# Classical Music Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002 "2002-05-27T14:20:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/21 "2002-05-30T00:35:43Z")
Ooh! Don’t forget about Holst’s _The Planets_ Don’t turn up your nose at it just because it’s become popular with the non-cogniscenti! It’s brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/22 "2002-05-30T04:13:34Z")
1. Rimsky-Korsakov’s _Scheherezade_ (I’ve got the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit.) 2. Rachmaninov’s _Piano Concerto No. 2_ (I’ve got Sviatoslav Richter on piano with Stanislaw Wislocki and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.) 3. Borodin’s _Polovtsian Dances_ (I don’t have this one currently, but it’s a childhood favorite.) These three are “popular” - but that’s because they’re so good. #'s 1 & 3 tell stories. #2 is just plain beautiful (IMHO of course). Happy listening! ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/23 "2002-05-30T08:05:36Z")
Lots of great suggestions above. I would add: 1. Overture to _Romeo & Juliet_ by Tchaikowsky. Very different from the Prokofiev version. Leonard Bernstein’s recording is good, but if you can find a re-release of an old recording with Leopold Stokowsky and, I think, the Philadelphia Orchestra, it’s a dream. I had an LP, but it was literally worn out years ago. 2. _The Firebird Suite_ by Stravinsky. 3. Hi, Opal! 4. The Partitas of J. S. Bach recorded by the late Glenn Gould. Yes, you can hear his humming in the background sometimes, but they’ve never been played better. I once thought Bach would be stuffy and “mathematical,” but these pieces are perfect elegance. 5. Any Chopin piano works played by Artur Rubinstein. 6. Beethoven’s violin concerto. Lots of good ones out there, but I like the remastered Heifitz version best. 7. In the dreaded opera category, if you’re interested, Bizet’s _Carmen_. An excellent version of the opera is available on videotape with Julia Maguinnes-Johnson in the title role and Placido Domingo as Don José. The video is done like a movie, with location shots in Siville. It may be more palatable to an opera newcomer than a staged version. Even if you’ve never heard it before, you’re likely to recognize a number of the themes. As usual, I’ve gotten carried away. Enjoy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/24 "2002-05-30T08:15:46Z")
THere is a reason the “popular” music is popular, because it is so good. Check out Shuberts 8th symphony or beethovens 5th. They are very good peices to start with. For opera start with Carmen or Madam Buterfly, they are both very beautiful. (I don’t spell very well) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/25 "2002-05-30T11:58:43Z")
**K364** , while I whole-heartedly endorse your suggestion of _The Planets_, let’s not forget there’s more to Holst than that one work. There’s a _lot_ more to Holst than that one work. In fact, there may be an entire musical education in Holst. My personal favourites include _Savitri_, the _Cotswold Symphony_, _Beni Mora_ and _The Perfect Fool_. YMMV. **Octavia Smythe-Bunion I. Esq.** (thank goodness for cut and paste), if you like Borodin, what would you say to the 2nd symphony, or _In the Steppes of Central Asia_? Have I mentioned Sibelius yet? Sibelius. _Finlandia_, the _Karelia Suite_, and the Fifth Symphony should give a good introduction, and I will throw in recommendations for _Luonnatar_ and _En Saga_, purely on the grounds that I love them. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/26 "2002-05-30T15:26:36Z")
**Steve** (you can always call me “Octavia”) I can’t say that I’ve ever knowingly listened to either of those works. I’ve heard of _Steppes_ at least. For the most part, my classical music tastes tend to be limited to what others on this thread have defined as “popular” - although this is changing as I get older. (Which isn’t to imply that _Steppes_ and the _2nd Symphony_ aren’t popular - only that _Dances_ tends to be the one I find on CDs - and usually is paired with one of the other Russians.) …I’ll have to check those out. I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy more CD’s. Bwuh ha haaaaaaaaa! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/27 "2002-05-30T16:48:10Z")
Here’s a list of favorite classical songs? pieces? thingies? from someone who doesn’t know a goshdarn thing about classical music except what she likes to hear. Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik Horn Concerto No. 4 Piano Concerto #21 Chopin: Minute Waltz Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata Fur Elise Ode to Joy (from Symphony #9) Ravel: Bolero Handel: Halleluhah Chorus Water Music Bach: Air On G String Concerto #5 Delibes: Flower Duet Satie: Gymnopedie #1 Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers 1812 Overture Borodin: Polovtsian Dances #1 ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/28 "2002-06-29T05:04:27Z")
So **Qwertyasdfg** …how goes the quest? ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/29 "2002-06-29T10:07:31Z")
No-one’s mentioned Mozart’s _Coronation Mass_ yet. I know this is subjective and all but I don’t think you’ll find anything better than the _Benedictus_ from that work… ---
**Author:** ![xejkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/22d042/32.png) [@xejkh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xejkh)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/30 "2002-06-29T10:43:05Z")
I like fugues! so I’ll recommend Bach’s 2 organ fugues as well as his Well-tempered Clavier. Look out for Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues – they are rare, but fun to listen. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002/31 "2002-06-29T15:57:35Z")
Mussorgsky’s _Pictures at an Exhibition_. Most commonly heard as an orchestral piece, but originally written for piano and later transcribed for orchestra. I have a copy of the piano version on vinyl somewhere, which I haven’t listened to in years and keep meaning to look for on CD. Also available is a "rock"version by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, which I found quite interesting. On the same CD you’ll find _Nutrocker_, a short piece based on _The Nutcracker Suite_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-recommendations/111002.md?page=1)