Classical tunes for my man

Cafe Society
1

Hello all,

My husband (who rarely expresses an intense interest in anything other than sports and sex) has recently mentioned TWICE that he would really like to figure out a way to determine what kind of classical music he likes. He seems to be fond of all dramatic clips for television commercials. (You may giggle and talk about the “dumbing down of music”, but remember that I love this man.)

I’d like to help him develop this interest but am not quite sure how to do this. We have plenty of classical music floating around my house- he’s just not inclined to sift through everything we have or could bring home to find something that moves him. He tends to like the dramatic soft/loud up/down stuff that works well in movies and such. I am not at all well versed on the subject, thoug I recognize more popular pieces and composers.

Any ideas about how I can feed this interest? I did buy a “classical music for dummies” book, but was hoping for other suggestions…

2

Tune in the classical music radio stations? See what he likes, and what he turns off?

3

Wagner:
The Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla
The Ride of the Valkyries
Siegfried’s Death March
The overture to “The Flying Dutchman”

HTH

4

Try Carmina Burana, Ride of the Valkeries, and The 1812 Overture. They don’t get much more many than that.

5

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=146315

This thread should be useful.

You might want to try Beehthovev’s 5th and 9th symphonies for “dramatic” classical music which is also familiar from TV commercials and the like.

6

That should of course be Beethoven’s 5th and 9th. The reason I mangled it so badly is that I was listening to Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony (also very famous) playing loudly in the background.:wink:

7

I highly recommend Gustav Holst’s The Planets - it’s really good.

8

I second the classical radio station suggestion, if you have a good one in your area. Also, try renting some movies about classical music so the listening is combined with movie watching. It might not seem like so much of a chore.

Start with Amadeus. I haven’t seen Immortal Beloved, but it would be a good way to hear plenty of Beethoven. Also, of course, both of Disney’s Fantasia movies, for a sampler.

Public television sometimes broadcasts classical concerts, as well as operas.

Hope this helps.

9

I was going to suggest “My Girl” by the Temptations, but I see that we aren’t in that neighborhood of classics. My personal recommendation is Ode to Joy… knowing full well what the title is… play it loud.

10

I have in my CD collection a disk called POWER CLASSICS. It is a decent collection of your hard hitting stuff.

[I actually got out of my chair and got the disk]

Let’s see

Als Sprach Zarathustra_Fanfare
Mars
Dies Irae
Anvil Chorus (great to have sex to IMHO)
Ritual Fire Dance
Bolero
March to the Scaffold
Thunderstorm (from the LvB VI)
Ein Heldenleben-Battle scene
Ride of the Valkyries
Gayne-Saber Dance
Firebird-Infernal Dance
Grand Canyon Suite-Cloudburst
1812 Overture-Finale

He’d probably like most of that.