O.k., I am a lover of all kinds of music (except country/western), but I can only consider myself a dabbler in the clasical and opera fields. However, I do really like them. As such I have a basic knowledge of the popular composers (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, the opera Carmen, etc), but I am looking to expand on this. If anyone can come up with some others you personally like I’d be glad to check them out. Either the composer or the piece would be great. I can say i’m not a bigger fan of the lovey-Romeo and Juliet-type works… i’m just looking to expand.
Hoo boy, a very big subject, and very subjective too (my favs depend on the mood I am in at the moment). Search on ‘classical music’ and ‘opera’ in Cafe Society, MPSIMS, and IMHO, and you’ll find lots of wildly varying opinions.**
That said, my current favs (typing off the top of my head, forgive the spelling errors)
Hindemith - Mathis der Maler
Gustav Mahler - anything except Kindertotenlieder (really sad and depressing) - Symphony #4 with the soprano solo is quite fun
Kurt Weill - Der Dreigroschenoper
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (always in my top 5)
Offenbach - Les Contes de Hoffmann
J.S. Bach - most of the organ works (really into organ music right now).
Bernstein - Candide
Copland - Appalachian Spring
…and for a laugh, pick up some P.D.Q. Bach, particularly, the one with a sports-announcer commentary on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as well as Anna Russell’s explanation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle - 20 hours of opera in 20 minutes.
Glad to have you on the bandwagon (so to speak)!
**[sub]And yes, I know you know how to search. My pain medication is interfering with both my clarity valve and my tact filter.[/sub]
YMMV wildly, but you can to go http:\www.mp3.com and listen to their classical music selections. Like any other place where they categorize music, their definition of “classical” leaves a lot to be desired (everything from Gregorian Chants to stuff composed last month is “classical” so long as it isn’t R&B, jazz, country/western, rock or folk… recognizably).
Here in Melbourne, Oz we have two “fine” music FM channels, so that whenever I’m in my car I have good music. One is a public access/subscription station, the other part of our public broadcasting service.
So Bergonzi, Scarlatti, Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Puccini and Verdi float with me all day.
Yesterday however there waas a problem. Both stations had a contemporary composers program at the same time. [insert horrified smiley] Thank God I had the Ella and Louis cassette at the ready!
I have really been getting into classical the last few years and there a few pieces to me that really stand out.
My Favorites
Beethoven
5th Symphony (all it’s cracked up to be and more, I truly love the fourth movement)
9th Symphony (even more than it’s cracked up to be, a truly fantastic piece, it’s what started me on my road to the classics)
Pachelbel
Canon in D (one of the quintessential classical pieces, incredible)
Tchaikovsky
1812 Overture
Piano Concerto No. 1
Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
Any of his Cello Concertos
Bach
Air (on a G String)
Violin Concerto in A Minor BWV 1041
Brandenburg Concertos (all of 'em)
Handel
Water Music
Music For The Royal Fireworks
Holst
The Planets
and probably a million others I’ve forgotten.
As far as Opera, I’ve only just started listening to it. I saw a performance of Wagner’s Die Walkure, and it was amazing.
First, I find it funny that someone named broccoli would post this: in the old "Odd Couple " series, Felix triued to market a series of opera singer trading cards. The gum included was flavored… broccoli!
Second, take a listen to Tschaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. It ain’t exactly “lovey”. It’s actually quite violent.
I am not big into opera, but I am a huge romantic fan. Russian composers are my bag: Tschaikovsky, Prokofieff, Shostakovich. Sometimes I think that if they don’t have more than three syllables in their name I’m not interested. Try Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, or Tschaikovsky’s fourth and fifth. Amazing.
“Aida”,“La Boheme”,and “Carmen” are considered to be the a,b,c’s of opera.Houses will always put them on,because of their continued popularity.
If you want angst,try Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman”.Actually,I love “Dutchman”.It’s a great opera about loneliness and alienation.Okay,it has a love scene,but it is a tragedy.
Verdi’s "Otello"is a good one too.
For some really grand stuff,along the lines of The Bad Astronomer’s russian tastes,try “Kovanchina” or “Boris Godonov” by Musorgsky.I have seen both,and,well done,they’re spectacular.Russian sensibilities regarding the bass voice are vastly different from the Italians.Russians like the bass,and in russian opera he is usually the lead.Really neat to see that for a change.
Grammatical/spelling errors in this post can be attributed to need for sleep.
A thousand pardons.
<bows>
broccoli! As you can see, we’re happy to provide you with suggestions, though it’s also not a bad idea to dig deeper within the works of the composers you’ve already named. In other words, listen to other pieces that make up the standard repertoire.
But, you said you wanna know what I like? Well, of late I’ve been gravitating towards music from the late Romantic period and the Nationalistic movements. A sampling:[ul][li]Gustav Mahler - Symph. No. 1 is a good start, but his other symphonies are quite nice as well.[/li][li]Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra is a wonderful piece as a whole, not just the short intro we all know from the movie 2001. Great, use of orchestral color in Ein Heldenleben and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. Four Last Songs is beautiful but may be too lovey-dovey for you.[/li][li]Johannes Brahms - His 4 symphonies. Variations on a Theme by Haydn. I just bought a CD of Jascha Heifetz performing the Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos and can’t get tired listening to it.[/li][li]Jean Sibelius - It doesn’t get much more nationalistic than Finlandia. Also, his symphonies - try 1, 2, 4, and 5.[/li]Antonin Dvorak - The famous 9th (New World) Symphony, of course. 7 & 8 are quite lovely as well. The “American” String Quartet.[/ul]I see upon preview that Hemlock beat me to the http://www.classical.net suggestion. I shall, therefore, provide another source.
Chalk me up as another fan of the late Romantics, also the early Moderns, but especially Sibelius (who couldn’t decide which of those he was…). Finlandia has already been mentioned, I will happily plug En Saga, Luonnatar, the Fifth Symphony, and the Lemminkainen suite.
I’m also a big fan of Holst - who bears looking at, and not only for The Planets; he was a great experimenter - some of his stuff is heavily influenced by English folk music (for example, the St. Paul’s Suite), while others have a strong Eastern influence (for example, the one-act opera Savitri).
Other favourites: Brahms’ 3rd, Mendelssohn’s 3rd and 4th, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli…
Voice offstage: I thought you said “late Romantics and early Moderns”, Steve? It’s a good few hundred years since Palestrina was modern.
That’s my favorite too! When I was in college I used to play that every time I was preparing for an exam.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade. Somehow it always gets my imagination going.
I love Erik Satie’s piano pieces - doesn’t everyone?
Bach’s Tocata and fugue in D minor. Dum-dum-dum…dumdumdumdumdumdum!
Grieg’s Peer Gynt. The “Hall of the Mountain King” part, where he goes to the kingdom of the Trolls! Sometimes I think it ought to be the theme song for the SDMB.
Well, let’s see, my favorite composer is Mozart. And my favorite operas are by… Mozart–Don Giovanni comes to mind immediately.
I also really like Vivaldi, preferring choral music over the non-choral orchestral stuff. Vivaldi’s Gloria in particular is near to my heart, especially as I’ve sung it many times.
I tend to favor Glorias and Requiems and Magnificats for choral music and many of the best are from our favorite classical masters. Nothing like a good Miserere when you’re feeling down!
Gustav Holst’s military band stuff is great, too. His Suite #1 & Suite #2 are usually paired with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ works, which are also folk song based and worth a listen.
But if you want to hear folk songs (and you should), Percy Grainger was far and away the best around, IMHO. Linconshire Posy, Hill Song Suite #2, and various individual song arrangements (Shepherd’s Hey, Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol, Irish Tune from County Derry, and Country Gardens come to mind first) cannot be recommended highly enough- he had a way with harmony and counter-melody like no one you’ve ever heard.
Hmm, I seem to be gushing. Perhaps I’ll should stop.
It’s actually quite violent.