Great Classical Music

["Sixhits"]

I wanted to pose this open question: what are some of the great classical pieces?

I'm ignorant when it comes to classical music.

But, as I've been doing a lot of writing these last two weeks for work I've discovered how great classical music is for the thought process. But I own a real slim selection.

I'd appreciate some opinions on what to try out.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Do you just like classical?  Or any orchestra music?

For driving I highly recommend the soundtrack from "Conan The Barbarian" by Basil Poledouris  

He's done some great stuff for many other movies too (including "The Hunt for Red October" and "Lord of the Rings"), and I've liked most of it.  But I'm also a fan of the heavy on the drums and horns style too.

For actual classics you can try:

Concerto for Orchestra - Bartsk
Symphony No (insert number here) - Beethoven (5th and 6th are excellent)
Prince Igor - Borodin
Church Windows : St Michael the Archangle - Respighi
Fanfare for the Common Man - Coopland (personal favorite)

These are all pretty much the strong, marching classical.  I also like most of Mozart, and a great place to start would be to grab the soundtrack from the movie "Amadeus", it has a nice variety of selections.

I can stream some of these if you want to hear examples, let me know on GR.  Brain is also pretty up on classical I believe (much more than I am) so he may be able to help you too.

[c| Splinter]

Orchestral:
Beethoveen 5th's Symphony
Beethoveen 9th's Symphony
Beethoveen's Violin Concerto in D Major
Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overature from Romeo and Juliet
Mozart's 41st Symphony
Mozart's Requiem
Dvorak's 7th Symphony
Brahms' 4th Symphony

Piano:
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
Beethoven's Sonate Pathetique
Chopin's Prelude in E Minor
Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor
Debussey's Clair de Lune
Debussey's First Arabesque (also played orchestrally, but I like the piano version better)

Classical Guitar:
Granados' Spanish Dance No. 5 in 5 Minor
Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Albeniz's Sevilla
Albeniz's Asturias

Cello:
All of Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites (Preferably performed by Yo-Yo Ma)


There are a few to get ya started.

["Sixhits"]

Holy shit that's some great info! Thanks guys.

[Mr. Lothario]

     My personal favorite is Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D" played by Arthur Sulit (look for the album "Pipe Organ Story").
Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concertos, performed by Itzhak Perlman and the Israeli Symphony Orchesta.
Heinichen's "Dresden Concerti" performed by Musica Antiqua K?ln.
Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music").
Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca".
Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 1".
Pachelbel's "Canon in D major".
Ponchielli's "Gallop from the Dance of the Hours".

     My friend recommends Holst's "New World Symphony".

[|MP|Cringe]

Bach:
-The art of the fugue BWV 1080 (Only if you have the vinyl version on piano that my dad has, which is incredibly rare, the versions for strings and others are pure shit)
-The chromatic fantasy and fugue in D minor BWV 903
-Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor BWV 1052
-'Italian Concerto' in F major BWV 971
-The rest of the Bach in my iTunes music library

Beethoven:
-Sonata, Op. 27, No.2 "Moonlight"
-Sonata, Op. 13 "Pathetique"
-Sonata, Op. 57 "Appassionata"
-Several of the Bagatelles, especially the one in B minor, Op. 126 No. 4
-Most of the rest of the Beethoven in my iTunes library

--Of course, the versions of most of these that are good are played by Sviatoslav Richter, and half of them are probably hard to find.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

I forgot to mention O Fortuna by Wagner.  Don't know how I could forget that.  You'll recognize that from many a movie that it's been in.

[iblisajinn]

Bucc-

O Fortuna isn't Wagner.  It comes from a choral collection based on old (medieval?) folk songs and poems by Carl Orff, called Carmina Burana.  Very earthy-sounding.  

Also - the New World Symphony is Antonin Dvorak's No. 9, not Holst - but that reminded me of another - Gustav Holst's "The Planets" orchestral suite (there's only seven parts because they ignored Earth and they didn't know about Pluto at the time.)

Sixhits-

As for some other stuff (opens iTunes and starts searching)...

Piano, Piano and orchestra
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"
Rachmaninov, Fantasy on a theme by Paginini
Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 2
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto

Solo Violin, Violin and Orchetra
Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D Major
Sarasate, Zigeunerweisen (A personal favorite show-piece)
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto
Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D Minor

Orchestral
Mendelssohn, Overture from 'The Hebrides' (or Fingal's Cave)
Mussoursky, Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrations by Maurice Ravel)
Respighi, Pines of Rome (from the film Fantasia 2000)
Rossini, Overture "William Tell" (widely known as the "Lone Ranger" theme)
Sibelius, Symphony No. 2 in D Major, especially the 3d/4th mvmts.
Stravinksy, Suite from "The Firebird," the 1919 version (also from Fantasia 2000)
Tchaikovsky, 1812 Overture

Modern[/i]
I really like a lot of modern works, especially those of Aaron Copland (20th c. American composer) and a lot of film music, especially the Lord of the Rings saga.
Copland, Fanfare to the Common Man (one of the greatest of fanfares)
Copland, Hoe-down, from the ballet suite Rodeo
Gershwin (George), Rhapsody in Blue (piano and orchestra - well known from an old United Airlines commercial, and Fantasia 2000)

Randomly - "classical" is a term that is used to describe basically anything written for orchestras or orchestral instrument ensembles from the 1600s to the mid 1900s.  It's more accurately attached to the 1750-1820 period, with others including Baroque (pre 1750) and Romantic (1750-early 20th century) periods.  The Classical period tends to have a cleaner, simpler sound; the Romantic tends to be more complex and in some ways darker, reflecting European culture of the period.  I think it was the classical period works that were supposed to improve your SAT scores, but I prefer the 19th century for studying.

I've been playing classical (orchestral and solo) violin for about 25 years at this point, so if you want more violin-specific selections let me know.

That should keep you occupied for a while...<grin>

[[[EUR]] HoloGram]

Dont forget Tschaikovsky's : The Nutcracker. -Piano Concerto No.1
Wagner's : Tristan & Isolde

and many others - I cant even count them :-)

[kos.viper]

OMG

Strauss, Eine Alpenssinfonie
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No 5, and No 3
Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (French Title: Le Sacre du Printemps)
Holst, The Planets
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No 10

[|MP|Nomad]

-Snoop Dog
-Sir Mixalot (I like big butts)
-Missy Elliot (get your freak on)
-Creed (with arms wide open)
-PIMP (50 cent)

These are some nice soft easy to listen classical stuff  

Oh and I forgot, the Benny Hill theme song too