Recommendations for Classical Music

[Spacegeezer]

Mark my words and mark them well: You cannot go wrong with anything composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The recording sometimes matters more than the composer.

 

[SepticTank]

Carl Nielsen - A Fantastic journey to the Faeroe Isles & 6 Symphonies.
Jean Sibelius - Finlandia & the Karelia Suite
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt

I'm seeing a pattern here

Bedrich Smetana - Ma Vlast

Phew - broke it.

 

[SRock]

As always you will get great advice here at the B&B! These guys are great. Personally I have favorites from all of the different style periods. I enjoy a variety of classical music when I shave/shower. This is a journey for you that will prove well worth it.

Opening a big can of worms here, but I will offer a sampling to help figure out what types of classical music you enjoy.

If you enjoy the Bach recordings you already have listed, I would recommend checking out the 2 and 3 Part Inventions, Goldberg Variations, Orchestral Suites, and Cello Suites.

Other than Bach, as a starting point I would suggest checking out recordings of works by Mozart (I especially enjoy the later Symphonies, Requiem Mass, and Operas), Beethoven (Symphonies, String Quartets), Tchaikovsky (Symphonies, Ballets), Prokofiev, and Brahms.

The most common style periods you will hear about are (specific dates get argued about all the time, and as always there are exceptions.... these are reasonable guidelines, though)
-Medieval (think gregorian chant, roughly everything before 1400 or so)
- Renaissance (ie Monteverdi, 1400-1600)
- Baroque (Bach, Telemann 1600-1750)
- Classical (Mozart 1750-1810)
- Romantic (Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Brahms, 19th century)
and then stuff splits off into a bunch of different directions in the 20th century

This should give you quite a bit of variety. Feel free to IM any specific questions you may have. I have a Master's in music performance, and currently teach lessons and do a lot of freelance work.

Libraries are you friend in checking this stuff out. Many public library systems have very extensive classical music selections

The Brandenburg Concertos and Well-Tempered Clavier are pretty good representations of Baroque music. Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is from the Romantic period along with Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Claude Debussy's Children's Corner is an Impressionist work, Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire-"The Moonfleck" is an example of the Second Viennese School with its chromatic scales, and John Chance's Water Walk is an example of avant-garde "chance" music which is a lot of fun to listen to, lemme tell ya.

I notably left out Beethoven, though he was from the Romance period, but his, J.S. Bach's, and Mozart's works are widely played, so you've probably heard a good deal of his stuff before.

I prefer learning about classical music by type, not by composer or era. You can divide most classical up into sections:
Solo Keyboard
Orchestral
Chamber Music
Opera
etc...

By studying music this way, you can see how it evolved over time and I learned a lot more and was exposed to composers I might not have listened too I think. As far as music goes, I particularly like Beethoven's string quartets, piano sonatas, and piano concertos. I really enjoy Mozart's piano concertos and string quartets as well. His piano sonatas sound "simple" but really are beautiful (those sonatas are usually the Baby Einstein-type stuff you here for kids). I also enjoy most of Schubert's work (pity he died so young - here's a string quartet and a quintet). Another way to go is to find a favorite player and go through their work. Jascha Heifetz is by far my favorite violin player - try his violin concertos (swoon....) - Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or even Paganini.

So if you haven't figured it out, YouTube is an excellent resource for classical music.... lol. Other favorites are Chopin (his ballades, preludes, waltzes). That should keep you busy for a while.

As always, great advice guys.