Classical Music

There have to be some classical fans here, right?

I've been listening to basically only metal and hardcore for like 25 years now, like many of us on this old board!  I still love it, but I'm not really excited by much anymore.  There's nothing new, there's nothing really different, and I've lost most of my motivation to seek out new bands/albums/sounds/etc.  So I've always liked *some* classical, and I've been working through some stuff lately.  The GREAT thing about classical is that there are about 20,000 discs used for under $1 on amazon.  In fact I got a really good 10 cd set for $2!  And another couple sort of random discs.

So far I've been digging probably 75% of it, or close.  Not *quite* like metal, but still pretty good stuff.  Of course Bach, Mozart, Beethoven have some really impressive work, but so far I think my favorites are Vivaldi, Handel, and Bizet, but some of these are based on hearing really very little (Bizet, for instance, 2 tracks).  And of course Carmina Burana, which I've had forever and is pretty squarely metal from a couple centuries ago.

Any thoughts?  Favorites?  Things you do or don't like?  Suggestions?  Based on what I've heard and already have, I'm considering some full albums by the names mentioned above, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Bizet's Carmen, Handel's Water Music, some "best of" by Mozart and Beethoven. . . my wife just happened to have Vivaldi's Four Seasons, so that's covered by happy coincidence!

What do you guys think?

Huge classical fan here. Out of who you listed (Vivaldi, Handel, Bizet, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven), I enjoy Handel and Beethoven the most.

Beethoven's piano sonatas take me to another world, primarily his Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique), which has lately surpassed Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as my most favorite classical composition of all time.

I especially collect Handel's Messiah recordings. Every time I find it on vinyl or CD in the thrift store, I buy it.

Gustav Holst's "The Planets" is superb listening (especially for a metalhead) as is Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre".

For modern classical, I especially enjoy John Williams' "Superman" and "Star Wars" compositions.

About once or twice a year I will put on Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos".

There is so much to be said

Love classical music......

Amazon has some great deals on digital collections...each one contains 111 pieces for 99 cents

Just type in 111 classical and you will get tons of different collections for 99 cents. Violin, piano, movie favorites, Bach, Beethoven, etc etc. I don't know why they are so cheap. Anyway, sounds good to me.


Some of my favorites

111 Amazing Pieces of Classical Music   (this is an amazing collection)


111 Amazing Classical: Mozart


111 Amazing Classical: Music in Movies


111 Amazing Classical: Bach


111 Amazing Classical: Beethoven

Adam wrote:
Gustav Holst's "The Planets" is superb listening (especially for a metalhead) as is Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre".

For modern classical, I especially enjoy John Williams' "Superman" and "Star Wars" compositions.

John Williams is fantastic....I also love his Raiders of the Lost Ark work

Love Wagner too

A much under appreciated score

Holy, holy cats.  Shazam.  Other meaningless nonsense silly words.

Adam says "There is so much to be said," which is part of why I created this, because there's a lot to either weed through or explore, and I'm at about step 1 1/2.  Adam, I don't have any (have never heard of!) Holst, and have only one track of Wagner, so I'll for sure check those out.  I have a few Beethoven, but not the one you mention.  You say you put on Brandenburg Concerto once or twice a year -- maybe a dumb question, but does that mean "I really like it and go back to it consistently" or "I barely ever listen to it"? 

He Already Left. . . ok, now Pandora's box is WIIIIIIDE open with those amazon mp3's.  Honestly, I think I might have to get a complete 2nd mp3 player and just have one for metal and one for classical.  This is too much.  14 HOURS of Handel for $1?  14 HOUR Baroque mix for $1, and then another 11 HOURS for another $1?  I mean most of those double-digit HOURS are $3, MOST of the $1 downloads are only in the 3-4 hour range.  Holy, holy cats.  Shazam.  Uhhhhh. . . wow.

Thanks fellas.  I'm pretty overwhelmed, but I guess in a good way!

I really do enjoy Classical music. Especially when it's mixed with other genres like Metal and Rock!

Classical Crossover is probably my favorite genre having to do with Classical.

Sarah Brightman is my favorite and only artist from this genre that I own any music from. But I simply love listening to her at times! I'd like to get more music like this.

Grindboy wrote:Holy, holy cats.  Shazam.  Other meaningless nonsense silly words.

Adam says "There is so much to be said," which is part of why I created this, because there's a lot to either weed through or explore, and I'm at about step 1 1/2.  Adam, I don't have any (have never heard of!) Holst, and have only one track of Wagner, so I'll for sure check those out.  I have a few Beethoven, but not the one you mention.  You say you put on Brandenburg Concerto once or twice a year -- maybe a dumb question, but does that mean "I really like it and go back to it consistently" or "I barely ever listen to it"? 

He Already Left. . . ok, now Pandora's box is WIIIIIIDE open with those amazon mp3's.  Honestly, I think I might have to get a complete 2nd mp3 player and just have one for metal and one for classical.  This is too much.  14 HOURS of Handel for $1?  14 HOUR Baroque mix for $1, and then another 11 HOURS for another $1?  I mean most of those double-digit HOURS are $3, MOST of the $1 downloads are only in the 3-4 hour range.  Holy, holy cats.  Shazam.  Uhhhhh. . . wow.

Thanks fellas.  I'm pretty overwhelmed, but I guess in a good way!

Yes, I really encourage you to pick up Gustav Holst's "The Planets"

Regarding the Brandenburg Concertos. Yes, I do enjoy them very much, but when it comes to Baroque, I have to be in a special mood. The Baroque Era doesn't usually have that BIG classical sound that you normally hear from the Romantic Era (i.e. Beethoven (early Romantic); Tchaikovsky (late Romantic)), it's more "royal" sounding.

All right, I'm totally drinking out of the fire hose here, especially with the amazon ridiculously cheap ridiculously large downloads.  I grabbed like 14 or something hours each of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Handel, and Haydn, and then had to bite the bullet and only score like 4 hours of Wagner for the same dollar.  Highway robbery, ha ha!

So it's going to take me a while to even figure out what's going on or what I really like (although STRONG early returns for Haydn, as long as there's no opera vocals). But if I'm not back in this thread for awhile, it's because of like 80 hours worth of listening.

Adam wrote:Huge classical fan here. Out of who you listed (Vivaldi, Handel, Bizet, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven), I enjoy Handel and Beethoven the most.

Beethoven's piano sonatas take me to another world, primarily his Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique), which has lately surpassed Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as my most favorite classical composition of all time.

I especially collect Handel's Messiah recordings. Every time I find it on vinyl or CD in the thrift store, I buy it.

Gustav Holst's "The Planets" is superb listening (especially for a metalhead) as is Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre".

For modern classical, I especially enjoy John Williams' "Superman" and "Star Wars" compositions.

About once or twice a year I will put on Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos".

There is so much to be said

"Pathetique" Sonata is my favorite Beethoven too! 
I can vouch for the rest of these picks too. I'm a big fan of classical, but I'm not nearly as well versed as I'd like to be. 
I'd agree that the romantic period is when it started getting really good. Baroque era can be amazing (Bach and Vivaldi), but even their stuff can be too formulaic and traditional for my taste. 

What I've found is basically all my favorite music has roots in the innovations in unconventional harmony. Though delved into by many of the famous masters like Bach and Mozart, it really exploded with post-Romantic 20th century composers like Debussy and Schoenberg. That's my frontier right now.

I don't have the periods thing figured yet (book on the way, with of course much listening!) but if you like Debussy, this is a paltry 4 hours compared to some collections well into the teens, but for a dollar. . . almost free download

I am starting to really get into classical music.   
I've tried over the years but it never "took."

But this year, my guitar playing finally found it's "voice" (blues rock) and my tastes have expanded into jazz and classical in a way they never did before.

Problem is, classical is so overwhelming!   There are literally thousands of pieces and 100's of recordings of each one.

So far I really like Haydn, Dvořák, Beethoven, and pieces by Mozart, Bach, and many of the usual names.  I prefer the quieter, less bombastic stuff.  Chamber orchestras, duos, trios, quartets, are great.  If anyone has any recommends on the best way to learn more about this genre and how to discover what I like and don't like without getting lost in the weeds, I'm all ears.

Mostly I'm into the classics and not so much the modern stuff although I like some Arvo Pärt.

I've really been into Claude Debussy for the past 6 months or so.  I listen to his music about 5 mornings a week as a part of my morning rituals.  

With classical music, The Simpler The Better, for me....meaning just a simple piano or single instruments really hit home.

I purchased this 77-song set on Amazon and it is incredibly good.

Big Box Dvořák

Only 99 cents, what a bargain.  There are other "Big Box" Classical downloads that I hope to check out when I have the time....

Maurice Ravel’s Bolero is an incredible work, my favorite classical piece

Not really into classical other than movie scores..

Here's my all-time fav:

I LOVE the Band of Brothers soundtrack by Michael Kamen.

Here are the composers on my Spotify playlist.

L. V. Beethoven
J. S. Bach
A. Vivaldi
P. I. Tchaikovsky
A. Dvořák
F. Chopin
S. Rachmaninoff
A. Salieri
J. Brahms
Ensemble Solistes XXI
G. Mahler
A. Scarlatti
F. Schubert
R. Schumann
F. Moreno-Torroba
A. Klobucar
M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco
F. Sor
W. Lawes
C. Monteverdi
A. Corelli
J. Sibelius
G. Enescu
C. Debussy
G. Frescobaldi
E. Rautavaara
J. Dowland
C. Porumbescu
A. Part
J. Haydn
S. Prokofiev
G. Sviridov
N. Rimsky-Korsakov
Z. Kodaly