Ah…the Russians…but you forgot Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin! C’mon, Sheherazade? And Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances rules.
And Tchaikovsky kicks serious ass. The 1812 Overture is more than just that big da da da fanfare…it starts out with an Orthodox hymn praying for God to watch over them as they go into battle. Then it intertwines Russian folk music with the Marsellaise, until finally the big fanfare comes in with God Save the Tsar. Powerful stuff. I’m listening to it right now. Don’t knock it.
Swan Lake is good too, as well as Symphony No. 4 and the Marche Slav.
Also, Johan Strauss Jr. Nothing like a good old-fashioned waltz. “River so blue…da da…da da…”
Sibelius’ Finlandia.
Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oh, that music is to die for! Also, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, (used in the film “Somewhere in Time”) also by Williams.
If you want to go with soundtracks, I would recommend Jerry Goldsmith’s fabulous The Mummy and Patton.
ArchiveGuy, you’re speaking my language. Prokofiev is pure genius. Tchaik is a traitor to his Russian roots, and with few exceptions, a shallow crowd-pleaser.
I understand why you passed over R-K and Borodin, though. I like them both a great deal, but Prok is simply on another level.
You did overlook Scriabin, though. He is definitely worth listening to.
Most of the others mentioned the real classics and usual old hats, so I won’t repeat them. I’d add Mahler’s First Symphony (Titan) as well. It’s a long, glorious, and relatively easy to listen to. For a more arduous (though more rewarding) experience, I would suggest his second symphony, the Resurrection.
I would suggest Elgar’s Enigma Variations; they’re absolutely beautiful, especially Nimrod.
Some classical movie soundtracks are very good also; Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer. He did the soundtrack for The Thin Red Line and Gladiator, among others.
I will stick with safe composers and pieces that are almost certainly guaranteed(sp? looks weird) to please without being the run of the mill everyday choices. I won’t suggest my favourite composer because I know he is not met with universal appeal.
No music collection is complete without Barber’s Addagio for Strings. Samuel Barber is a 20th Century gay American composer (well, so many 20th century composers are gay). Anyway, he was one of the better known 20th century composers and a contemporary of Gershwin and Stravinsky yet the structure (chords and melody) in the Addagio are more reminescent of the Romantic period. If you can get a good compilation of Barber’s music I doubt he will be disapointed.
Another set that you should look into (20th century again) is a complete solo piano compilation by Maurice Ravel (the composer). Again all of Ravel’s works save Bolero (it was an orchestration exercise that somehow made it through pop culture, personal preference I would rather listen to something with exposition) are of the highest quality and have so far stood the test of time. I particularly like his “Pavane Pour une Enfante Defunte” or something like that. It is commonly known as the Pavane for a Dead Princess but uses a more archaic French synonym for dead. Oh and I also really like his Tombeau De Couperin which is a series of pieces paying homage to Francois Couperin, a Baroque Composer. Ravel is commonly referred to an impressionist composer whom he shares similar regards as Debussey. (Personally I go hot and cold with Debussey. Some pieces are marks of true genius where others I feel sound old and dated. Other’s opinions vary.)
Going a little farther back I would suggest getting some Mahler symphonies (all except the unfinished one… was that the fifth or third?). Mahler is known for having a big Romantic sound and texture. Mahler also wrote some of the pieces that require the biggest orchestras and are easy to get lost in the story of the music. I believe the second symphony has a wonderful Horn in F (aka the french horn) solo. If you want big, powerful orchestras with a very structured straightforward type of sound you can’t go wrong with Mahler.
Going a litle farther back into the classical period makes it a little harder to choose a composer other than Mozart. Since he was the most prominent musical figure at the time there is no reason to choose any other. Mozart did a lot for the composer. He was really the first composer to strike out from the previous benefactor system and made a decent living on his own. Most if not all the prior composers who made a primary living composing would have worked for either the church or a wealthy nobleman. Also, Mozarts true genius came in when you listen to the simple Alberti bass which was a staple of Classical period music with intricate melodies intertwined to sound simplistic and easy even when they were not. I would suggest looking into some of Mozarts operas such as Don Giovanni to purchase. You can find tons of casts around and most of them are talented. Also, Classical period opera done stylistically according to the period isn’t the Wagnerian styled opera that most people think of. It isn’t the fat lady with the super loud vibratto voice. It is lighter, shorter (thank the gods), and generally thought of as more fun. The other reason I would suggest a Mozart opera is it was Mozarts preferred medium of music in his older age. From what I have read he primarily composed other pieces (masses, piano concertos, etc) for money and composed operas for fun.
Two more periods of music to go. Now we wind up in the Baroque period. Here there a lot of composers to choose from. Most people would suggest Bach (if you do go with the Well-Tempered Clavier or a set of Fugues since that is what he is best known for) but I would again suggest going the operatic route with Purcell. I would suggest getting Dido and Anaes by Purcell (my favourite opera of all time). It is in English, has a good story, and the Remember Me song is beautiful, melancholy, and as soulful as any piece of music could ever be. Again, if done stylistically correct it won’t sound like the Romantic period “monster operas.” You won’t be disapointed.
Now we wind up in the final period of Classical music, the Rennaissance. Here is where traditional harmony and melody began. Some music has a less strict rhythm than others and can be more sing-songy. There are two ways to go here. The first is to go with Vocal music in which case I would go with Josquin Dupree (make sure to get an all male consort of some kind such as the Hilliard Ensemble and find a CD with Mille Regrets on it). I can’t remember his teachers name right now but Josquin was really the first superstar of the Rennaissance, kind of what Liszt became in the Romantic period, and it was a well deserved reputation. If however you followed the earlier lead and are not quite too keen on going with more vocal music (these would be choirs btw), I would suggest going the Lute route. The lute in the Renaissance was as popular as the piano became. In the late Baroque onwards the piano took over as the household instrument but prior to that the lute was it. It was portable and has a very unique sound. I particularly like Julian Bream as a performer on the lute but there are a lot of choices. I would look for a John Dowland compilation of some kind that has Julian performing solo, with a consort, and with a countertenor. I am not sure if that type of compilation is out there but any of the three would be well worth it.
This would be a basic 5-8ish CD collection that I would find to be a pretty admirable beginning collection. I have studied music quite extensively and feel that most of these suggested pieces reflect the periods that they were written in as a whole up to the early twentieth century where the music started taking too many turns to actually keep track of easily. I know I left out the beginnings of some of the atonal pieces (if you get a Barber compilation you will hear some of those) as they aren’t quite as acceptible as the more traditional types of pieces. (Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring and some set of Debussey pieces caused riots at the beginning of the century.) Everyone else has had good suggestions and I won’t knock them but suggesting some of the most common pieces like the Toccata and Fugue (the Halloween sounding piece) by Bach may actually do a disservice because so many people are already familiar with those type of songs that crossed over into modern pop culture. Also, by the time I would be ready to listen to that type of music I would want to be able to differentiate between the performer’s interpretation of the music to get even more joy out of it whereas listening to the less popular pieces one needn’t worry about things as interprations as much since there aren’t as many performering ensembles doing them. 
HUGS!
Sqrl
It was the Tenth. But the part he did manage to finish kicks some serious ass.
The Fifth has that famous Adagietto (used to spectacular effect in the film Death in Venice), the Third has all those wacky titles for the movements: “What the Mountains Tell Me,” “What the Woodland Flowers Tell Me,” etc. And that nifty fourth movement with the Boy’s Choir in it.
And how would you feel with who was it, Borodin calling you up every day asking “Do you want to be one of the Big Five, or not?”
I really have to re-update myself on the Romantic symphonies. I seem to be slipping some. 
Oh well.
OH, I didn’t mention Scriabin (my favourite composer) because some people believe a lot of his pieces sound mechanical and forced. I don’t. I think he is faboo. If you want that route you can actually find some of his own recordings (very rare but now available on CD) from piano reels. He really is very talented. I have him playing one of his etudes (can’t remember which now I think it was Opus 42 #5 or something like that) that begins with a 5 against 8 rhythm (which is very difficult to play up to speed. Or if you want the more contemporary route and actually be able to hear tone differentiations go with Vladimir Horowitz. He was (I think he is dead now) the most talented pianist of recent history and performed a compilation of Scriabin’s piano works.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Vladimir Ashkenazy did a complete set of Scriabin’s piano sonatas. That’s the version I got, and I’ve always liked it.
Oh, come on! Petyr Ilyich was a patriot thru and thru! Why was God Save the Tsar entertwined in both Marche Slav and 1812 Overture?
The guy was a classic tragic Russian! (He was depressed, mainly because of his homosexuality-at that time a big no no in Russia)…that’s only because you guys base everything on the Nutcracker…
Oh, Uke I have that one too. And as I said before one where Scriabin is actually playing called something like “Skriabine et Skriabinians.” He recorded some on a piano reel. It is interesting to hear it being played since it was recorded before portable audio media. He isn’t the only performer and isn’t featured through the entire CD but it was well worth hearing him play. On a side note, Scriabin was known to have very small hands and only a moderate stretch but the music he wrote required a large stretch which he compensated for somehow without the music getting muddy. To hear how he did it was quite interesting.
HUGS!
Sqrl
If it has something to do with toeless boots, spare me.
Hey, did you ever listen to a recording called MAHLER PLAYS MAHLER, which features the old Welte-Mignon apparatus?
Hang on there’s a link…to a new recording that includes Grieg, Debussy, AND Scriabin! Hey, I think I’ll get meself an early Xmas present! That Welte-Mignon stuff is great!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005A94/qid%3D976554337/107-0062531-4970905
ok, some the others have missed that are among the best:
Mendelsson’s Hebrides Overture - this one is just pretty
Handel’s Water Music - it was good enough to make kings request it be played twice; it’s good enough
Mussgorsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition - several great parts to this one, though the Promenade is my favorite
and Borodin’s A Night on Bald Mountain - the beginning of this one is fairly well known, but it’s the end that I like…
I have to say that you can’t go wrong with most of what the others have suggested; just felt like adding a bit more to the list.
Dmitri Shostakovich 4th, 5th and 10th (however, anything really will suffice)
Igor Stravinsky Firebird and Rite of Spring (This one caused a riot in the Concerthouse in Paris when it premiered)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Carl Orff Carmina Burana (not exactly easy listening, but very very good)
Tchaikovsky Peter and the Wolf
Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Philip Sparke is a good 20th century composer that won’t hurt your ears…check out Dance Movements
Ahhh, the joys of dating a composer – you get to know all the really good music
OMG!
:eek:
This should be “Prokofiev” not “Tchaik”
I am so ashamed.
My BF would be ashamed.
::hangs head and walks away slowly::
Definitely give him some Copland. I suggest Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, and Billy the Kid. (Maybe you can find a recording of one of these that includes Fanfare for the Common Man on it as well.)
I also recommend Holst’s The Planets. Like idiotboy, “Mars, The Bringer of War” is one of my favorites, as is “Venus, The Bringer of Peace”.
Other favorites:
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (I just love “The Great Gate of Kiev”.)
Khachaturian’s Spartacus
Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris
Never was a greater load of crap spoken. Just because I don’t like PIT I have based my dislike upon his most trite and overplayed work? Please. Marche Slav and 1812 are powder puff pieces. And so is Romeo and Juliet. And his solo works for piano and violin.
And LeSang, Night on Bald Mountain is also Mussorgsky, not Borodin.
MR
Hmmm…well, I think differently…
I was just going to concur with you about Mussgorsky (I cannot spell) and Bald Mountain.
Moving on, there’s also Claude Debussy’s, La Mer.
For a beginner, I would suggest Pachelbel’s Canon in D minor. He (and you) will definately recognize it right off the bat (you hear it in a lot of hospital commercials and other "hoidy toidy, we really care bullcrap things.)
There are many different collections that are usually titled “Pachelbel Canon and Other Baroque Favorites.” Go down to your local record store and autition one today. You might just buy a copy for yourself too!
On those types of recordings Uke, they never quite get the dynamics right. It is either mf or p but no in between.
Oh, and when people talk about Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestral version), they are almost invariably talking about Ravel’s arrangement of it. Moussorgsky’s own arrangement isn’t nearly as dynamic in comparison. However, if you guys are talking about the piano version (woohoo, that piece rocks), then there is no other arrangement. I agree that Pictures at an Exhibition is an awesome piece. There are plenty of orchestral arrangements (2 off the top of my head, when I worked selling sheet music in college I had seen several others but don’t remember who arranged those) but as said earlier the Ravel version is by far the most popular.
HUGS!
Sqrl