but bombast and noise.

banquo

Heh. I like the idea that you're basing all research for upcoming qualification on 'Magazines I read in Eason's but didn't buy '

dulpit: The best thing you can do to appreciate 'classical' music is to learn an instrument. How many of us would sincerely appreciate Bach or Beethoven had we not learnt to play them?

The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote:

Heh. I like the idea that you're basing all research for upcoming qualification on 'Magazines I read in Eason's but didn't buy '

Ha! Would I buy a magazine that described my favourite composer of the twentieth century as all bombast and noise? Do I have the money anyhow?

banquo

The Mad Hatter wrote:

Ha! Would I buy a magazine that described my favourite composer of the twentieth century as all bombast and noise? Do I have the money anyhow?

Ha! Send them 1,000 hard copies of your thesis when you're done; 900 initially and then 1 a day until they give in and print it in their mag. What magazine was it by the way? Was it a 'serious' magazine such as [gasp] Gramaphone? Whatever magazine it was they probably published said article between two articles on Gilbert and Sullivan [shudders]

The Mad Hatter

Actually, I think it might have been Gramophone. It was one of the good ones, anyhow, it only mentioned important people on the front. Oh well, we all need our front page attention grabbers.

Assuming that we're all magazines. I'm not sure why I'm assuming that.

Doshea3

LOL@Mad Hatter. I prefer BBC Music Magazine myself, which generally has good stuff in it, though I stopped buying it regularly when I realized I wasn't reading it.

I agree with you on the 24 Preludes and Fugues. I have Nikolayeva's 1980s recording, which I like. Have you heard Ashkenazy's? I was considering buying it when I saw it. If you have, would you recommend it?

I like Shostakovich's piano concertos also. I also think the "Tahiti Trot" ("Tea Five Three" as Victor Borge might have said) is a brilliant demonstration of his prowess in orchestration.

Banquo, you really have a thing against G&S, don't you?

The Mad Hatter

Doshea3 wrote:

LOL@Mad Hatter. I prefer BBC Music Magazine myself, which generally has good stuff in it, though I stopped buying it regularly when I realized I wasn't reading it.

I agree with you on the 24 Preludes and Fugues. I have Nikolayeva's 1980s recording, which I like. Have you heard Ashkenazy's? I was considering buying it when I saw it. If you have, would you recommend it?

As it stands, being a lowly student with no income, I can really only afford one regular magazine purchase, which more or less has to be the JMI.

I have the same Nikolayeva recording - it's superb. The only other one I'd recommend is the Naxos release by Konstantin Scherbakov, which I found to be an absolute revalation. I haven't heard the Ashkenazy, I'm afraid.

banquo

Naxos are a fantastic label. After the Berlin wall came down Western recording companies suddenly had access to some of the best orchestras in the world and who were willing to work for a lot less than, say, the London Philharmonic. None of this 'We leave at exactly 5pm sharp' shyte. The Zagreb Philharmonic have the best series of Beethoven's symphonies I've ever heard, especially the 9th.

Doshea3

I agree totally with you on Naxos. Though I've heard plenty of people disparaging the label, I would go to Naxos first if I wasn't looking for a specific artist's recording. Apart from the high standard of performance and high-quality recordings, Naxos is so useful for obscure stuff you won't find anywhere else (at least not so easily). Scherbakov is a good pianist—I have some of his Liszt recordings and something by Medtner (I think).

banquo

Exactly, if I'm looking for a piece I've never heard I'll always go with Naxos first. There's very few I'd avoid except for the 'Brilliant Classics' label, though they're not all bad and you can't argue with the price vs quantity issue there, and also anything conducted by Norrington. We've had some disagreements about Beethoven.

coffee_cake

Kevster wrote:

Yes, sorry, I meant Canon in D Major. What by Shostakovich would you recommend? I have nothing by him in my collection.

Cello and piano sonata, 2nd and 4th mvts!

Also, dvorak's slavonic dance number 1 op46

The Mad Hatter

banquo wrote:

Exactly, if I'm looking for a piece I've never heard I'll always go with Naxos first. There's very few I'd avoid except for the 'Brilliant Classics' label, though they're not all bad and you can't argue with the price vs quantity issue there, and also anything conducted by Norrington. We've had some disagreements about Beethoven.

Brilliant Classics are terrific! Have you heard their release of Barshai conducting the WDR Sinfoniorchester for Shostakovich's complete symphonies? It's almost flawless! Though I will admit that the actual recording (as opposed to playing) quality isn't quite so high.

No, the ones to avoid are apex and (shudder) Prism Classics (I had a recording of their complete Beethoven symphonies, and it was so bad I just gave it away).

Doshea3

Brilliant Classics have some very good sets out, though there are a few which I wouldn't touch. There's an excellent Satie collection on Brilliant Classics with pianist Hakon Austbo (who has recorded Messiaen's piano works for Naxos) and also the complete Grieg Lyric Pieces by the same pianist.

I'd agree with you on avoiding Prism Classics, and any of those dubious-looking ultra-cheap sets whose alleged conductors probably do not exist. However, there are some really good recordings on the Apex label, most of which are just Warner reissues. I have an Apex recording of Menuhin conducting Haydn's "Creation", which I like probably more than Rattle's version, and I have some good Schoenberg discs, Moura Lympany playing Rachmaninoff's preludes, a young Boris Berezovsky playing the Tchaikovsky 1st concerto (with an admittedly mediocre orchestra), stuff by Elizabeth Leonskaja and a million others. I like Apex, good value for money on most of their CDs.

The Mad Hatter

Doshea3 wrote:

Brilliant Classics have some very good sets out, though there are a few which I wouldn't touch. There's an excellent Satie collection on Brilliant Classics with pianist Hakon Austbo (who has recorded Messiaen's piano works for Naxos) and also the complete Grieg Lyric Pieces by the same pianist.

I'd agree with you on avoiding Prism Classics, and any of those dubious-looking ultra-cheap sets whose alleged conductors probably do not exist. However, there are some really good recordings on the Apex label, most of which are just Warner reissues. I have an Apex recording of Menuhin conducting Haydn's "Creation", which I like probably more than Rattle's version, and I have some good Schoenberg discs, Moura Lympany playing Rachmaninoff's preludes, a young Boris Berezovsky playing the Tchaikovsky 1st concerto (with an admittedly mediocre orchestra), stuff by Elizabeth Leonskaja and a million others. I like Apex, good value for money on most of their CDs.

Well, I'll admit I've only heard a couple, but my issue has been with the quality of the recording, which I found absolutely abysmal, rather than the playing itself.

If there are any you'd really recommend, I might give them a shot. (At least they're affordable!)

banquo

Brilliant's Mozart Piano Concertos are pretty nice, but I got Figaro by them as well and jesus it was... amateur. And Mad Hatter, I think you're right about the recording quality.

Doshea3

The Apex ones I've mentioned have rather good sound quality, as most of them are recorded in the 1990s (though some of them go back to 60s/70s).

Apex are handy enough for finding relatively good recordings at a cheap price. There are some really good recordings on the label too that are hidden away nicely. Some Boulez comes to mind, as does Yvonne Loriod's recording of Messiaen's "Vingt Regards" (she later being his wife and the dedicatee of the work)—the latter one I haven't unfortunately managed to find yet.

il gatto

The OP should google "kickass classical". It gives the idiot's guides to classical and is a great way to start. It gives clues to many composer's styles and like sounding composers.
I must say I'm surprised how few people recommended Mozart. Not usually as bombastic as Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, but familiar and so fantastic.

Extreme-LoopZ

Also if the OP is looking for something more recent but still "classical", check out Ludovico Einaudi. He is simply amazing, his newst album has given me a whole new outlook on classical music....