Which classical music would you recommend?

Composers

Titles of Works

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cantata 80 - Ein Fest Burg

Cantata 140 - Wachet Auf

Well Tempered Klavier (Volumes ! and II)

Magnificat in D Major

Toccata and Fugue in d minor

Chaconne

Prelude and Fugue in A minor

Concerto for Organ in A minor taken from Vivaldi's L'estro armonico

Concerto in D minor for Two Violins

Gustav Holst

The Planets

Igor Stravinsky

The Rite of Spring

Symphony of Psalms

Soldier's Tale

Scott Joplin

The Entertainer

Maple Leaf Rag

The Chrysanthemum

Pineapple Rag

Georges Bizet

Carmen (opera)

Giuseppe Verdi

La Traviata (opera)

Requiem Mass

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Swan Lake (ballet)

The Nutcracker (ballet)

Symphony No. 4

Symphony No. 6

Jean Sibelius

Finlandia

Symphony No. 2

Antonio Vivaldi

L'estro armonico (string suite)

The Seasons

Gloria

John Rutter

Requiem Mass

Gloria

Magnificat

any of his cd's

Eric Whitacre

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine

Cloudburst

Henry Purcell

Dido and Aeneas (opera)

Hector Berlioz

Symphonie Fantastique

Johannes Brahms

Shicksaslied

Symphony No. 3

Piano Concerto (any of them)

Frederic Chopin

Prelude in E minor

Nocturne in C# minor

Any of the waltzes

Fantasie Impromptu

Claude Debussy

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Claire de Lune

Dmitri Shostakovich

Festive Fanfare

Fire of Eternal Glory

Opus 102, Piano Concerto No. 2 in F

Antonin Dvorak

Symphony No. 9 "New World"

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 9 "Choral"

Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"

Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"

Fur Elise

Any of the piano concertos

Waldstein piano sonata

Moonlight piano sonata

Pathetique piano sonata

Tempest piano sonata

Appassionata piano sonata

Any of the string quartets

Fidelio (opera)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No. 40

Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter"

Coronation Mass

Waisenhaus Mass

Alma Dei Creatoris

Requiem Mass

Exsultate Jubilate

Don Giovanni (opera)

The Magic Flute (opera)

The Marriage of Figaro (opera)

Richard Wagner - all opera

Tristan und Isolde

Der Ring des Nibelungen (4 opera cycle)

Das Rheingold

Die Walkure

Siegfried

Gotterdammerung

Parsifal

Lohengrin

The Flying Dutchman

Maurice Ravel

Le Tombeau de Couperin

Jeux d'eau

Concerto for the Left Hand (only!)

Percy Grainger

Lincolnshire Posey

Molly on the Shore

G.F. Handel

The Messiah

Israel in Egypt

Water Music

He wrote a lot of hymns as well, look them up.

Franz Haydn

Symphony No. 94

Joke string quartet

Bird string quartet

Insanae et Vanae Curae

Gian Carlo Menotti

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Arvo Part

Magnificat

Spiegl im Spiegl

Te Deum

Berlin Mass

Symphony No. 3

De Profundis

Fratres

Festina Lente

Cantus for Benjamin Britten

Silouans Song

I think Beethoven's best symphonies are 6 and 9, and Mozart's would be no. 41 - where he proved that he can compose in the Bach counterpoint style

Looks like most of what you like are orchestral works that are pretty"robust." So you would like Beethoven. In addition to those mentioned above, try the 3d Symphony--"Eroica." Each of Beethoven's symphonies is considered a masterpiece, and all of his music is great.

Mozart's last several symphonies are generally regarded to be his best. Try No. 41--"Jupiter"--his last.

Stravinsky's "Firebird" is also very good.

Try Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra" and "Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste."

Liszt, "Les Preludes"

But also try some piano--Beethoven's and Mozart's piano concertos are a good place to start.

Then perhaps some Beethoven and Mozart piano sonatas, Haydn string quartets, Julian Bream's recordings of Spanish classical guitar music, and some opera arias (say C. Bartoli's recording of Rossini arias) and Elizabeth Schwarkopf's recording of Richard Strauss's "Four Last Songs" with George Szell to broaden your exposure to various genres.

Also, I'd start listening to the Metropolitan Opera on NPR on Saturday afternoons. There are many operas, and not all of them will be to your taste. So listen for a few minutes to the first Act. If you don't like it, turn it off and come back next week, but if you do, keep listening. For many years, I swore I'd never listen to opera, but I started and now I'm hooked. Operas are among the greatest works of clssical music.

I was a music major in college and absolutely love classical!

Mozart is my favorite composer. I fall in love with everything I hear from him. His opera overtures are wonderful. The Marriage of Figaro Overture, Don Giovanni Overture, and the Magic Flute Overatures will probably sound familiar to you.

Here's something you might like.... Vivaldi "The Four Seasons" There is only 4 movements and each movement is a season.... Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Most of the spring ones will sound very familiar to you, but they are beautiful.

Beethoven's 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th are my favorites. The fourth is written about Napolean's wars and life. The fifth will be very familiar to you. The 8th has a darker mysterious sound, but its exciting. The 6th is my favorite of all of them. It's the symphony used on the old Disney's Fantasia, where they have all the images of greek gods and goddesses and the flying horses ect. It's 45 minutes of heaven!!

Camile Saint-Saens is another one of my favorite composers. "The Carnival of Animals" is cool. "The Organ Symphony" is absolutely beautiful. The "Danse Macabre" is about Halloween Night.

Mahler's 2nd Symphony is really exciting to listen to. The fifth Movement brings a choir in, and it has the most breath taking ending. I usually only listen to the 5th movement!

There are some of my favorites... I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Happy Listening!

Just a general recommendation: Start off with orchestral works, like you have, to get familiar with classical music, then you can start moving into chamber music and choral music and operas. String quartets can be a little much for a beginner. For piano music, I would choose shorter works like the waltzes of Chopin or the moments musicaux of Schubert before I would take on sonatas. Operas can be long and many people get turned off by the excesses, so I would suggest getting recordings of famous arias or choruses first. There are many great works in all genres and I think you will get much enjoyment out of classical music if you don't try to go too fast.

Wow, you seem to be off to a great start on classical music!

All those that you listed are favorites of mine.

Here are some suggestions:

Stravinsky- the Firebird, Petrushka

Ravel- Daphnis et Chloé, Bolero, Rapsodie Espagnol,(he's my fave so I could think of lots!)Piano Concerto in G

Debussy- La Mer, deux arabesques

Gershwin-Rhapsody in Blue, Promenade(walking the dog)

Mozart- Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra

Saint Saens-Carnaval of Animals, Organ Symphony

Bizet- Carmen, Jeux d'enfants

De Falla- El Amor Brujo

Well, there are some suggestions. I love all of these, and I hope you do too!

Regarding Beethoven, you will of course be aware of the 5th symphony, but remember that the most interesting part of that symphony is after the shopworn first movement. The 6th is almost as good. The 9th is very good and the 7th is underrated. For the 7th, note the contrast in tempo between the first and second movements. Also, notice how everything in the first movement leads to the stupendous main theme that finally breaks through.

Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C major (K. 551)

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, op. 73

Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor

to name a few...

I love the Rite of Spring (I wrote a question on it yesterday)!

I love Maurice Ravel, in particular Daphnis et Chloe and his String Quartet in F. I also like Shostakovich's Cello Concertos. Smetana's Moldau (Vltava) from Ma Vlast is a must-listen.

Chopin - all the nocturnes, etudes, and primarily his ballades and scherzi. anything named "nocturne, etude, ballade or scherzo' will be good by chopin. Also his polonaises are worth checking out He wrote a few piano concerti as well. Handel - his Messiah of course Beethoven - I would like to say everything, but start with his symphonies 5, 7, & 9. His Coriolan overture and egmont overture are amazing. For piano - his Appassionata Sonata, Pathetique Sonata, Waldstein Sonata, Les Adieux Sonata, Moonlight Sonata (pretty much all of them). Bach - all of his Well-Tempered Clavier are great pieces (preludes and fugues). Also the toccatas and any of the suites are good as well. Mozart - I would go with his piano concerti (they are to me his best pieces) and are the best introduction to his styles I believe. Also try his fantasy in d minor for piano. His symphonies are of course famous as well and worth checking out (Jupiter Symphony is famous). Schubert - Impromptu's are great piano pieces to begin listening with. His Unfinished Symphony is amazing (get the recording of Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Phil if u get a recording of it). All of his piano pieces are interesting. Schumann - all of his music is different and interesting in its own way - he is one of my favorite composers (he was also bipolar before they knew what that was and so his music is quite unpredictable). Sorabji's music may become more accessible to you once you listen through other composers music. That is what i have discovered. The best way to come to appreciate later music is to start at the beginning and go through each composers various works untill you sense that composers style and then move on. Maybe a good progression of composers would be this. DeLassus - DuFay - Vivaldi - Handel - Buxtehude - J.S. Bach - C.P.E. Bach - Gluck - Haydn - Rossini - Mozart - Beethoven - Berlioz - Schubert - Schumann - Chopin - Dvorak - Paganini - Liszt - Grieg - Offenbach - Brahms - Tchaikovsky - Wagner - Mahler - R. Strauss - Debussy - Ravel - Satie - Scriabin - Stravinsky - Bartok - Ives - Schoenberg - Berg - Weill - Prokofiev - Shostakovich - Copland - Ruth Crawford Seeger - Henry Cowell - John Cage - Edgar Varese - Messiaen - Boulez - Stochkausen - Babbitt - Steve Reich - Peter Maxwell Davies - George Crumb - Rochberg - John Corigliano - Sorabji and READ about their ideas and life too - listening is not all there is to understanding these musics - some pieces are very much about the composers - and some relate to very extramusical ideas or complex ideas. These all really do instruct their listeners how to listen and how to understand. Sorabji may fall sooner in the list of these. But I feel each of these composers stretch the listener to understand more about music - especially the later pieces. They are all in chronological order but I believe the history of music builds on itself and so this would be the best order to get the music and the ideas behind it - therefore making you able to appreciate it. Enjoy.

Rather than exploring only by composer, you might try exploring by an individual artist ~ a singer or an instrumentalist ~ or by music written for a specific type of instrument ~ like the cello or the flute

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