Mt 13 y.o. son likes classical music and plays the violin (second year). I don’t know much about classical music. I took him to the see “The Nutcracker” and he said it was beautiful. I can hear Mozart’s ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ leaking out of his iPod earphones, which like all teenagers, live permantently in his ears. He replays the soundtracks from movies over and over (and over)- mostly Disney movies like “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Balto”.
What CD’s would he like for a present?
Moved from IMHO>CS
I started listening to classical music at the same age. A set of the 9 Beethoven symphonies would be a great gift. Or maybe the 4 Rachmaninoff piano concertos. Or the 3 Tchaikovsky ballets.
Another idea would be several “Greatest Hits” CDs, so he can familiarize himself with various composers.
Carmina Burana by Carl Orff rocks.
This is a good idea.
He is already too old to be taken in by the story (unlike my youngest) but the music of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is a joy for every age. I’d also recommend Le Carnaval des Animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns, Schumann’s Kinderszenen and Puccini’s opera La Bohème.
Holst’s Nine Planets Symphony.
The four Brahms symphonies (they usually come as a set).
Any (or all of) the Requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Vivaldi, or Faure.
Crap. Verdi, not Vivaldi.
Tchaikovsky is good “starter” classical music: colorful, emotional, melodic, and easy to understand. panache45 already mentioned the ballets; the violin concerto and/or 1st piano concerto might also be good choices.
Nitpick: It’s just “The Planets”: it’s not billed as a symphony (but rather, an orchestral suite), and it doesn’t include all nine (no Earth and no Pluto). A later composer, Colin Matthews, added a movement for Pluto; I haven’t heard it so I don’t know whether it’d be worth seeking out a recording that includes it.
I wonder if he’s heard enough classical music to appreciate the works of P.D.Q. Bach.
I’d go for Mozart’s symphonies and concertos, Haydn’s symphonies, and Beethoven’s concertos. At that age I was also a fan of Händel’s Concerti Grossi, Mozart’s Horn Concertos and his Flute Concertos, and (because I played trombone and was taking organ lessons) an album of German works for trombone and organ.
If you’re anywhere near a good public library, you could steer him there…I know that’s not exactly a gift but maybe you could supplement it with a book about classical composers so he knows what to look for.
ETA: oops, missed that he plays the violin. There are violin concertos galore by all the composers named above and many others. For serious fun, try Paganini’s works for solo violin. For somber fun, try Bach’s. String quartets are suitable too…you could start with Haydn then move to Beethoven. Beethoven also has some beautiful sonatas for violin and piano IIRC, as well as trio (violin, piano, cello).
Amazon has some mp3 download packages that each have 99 tracks from some composer or category and each package only costs around $2 usually. I haven’t bought any of them myself, but they generally get good reviews so they might be good for someone who doesn’t know what he wants. Just search Amazon for “99 most”.
The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky is really heavy and raucous at times. It might be good for a teenager. Maybe look for a CD of it along with the Firebird Suite. I have this CD: http://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Rite-Spring-Pulcinella-Suite/dp/B000003CXF/ which has the Rite followed by the Pulcinella Suite, which is a much calmer neoclassical piece.
I like Tchaikovsky’s tone poems. They include Romeo and Juliet which is a famous piece that is a cliche in film love scenes, and the 1812 Overture. I have a Philips double CD of his tone poems, but it’s out of print.
Also if he’s using the original Ipod earphones, you might think about getting him some upgraded headphones. There are different kinds of headphones though, and the best kind would depend on how he uses his Ipod.
The soundtrack to The Shawshank Redemption has some beautiful music that features string instruments. It’s not classical, I don’t think, but it’s really nice to listen to, and he may enjoy it.
Try Handel’s oratorios and coronation anthems. The Messiah is the obvious one, but Judas Maccabeus and Samson are two others that would be suitable.
The Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos are usually paired on the same CD. They are two of the most often played violin concertos.
I’d also suggest symphonies #3 and #4 of Mendelssohn. They are also commonly paired on cds.
Perhaps a set of Rossini overtures?
I disagree. I have dozens of these my mum and grandma bought, and many are unopened. They tend to be of dubious quality, and recorded by no name orchestras (the Podunk Philharmonic and such), and given how cheap Naxos brand recordings have gotten, it’s much easier to just take a grab bag of albums and see if any of them stick. I can get three Naxos CDs for $25 CDN at my local music store. Rachmaninoff piano concerti 2 and 3 are good choices. I’d also include the Brahms violin concerto, Handel’s Water Music or Music for Royal Fireworks, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Shostakovich’s music for promenade orchestra, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. Those should be a good enough start to see if anything catches in any direction! Vocal or instrumental, Germanic or Russian, Baroque or Classical-romantic.
I noticed that on Amazon in the United States, Naxos prices jumped up into the US $10-$11 range last month for the CD. The download versions are still around US$7-$8. The new price is still decent compared to full price new releases, but that pushes the Naxos in the same area as the price for some older(1980s-1990s) catalog recordings.
Hmm. I did not know that. Thanks! Nevertheless, it’s still a far greater value, IMHO, than buying box compilations.
Even then, I’m always weary about buying someone music. Granted, an Itunes gift card isn’t as personal a treasure, but my family has bought me so many DVDs/CDs/video games/sheet music presuming that because I like music/movies/games, I must surely like what they got, and then it becomes unpleasant when their gift is still in the shrink wrap 6 months later…
I loves me some Chopin!
Weary, or wary? (Or leery?)
Yeah, Naxos is no longer the go-to label for decent cheap recordings of the standard repertoire that it once was. Intsead, it now seems to be the go-to label for decent reasonably-priced recordings of a variety of composers and compositions that stretch far beyond the standard repertoire. (At least in the U.S.)
I’m sticking to my guns. A bad idea is 4 Rach concertos, 4 Brahms Symphonies, or two big romantic violin concertos.
Some variety is called for rather than 125 minutes of the same thing… at least that’s what Rach or Brahms will sound like to a neophyte. What if you gave him “Brahms Greatest Hits” instead:
Hungarian Dance No. 1
Hungarian Dance No. 5
Hungarian Dance No. 6
Symphony No. 1, Op. 68: III, IV
Waltz No. 15 In A-Flat Minor, Op. 39
Concerto For Violin, Op. 77: III
Concerto For Piano No. 2, Op. 83: II
Symphony No. 3, Op. 90: III
Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79, No.2
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80