SDMB Guide to Classical Music

Are symphony orchestras sexy?

I love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. After having listened to it countless times I wonder if there is not anything greater that isn’t Beethoven’s 9th.

What music would you rather make love to?

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor Op. 23 …it literally moves something deep in my chest.

If you are in a hurry there’s always The Sabre Dance from Aram Khachaturian’s Gayane ballet.

But in all seriousness, I’d go with the Balcony Scene from Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev

Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov

There’s a lot of classical music that was packaged as “music for lovers.” I’m pretty sure I was conceived to an LP with Bolero on on side, Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun on the other.

There’s also Khatchaturian’s Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia, and Grieg’s Erotica

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth for me. Love it, love it, love it: - YouTube

Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings Symphony is also a favorite: - YouTube

Holst’s *Planets *suite. Specifically, Mars, the Bringer of War.

Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto. One kind of sex to the 2nd Movement, another kind to the main theme of the 3rd Movement.

And then there’s Barber’s Adagio.

OP: I can’t imagine making love to the Four Seasons.

Yeah, I can see that. As long as the woman agrees to dress up like the Kaiser.

Nobody’s mentioned the ultimate cliche - Ravel’s Bolero.

While I do enjoy Holst, I’m not sure I could make love to that. Might hurt something with all the rhythmic pounding, beating, etc. (Plus I would probably be trying to tap along)

Fantasia on a Themeby Vaughan Williams. Much lighter and softer.

Well, nobody except Slithy Tove.

That’s the one I would have mentioned. And although it’s not “classical” as such, the one that’s always worked for us is Pat Metheny - Are you going with me

Oh. The music, not the 50-60 people sitting out there in their tuxes. Carry on.

Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams does it for me, however.

Debussy’s Clair de Lune -

There was always something about it. Its starts with a shy expectation, like waiting, and builds like a gravitational pull into a raw want and need… almost to the point of anguish.

I hadn’t listened to it for a very long time before this afternoon.


PS- I know its cheating, but its for a good cause.

Frank Sinatra liked classy stuff, such as Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe” and Debussy’s “The Sunken Cathedral”. He says so in this clip from The Tonight Show. Frank Sinatra Reveals His Favorite Music for Romancing, Johnny Carson's Show - YouTube

One of the very few ways I’m like Frank Sinatra! :smiley:

If you like Vivaldi, try exploring Telemann.

Here’s a YouTube performance by Maurice Andre of the Trumpet Concerto in D.

Not sexy, but I’m on a French Baroque kick at the moment: Lully, De Lalande, Fuxx, etc.

Have you tried Couperin yet? His keyboard stuff kicks ass. Doesn’t sound like any of the other Baroque composers, to me at least.

Given that “Daphnis and Chloe” is about sex, it’s not that surprising.

The spouse and I are both classical musicians and frankly would find a classical soundtrack to lovemaking very distracting. We’d end up either critiquing the performance (the musicians, not ours) or analyzing the piece.