# Recommendations for Classical Music, Please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857 "2010-01-29T06:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/21 "2010-01-30T05:03:17Z")
Handel’s “Zadok the Priest,” which builds and builds to sheer gloriousness: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1W1XJ96y9k&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1W1XJ96y9k&feature=related) His “Entry of the Queen of Sheba” is also a favorite of mine: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TGKJ9MgCOQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TGKJ9MgCOQ) Then there’s Bach’s very zippy Brandenburg Concerto, No. 3, _Allegro Moderato_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9qWpa2rIg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9qWpa2rIg) And you can’t go wrong with his Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, _Allegro Moderato_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC1E4\_imS0A&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC1E4_imS0A&feature=related) (which is one of the tunes on the Voyager Gold Records: [Voyager Golden Record - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Gold_Record)) But let’s not forget William Boyce’s Symphony No. 5 in D: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ciboqDC4o&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ciboqDC4o&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/22 "2010-01-31T06:48:11Z")
I don’t know what the OP’s examples are, so I’m not sure what to recommend. But what comes to mind is rapidly played music. Last movement of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. Last section of Sarasate’s _Ziegeunerweisen_. The second movement (the scherzo) of Beethoven’s 9th. (For that matter, probably any [scherzo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scherzo).) The beginning of [this Mendelssohn scherzo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7lKERM4ULU) was used in the Wizard of Oz (as Toto escapes from the witch’s castle). Smetana, Dance of the Tumblers from “Bartered Bride” (used in Road Runner cartoons, also in [Hare Conditioned](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDE6dkSTHs8) at 5:16). Dvorak, “Carnival” Overture. Mozart, “Marriage of Figaro” overture. Bernstein, “Candide” overture. Tchaikowsky, Russian dance from “Nutcracker”. Thirding the Rossini pieces. Last section of the William Tell overture, last half of the Semiramide overture, Barber of Seville overture (cf. “Rabbit of Seville”). Some or all of the above can be found on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/23 "2010-01-31T13:14:10Z")
I have three CDs that include great stuff, including many of the pieces mentioned already. CLASSICAL BLAST (available on iTunes), “The Most Exhilirating music in the Universe!” is a two-disk set with a wonderful selection. HEAVY CLASSIX 1 and 2 is ditto, with “Ride of the Valkyrie” and conclusion of the 1812 Overture, among others. I don’t see it on iTunes. THUNDER AND LIGHTNING is a two-desk set subtitled “Solti Sonic Spectaculars: Orchestral Fireworks” and includes the William Tell Overture, Bizet’s March of the Toreadors, etc. I don’t see that on iTunes, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/24 "2010-01-31T21:19:08Z")
Beethoven’s [Symphony No. 5, Movement 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mZ4_aWfH7s) comes to mind immediately (Not the more famous “da-da-da-daaaa” [Movement 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuQYV6rpW3I&feature=related), although that certainly works too!). ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/25 "2010-01-31T21:58:02Z")
Give a try to John Adams’ _Short Ride in a Fast Machine_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDhRQDwTDJE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDhRQDwTDJE). If you like that you might like other stuff by Adams, like _Foxtrot for Orchestra_. The minimalists are full of high energy stuff, check out this piece, by Steve Reich: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5\_cwN1i74&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5_cwN1i74&feature=related). Or, for something completely different, “Joy of the Blood of the Stars”, a movement of the _Turangalila Simphony_, by Messiaen: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv67YkOWJNA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv67YkOWJNA) ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/26 "2010-02-01T04:53:04Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Smetana, Dance of the Tumblers from “Bartered Bride” (used in Road Runner cartoons, also in [Hare Conditioned](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDE6dkSTHs8) at 5:16). AHEM…I believe you mean [Dance of the Comedians](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7uEV7FAua8). The [Overture](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4yibqK5Gzw) from the same piece also has some _fuoco_. [Dance of the Tumblers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIfSvEawXSM) is another lively piece by Rimsky-Korsakov. Then again so is just about every other piece he wrote. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/27 "2010-02-01T06:30:59Z")
Nutcracker and anything by Chopin. Fantasia is a fun cartoon to watch too. ---
**Author:** ![djledford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@djledford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djledford)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857/28 "2010-02-02T17:29:53Z")
Gustav Holst’s “Mars, the Bringer Of War” is quite rousing. Deborah J Ledford [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-classical-music-please/526857.md?page=1)