I would like to start listening to classical music . .?

GET READY! I'VE BEEN MAKING THIS LIST FOR QUITE A WHILE! You think you might not know much of classical music... But the scary part is, you'll know most of the songs on this list (If you were atleast born before 1995) All of these songs can be found on youtube videos, some are entire pieces, and the part you recognize might not come on until two or three minutes, but enjoy it!

I've noticed there's an error in the copy pasting since there's not bold lettering feature in this forum, but the composers have a dash before their name, and the words under are their pieces!

HERE IT GOES:

-Pachelbel

Canon in D Major

-Vivaldi

Spring

-Telemann

Tafelmusik

-Mouret

Rondeau

-Bach

Brandenburg Concertos No. 3

Tocatta and Fugue in D minor

Prelude Partita No. 3

Minuet in G

Jesus, bleibet meine Freude

-Handel

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Hallelujah

Water Music: Suite 2

-Boccherini

Minuetto

-Mozart

Requiem Lacrimosa

K. 545 1st movement

The Marriage of Figaro, Overture

Symphony 40 in G min KV 550

Symphony No. 25

Magic Flute Queen of the Night Aria

Mozart's Twelve Variations on Ah vous dirai-je, Maman

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C

Rondo Alla Turca

String Serenade no. 13 in G, K. 525

-Beethoven

Ode to Joy

Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 9

Moonlight Sonata

Fur Elise

-Rossini

The Barber of Seville, Overture

The Barber of Seville, Largo al factotum

William Tell Overture

Light Cavalry Overture

La Gazza Ladra

-Schubert

Ave Maria

Der Erlkönig

-Mendelssohn

A Midsummer Nights Dream, Wedding March

Spring Song

-Chopin

Marcha Funebre

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2

Waltz Op.64 No.1, Minute Waltz

-Delibes

Pizzicato

Flower Duet

-Liszt

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

-Wagner

Ride of the Valkyries

Bridal Chorus

-Verdi

Anvil Chorus

La Traviata Brindisi Libiam ne' lieti calici

Dies Irae

La Donna É Mobile

-Jacques Offenbach

Can Can/ Infernal Gallop, Orpheus in the Underworld

-Brahms

Hungarian Dance No. 5

Lullaby Op.49 No.4 Wiegenlied

-Saint-Saëns

Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium

-Amilcare Ponchielli

Dance of The Hours, La Gioconda

-Bizet

Les Toreadors, Carmen Suite 1

Carmen Suite No. 2, Habanera

-Mussorgsky

Night on Bald Mountain

-Tchaikovsky

1812 Overture

Marche Slave

Swan Lake Ballet, Overture

Swan Lake Waltz

Sleeping Beauty Waltz

Tea (Chinese Dance)

The Nutcracker, March

The Nutcracker, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

The Nutcracker, Waltz of the Flowers

The Nutcracker, Dance of the Mirlitons (Reed Flutes)

The Nutcracker, Op.71 Trépak (Russian/Cossack Dance)

Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture: Love Theme

Piano Concerto No. 1

-Dvörak

Humoresque No. 7

-Rimsky Korsakov

Flight of the Bumblebee

-Mahler

Symphony No.1. Third Movement

-Giacomo Puccini

O mio babbino

-Fucik

Entry of the Gladiators

-José Juventino Cadenas

Over the Waves

-Edvard Grieg

Morning Mood

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Piano Concerto in A minor

-Rachmaninoff

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

-Claude Debussy

Claire de Lune

-Johann Strauss

Radetzy March

Blue Danube Waltz

Also Sprach Zarathustra

Tritsch- Tratsch Polka

-Aram Khachaturian

Sabre Dance

-Edward Elgar

Pomp & Circumstance No. 1

-John Phillip Sousa

Stars and Stripes forever

Washington Post

-Maurice Ravel

Bolero

-Paul Dukas

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

-F.J. Ricketts

Colonel Bogey

-Waldteufel

Skater's Waltz

Denza

Funiculi, Funicula

-Prokofiev

Dance of the Knights

Peter and the Wolf

-Leo Arnaud

Bugler's Dream

-Copland

Fanfare for the Common Man

Hoedown

-Carlos Gardel

Por una Cabeza

-Carl Orff

Carmina Burana o Fortuna

-Samuel Barber

Adagio for Strings

-Gershwin

Rhapsody in Blue

-Karl William Jenkins

Palladio

Now for a bit of a synthesis of the ages:

Middle Ages:

Bingen

Perotin

Leonin

Adam La Halle

Best of Baroque:

Bach

Bach

Bach

Handel

Classicism

Mozart

Haydn

Beethoven

Romanticism

Chopin

Lizst

Tchaikosvsky

Brahms

Wagner

.... Well You get the picture

Impresionism

Claud Debussy

20th Century Stuff

Igor Stranvinsky

Charles Ives

Avantguarde

George Crumb

Pierre Boulez

Eimer

Luigi Nono

Minimalism

Phillip Glass (the king)

Sorry if I overloaded you with information

I may be biased, as a player of the instrument myself, but classical guitar pieces often times are very beautiful and passionate, without the dull "classical music" feel.

Below is a piece I enjoy listening to:

Prelude n.1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos, played by Ida Presti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVRtXEE7Q-U

Piano:

Yiruma, a Korean pianist, is a modern pianist you might like. He wrote one of his songs, "River Flows in You," to be 'Bella's Lullaby' on the Twilight soundtrack, but for some reason a different song was chosen.

Hope this helps!

Start with music that tells a story, first.

-Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (a hero's life) or Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

-You could even get some good orchestral scores. It will be very easy to know what the music is trying to communicate, if you've seen the movie.

John Williams does a great job of this, in his Star Wars soundtracks.

-I don't agree that you should start with early music. This is why noone wants to listen to classical music. If I'm a young person who's used to listening to pop all the time, early music would be insanely boring:)

-If you start with this kind of thematic material, you will have a good idea of how music communicates with the listener.....then you can start to explore some of the other stuff, mentioned in the other posts. I recommend starting with 20th or 21st-century music, then work backward in time.

Some of my favorites include: {Format Composer: Work (Performer)} Bach: Concertos and Orchestral Suites (Trevor Pinnock), Solo Keyboard (Glenn Gould, S. Richter), Organ (Walcha), Solo Violin (Menuhin) Beethoven: Piano Sonatas / Variations (Richter, Gould, Gilels, Arrau), Symphonies (Leibowitz, Karajan) Chopin: Rubinstein recordings Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies (Cziffra), Transcendental Etudes (Cziffra), Various Transcriptions Brahms: Piano Works (Rubinstein, Katchen), Cello / Piano Sonatas (Rubinstein, Rostropovitch), Hungarian Dances (Abbado, Katchen), Piano Concerti Prokofiev: Sonatas (Richter), Fugitive Visions (Chiu), Tocatta (Horowitz) Rachmaninov: Preludes and Etudes (Richter, Gilels), Piano Concerto 2 (Richter), Piano Concerto 3 (Horowitz with Reiner) As for other, more specific pieces : Bach: The Goldberg Variations, WTC, Partita 2,4,6 Brandenburg Concerto 5 Beethoven: Sonatas 16,17,21,23,28,29,32, C Minor Variations, Turkish March Variations (Richter), Eroica Variations, Symphonies 1,3,7,9 Chopin: First Ballade, Nocturnes (C Minor, C# Minor, F Minor, B Major, E Minor), Etudes, Preludes Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies: 4,6,10,12. Spanish Rhapsody, Transcendental Etudes: Mazeppa, Wild Jagd, Transcriptions: Handels Sarabande and Chaccone, Mephisto Waltze 1,4 Brahms: Intermezzio in C form opus 119, Waltzes Rachmaninov: Preludes Op. 23: 2,5,7, Etudes Op. 33 # 5 Prokofiev: Toccata, Sonata 6,7, Diabolical Suggestion

I'm not sure what you mean by "boring music that has no meaning." That would be a good description of Bella's Lullaby (which is not classical music). Instrumental, even if it involves cello or violin does not constitute classical music. Actually, surprisingly little classical music has a story. Programmatic music is only a small part of the classical canon. Opera is a good example.

I suggest you listen to some of the better know classical works and see what you like... give it a chance (i.e. several listenings) - most requires some work on the part of the listener, to gain familiarity and understanding.

The fact that you mentioned "But i don't want this boring music that has no meaning to it" probably means you don't love classical music enough.

It takes a good amount of passion/knowledge to truly appreciate some of the master compositions by Chopin/Beethoven.

If you're simply looking for beautiful piano music, I would recommend you to stick to modern piano pieces.

Listen to my shooooooooow!! http://shows.wuog.org/keepin-it-classy I do a radio show on all kinds of classical music. My show is the best resource for someone trying to get into classical music because I play a huge variety of pieces and explain why they're good or worthwhile! I love my shoooooooooow!!!

Try Chopin. Start with Waltz in B Minor, which is really romantic, then go to Waltz in A Minor which is a little less romantic.

You can also listen to Haydn Sonates. I suggest Sonate in E Minor. I also suggest Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. These are a little heavier than Chopin, but you'll love them if you really listen to them.

What about Richard Strauss? His operas Elektra and Salome are some of the most dramatic I can think of (besides Wagner, of course!).

Try Debussy for starters, always makes me relax, I send you a link...enjoy.

http://www.last.fm/music/Claude+Debussy/+videos/+1...

...If you click on Music ( top ) on the link, then look for Classic, you have quite a choice, only you can determine what you are drawn to, check out the composers