Recomend me some good classical

bishbashboshdj

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Ive realised i have a distinct lack of classical music and i want some, recomend some to me!

I particularly like 'darker' classical, there's a piece from vivaldis four seasons which was used on oldboy that is great, i also like arunjuez con tu amor, not sure who its by but i have an andrea bocelli recording....

ideas please :)
 
Mahler, Symphony No.1 in D Major
Mahler Symphony No.5
Elgar Cello Concerto
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor
Sibelius Symphony No.5 in E flat
 
Uck, I saw the Sibelius cycle at The Bridgewater Hall in November. You did well to recommend it as a "darker" example of classical music. I don't know quite what you mean by 'darker', so I'll make a few recommendations which could be construed as such:

Carl Orff - Carmina Burana (incredibly famous, almost charicature-like)
Bach - Toccata and Fugue (very famous piece indeed, a fantastic example of the power of the organ)
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (lovely and accessible as an introduction)
Debussy - Clair de Lune (would make it on to any list of recommendations I made)
Grieg - In The Hall Of The Mountain King (you'll know this one too...)
Pietro Mascagni - Intermezzo (haunting but truly wonderful)
Prokofiev - Romeo & Juliet Suite (famous once more but kind of 'dark')

As for En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor, Bocelli's recording is lovely but I prefer the instrumental and the version I have of that is Joaquin Rodrigo if you'd like to get that.

As well, I have lots of examples of 20th century classical pieces which are dark, chilling and at the same time rousing. If you listen to a few of the above, let me know which you like, I'll get back to you with some more tailored recommendations. Enjoy!
 
I like Shostakovich Symphony No 5
 
Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights
Mussorgsky - Night on Bare Mountain
Saint-Saens -Dance Macabre
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana
Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
 
A lot of the great "Russian" composer's music is rather dark.

Moussorgsky in particular. Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky too. Try Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Moody and stirring stuff.

Bartok is probably too "difficult" for many though his "Concerto for Orchestra" is excellent and rather in the style of Moussorgsky's "Night on a Bare Mountain" to my ears. Stravinsky's "Right of Spring" is similar again.

Vaughan Williams and Elgar are often dark and moody with tremendous emotion in their work. They wrote some beautiful tunes. Try Elgar's "Enigma Variations" which is deservedly popular.

Remember that most lending libraries have a large selection of classical CDs to borrow.
Far better than buying full price and then not liking what you hear.
Many charity shops have cheap classical CDs that have never been played.

If you want a great organ music taster try "Tsar of Instruments" on Chandos.
Lots of great, moody Russian tunes and far more accessible than Bach IMHO.
 
Remember that most lending libraries have a large selection of classical CDs to borrow.
Far better than buying full price and then not liking what you hear.
Many charity shops have cheap classical CDs that have never been played.

that was my plan, i work in a librairy, from what i know i like russian and german composers it seems, will have to write some of these down and go snooping through the librairy at lunchtime

cheers for all your help chaps and chappettes (if there are any)
 
Ciarán;6125729 said:
Bach - Toccata and Fugue (very famous piece indeed, a fantastic example of the power of the organ)

That's one of my favourite pieces - good choice!

There is a version of this on YouTube (inserted below) which works very well in showing the layering/complexity of this organ piece. Whether you're musical or not, you might find it interesting....

[youtube]ipzR9bhei_o[/youtube]
 
Thankyou for the link to that fascinating portrayal of this famous work.

Typically for Bach there just wasn't enough green notes for my taste. ;)

I can only suppose that he had a very small organ.
 
I watched that rendering after seeing it performed live just to see exactly how complicated this piece is for one man to play on an organ with 5,500 notes!
 
“cavalleria rusticana” gut wrenching sad and beautiful too

[youtube]JKBNbHsCvSs[/youtube]
 
Ive realised i have a distinct lack of classical music and i want some, recomend some to me!

I particularly like 'darker' classical, there's a piece from vivaldis four seasons which was used on oldboy that is great, i also like arunjuez con tu amor, not sure who its by but i have an andrea bocelli recording....

ideas please :)


You seem to prefer to listen to excerts from works rather than the whole. There are sites on the web you can preview stuff before buying.

I myself prefer to listen to the whole work but I suppose and have experienced that in todays life there is limited time to do this.

I love Mahler, Elgar and Rachmaninov. Previously I was listening to lighter classicals like Chopin as I was interested in the piano, then I progressed on to more 'serious' classical. Mahler is very serious but I got interested him him by reading about him and then I saw the 'Ressurection Symphony' on the bbc proms about 20 years ago after I had read the sleeve notes in a shop. I went out and bought it and have been hooked on Mahler since. Reading what his thoughts are on what he was writing is crucial to understanding and loving his music. Elgar is probably a bit more accesable than Mahler but still very serious music and has a lot more uplifting moments. Try Mahlers 1st 'The Titan', its not his heaviest, or Elgars second symphony if you want to try full works.
 
btw I heard a very nice guitar symphony in a film once and have heard bits of it since but dont know who or which piece it was. Has any of you guys any idea?
 
only rodrigo guitar concerto and cavitina come to mind

[youtube]DsXLfnVuj30[/youtube]
 
I use to enjoy Emerson Lake & Palmer sort of classical music with a bit of ooomph!


Laaaarvly, missed notes an all. Did you get into Rick Wakeman and Dave Greenfield too, those must be 3 of the greatest rock keyboardists from the 70s?
 
only rodrigo guitar concerto and cavitina come to mind


Thats not the one I heard but very nice and I will be collecting that. Instantly made me think of Clint Eastwood, is it from A Fistfull of Dollars?

Ive listened to that Rodrigo 5 times in a row now and Ive ordered it online and am also downloading a torrent as I cant wait. Is beautiful. I'm also on youtube listening to Rick Wakeman. Thanks for this thread.
 
You seem to prefer to listen to excerts from works rather than the whole. There are sites on the web you can preview stuff before buying.

I myself prefer to listen to the whole work but I suppose and have experienced that in todays life there is limited time to do this.

Its not that i like to listen to excert i just dont really know what to look for, ive only given examples roughly of what i like, considering i spend most of my time listening to thrash metal, hip hop, folk music and dance i have a very comprehensive knowledge of those genres but not really of classical....

thanks for all the vids people, i cant watch them here but will have a look when i get home.......
 
not dark but i like these too

Comptine D'Un Autre eTe

La Valse D'Amelie (Version Piano)

of the amelie soundtrack
 
“cavalleria rusticana” gut wrenching sad a beautiful

That was the Intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni that I put forward earlier. It is such a beautiful piece of music full of impending tragedy, I love it.

I'm actually more into opera than I am classical music but I guess they go pretty much hand-in-hand and so I have a library of over 200 'classical' CDs ranging from John Williams and Hans Zimmer to Beethoven and Bach and encompassing Sibelius, Muggorsky and Elgar in between.
 
[youtube]KkObnNQCMtM[/youtube]


Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei (Adagio for strings) beautiful

The 1938 world broadcast debut, with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Orchestra, was selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the United States Library of Congress.[2]

In 2004, Barber's masterpiece was voted the "saddest classical" work ever by listeners of the BBC's Today programme, ahead of "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, and the "Adagietto" from Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony.[3] The version of the piece performed by London Symphony Orchestra was, for a time, the highest selling classical piece on iTunes.[4]

The piece can be heard in films such as Platoon, The Elephant Man, El Norte, Amélie, Lorenzo's Oil, S1m0ne and Reconstruction, and in videogame Homeworld. It is also used in several episodes of The Simpsons in scenes lampooning sadness and destruction ("Strong Arms of the Ma", "Marge Gamer", and "Little Orphan Millie"). "Adagio for Strings" is also used in the beginning of the song "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & The Family (from CD: No Way Out.)

An electronic version was made by William Orbit in 1999,[5] and a trance remix of this was made by world renowned Dutch DJs Ferry Corsten and Tiësto. Tiësto's hard trance remix of the arrangement, which he made in 2005,[6] gained prominence in the club scene throughout Europe and the world, charting at #37 in the UK and #20 in Ireland.[citation needed] It also featured in Tiësto's set at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, which was televised to 4 billion people globally.

c/w http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_for_Strings
 
The only classical CD in my large music collection is Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's the work that his Wedding March is taken from. I bought it after hearing it as the soundtrack to Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy.

The guy in HMV when I bought it recommended that I should buy a version that doesn't include the Wedding March. I should have listened.
 

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