# Classical music that rocks. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835 "2002-11-26T04:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **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:** [November 26, 2002, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/21 "2002-11-26T11:37:58Z")
Another good one - the _Bacchanale_ from “Sampson and Delilah” by Saint Saens. And, also with a steady hypnotic build up, the _“Fandango”_ mvmt from Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet #4 ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/22 "2002-11-26T13:22:24Z")
Another vote for **Mars, Bringer of War.** Also,\*\* Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity\*\* rocks, but in a more, well, Jolly way. **Mercury, The Winged Messenger** bounds along then builds to a rousing climax. **Uranus, The Magician** is quite loud as well. Heck, you might as well get the whole **Planets**. The quieter movements are as beautiful as the others are relentless. Also, the Finale of **Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony** is a pretty raucous affair. Then you have\*\* Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalacian Spring,\*\* and \*\* Rodeo\*\* by Aaron Copland. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/23 "2002-11-26T13:29:08Z")
Any of Rossini’s overtures, though, of course, “William Tell” is what immediately springs to mind (especially if you grew up on Warner Brothers cartoons). But “La Gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)” is also a good one. I depends on your definition of classical, but Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris” would seem to fit. Of course, the first movement of Beethovan’s 5th symphony should be included. Some of the sections of Saint-Saens’s “Carnival of the Animals.” There’s also Dvorak’s _Quintet for Piano, 2 violins, viola, and cello, Op. 81_ ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/24 "2002-11-26T13:34:14Z")
Another vote for “Bolero” and “Mars, Bringer of War”. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/25 "2002-11-26T13:35:29Z")
I always turn up the volume for the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor’). Not classical, but Gershwin’s _Rhapsody in Blue_ is another good piece to turn up the volume on. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/26 "2002-11-26T14:19:10Z")
Being Argentinian I have to recomend “Malambo” final dance of the Ballet “Estancias” by ALberto Ginastera. Modern but powerfull. “Spanish Capriccio” and “Scherezade” (specially the last movement) by Rimsky Korsakov “Light Cavalry” and “Poet and Peasant” overture by Franz Von Suppe. I always thought that Tchaikovsky piano concert n 1 rocks, specially the first and most specially the last movement. Elgar’s pomp and circunstance n 1 aND N 4. Copland “fanfare for a common man”, “Spring in the Apalaches?”, and “Grand Canyon sunrise” (although I can’t remember if the last was composed by copland) And Miss Mapp I always thought Rhapsody in Blue was considered classical ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/27 "2002-11-26T14:35:23Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Estilicon_ > \*\* And Miss Mapp I always thought Rhapsody in Blue was considered classical \*\* Is it? I thought it was too modern to count, but I suppose, as **RealityChuck** (whom I missed seeing when I first posted) says, it depends on your definition of “classical”. Regardless of definition, it is one of my favorite pieces, especially when driving on the freeway with the windows open. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/28 "2002-11-26T14:46:14Z")
The Rondo movement from Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto (Op. 15). Barrelhouse piano a hundred years before there WAS barrelhouse piano. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/29 "2002-11-26T14:49:31Z")
The Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturyan (which I first heard on TV commercials for Buffalo Sabres hockey back in the 1970s) second on the Rite of Spring by Stravinsky - the heavy metal of the 1900s ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/30 "2002-11-26T15:30:40Z")
Prokofieff’s second piano concerto. Saint-Saens, Introduction & Rondo capriccioso. For the adventurous: Edgar Varèse: **Ameriques** (If you liked Rite of Spring) Oliver Messiaen: **Turangalila Symphony** John Adams: **Shaker loops** ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/31 "2002-11-26T15:42:58Z")
A couple that haven’t been mentioned so far: Bach’s _Toccata and Fugue in D Minor_ and Saint-Saens _Danse Macabre_. ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/32 "2002-11-26T15:53:03Z")
Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (aka ‘Va Pensiero’). Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ (K551). Wagner’s Gotterdammerung, the Immolation Scene (basically the very last bit of the whole damn ring cycle) is awesome and must be played loud. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/33 "2002-11-26T15:58:07Z")
I stand by my earlier assertions in the linked thread. > [@](#): > > _Enola Straight said:_ > Also Sprach Zarathustra There is much more to this piece than the opening minute-and-a-half. The movement right after the opening, _Song Of the Backworldsmen_, is IMHO some of the most beautiful music ever put to paper. The waltz is also incredible. While we’re talking Richard Strauss, has no one in this forum ever heard the _Alpine Symphony_?? Almost 45 minutes of non-stop rockage, as would be any piece that is scored for **twenty** french horns. **mack** , while we’re talking Tchaikovsky, let’s not forget the racous 3rd movement of the 6th symphony, the “Pathetique.” Less cultured audiences will applaud heartily, not realizing the piece isn’t done yet. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sol.una](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@sol.una](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sol.una)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/34 "2002-11-26T16:33:15Z")
Thomas Tallis “Spem in alium”. Written in the sixteenth century for forty voices. You need to listen on headphones if it’s not being performed live. There are so many different musical threads that the average room’s acoustic mushes them all together… ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/35 "2002-11-26T17:19:02Z")
Time-Life has a library of three CD’s of “Classical Thunder.” It has a lot of the songs already listed here in a nice stirring, blast it way up collection. I like combining Verdi’s Requim Mass: Dies irae with Orff’s Carmina burana: O fortuna. Here’s a link to [Classical Thunder](http://www.timelife.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SimpleSearch-Start;sid=nqQL0jmxx9sUhQRSM4VL3h90ZWXHy2lsbf0=?searchformat=graphic&search_query_keyword=classical+thunder). It looks like they have a fourth CD that I haven’t seen before. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/36 "2002-11-26T19:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by av8rmike \* > While we’re talking Richard Strauss, has no one in this forum ever heard the _Alpine Symphony_?? Almost 45 minutes of non-stop rockage, as would be any piece that is scored for **twenty** french horns. Yeah, but that’s 5 times the clams.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/37 "2002-11-26T19:43:59Z")
Thanks for the link, **Wolverine**. My tapes of that are pretty much worn out (and couldn’t do justice to it in the first place), and I’m trying now to go all-CD. And if movie soundtracks can count as “classical”, then I’ll have to throw in a nomination for the Imperial March (and possibly also “Battle of the Fates”). ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/38 "2002-11-26T19:47:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Estilicon \* > and “Grand Canyon sunrise” (although I can’t remember if the last was composed by copland) Grand Canyon Suite was written by Ferde Grofe (1892-1972). “On the Trail”, which depicts a mule ride into the canyon, is probably the best-known movement. Personally, I’d go with Copland; he was a much better composer. Or, if you’re into Americana, check out Ives Symphony #2; it’s a lot of fun and has lots of folks songs & stuff plus a hilarious ending. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/39 "2002-11-26T21:07:09Z")
_Sabre Dance_ by Aram Khachaturian ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835/40 "2002-11-26T21:22:03Z")
Most of my picks have already been said, but: Verdi’s _Anvil Chorus_ John Williams-the various _Star Wars_ soundtracks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-music-that-rocks/138835.md?page=3)