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Classical gas?

jimb0

jimb0

Jelly Roll Soul
People,

I am having a great time rooting through the music forum archives, some very interesting stuff reminding me to follow up forgotten leads in various genres. I am however interested in broaching the final frontier and exploring the citadel of pipe smokers and tweed wearers: classical.

I freely admit that I am utterly, shamefully ignorant of the whole area and could do with some informed suggestions to find my way about. The closest I have managed so far is taping "Rock me Amadeus" off the radio as a child and somehow I don't think that carries much weight among the cognoscenti.

The classical "greatest hits" approach tends to leave me a bit cold so any informed suggestions? I was thinking in terms of smaller scale stuff and really like the sound of strings ("Stroke it Noel" off of Big Star's 3rd album anyone?).

Jim.
 
Originally posted by jimb0
I am however interested in broaching the final frontier and exploring the citadel of pipe smokers and tweed wearers: classical.
Click to expand...

Hi -- some of us are actually quite cool. A good starting point is to listen to Radio 3 - there is normally a live performance in the evening, and more often than not this will include some well-known pieces around which you can establish some initial likes/dislikes. It's also worth seeing what concerts or festivals are on in your area - live music will be better than most recordings.

-- Cheers, T
 
A good starting point is to listen to Radio 3 - there is normally a live performance in the evening, and more often than not this will include some well-known pieces around which you can establish some initial likes/dislikes
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more - you have to get a tuner if you're interested in this, it's an otherwise free source of fantastic music - highly recommended.

Andy.
 
And in an extension of this forum's free hi-fi ethos, may I interest you in the classical LPs I have for sale in the music classifieds? You could buy some of them, listen at length, and what you don't get/like you can probably sell on without too much of a loss.

Free music. It's an approach that has worked for me.
 
Tweed jackets? This isn't zerogain! Don't knock classical music lovers, you get some rather lovely music students at classical concerts...

I tried listening to the allmusic sample of "Stroke it Noel" but my 20 seconds was up before the strings go going. Anywhere else non-Big Star fans could hear it to get an idea of what you're on about?

Off the top of my head, here's five quite different small-scale mostly string pieces.

Bach: 3rd Brandenberg Concerto (Pinnock, English Consort)
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet (Thea King, Gabrieli Quartet)
Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 131 (Quartetto Italiano)
Schubert: String Quintet (Lindsays)
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet (Richter, Borodin Quartet)

I doubt if you will like them all, but hopfully one or two will click and you can explore from there. Don't worry too much about the suggested versions, no doubt other will disagree as vehemently about this as they do about hi-fi, but they are all at least respectable.

The tuner recommendations are spot-on. Further to the free music idea, public libraries in the UK often have quite reasonable collections of classical CDs.
 
I just answered this question elsewhere, so if you've read it before I do apologise. It's not intended to be exhaustive, just a few ideas of pieces people not over familiar with classical music might like.
Anyway here goes:
The thing is you need to know where your interests lie.
Starting with the earliest, you could do to listen to some Baroque. that's music written between about 1650 to 1750.
A few pieces you could try are:
Corelli Concerto Grossi
Handel Concerto Grossi
Bach Violin Concerto's
Bach Brandenburg Concerto's
Bach Matthew and John Passions. I'm a particular fan of the St Matthew Passion
Vivaldi Gloria, Violin/Cello concerto's, the four seasons

Moving on to the classical period
The main two protagonists are Mozart and Haydn.
Try Mozarts symphonies 40 and 41
Haydn's London Symphonies. No 104 is a particular favourite of mine
Mozart Requiem and better still the great C minor mass
Mozart Dissonance Quartet, and Haydn's Op 72 and 76 quartets. Look out for one called the Emperer. That one is a lot of fun
If you want a challenge Haydn's creation is fabulous the only problem being it's length the first bit is amazing, it does go on a bit though
Perhaps some opera. Mozart is your man here. Cosi Fan Tutti, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovannin and the Magic Flute are masterpieces, but perhaps not the thing for a beginner in their entirety,
Then of course there is Beethoven. He is a colossus who strides betweent the Romantic and Classical period. The easiest of his symphonies to get an idea of what he is about are the odd numbered ones. 1 is very closely linked to the work of Haydn and Mozart, 3, 5 and 7 are immense works, but again possibly not the best introduction to classical music

Schubert is one of my personal favourites, again he comes between the two periods. Try his chamber music. The late quartets and the quintet are gorgeous, as are the symphonies. The unfinished is a good starting point. It's quite often paired with Mendelssohns Italian symphony, that's a piece I'm sure you'd enjoy.

So onto the noisy stuff,
Tchaikovsky is terrific, Romeo and Juliette, 1812 overture, the 5th and 6th symphonies, Swan Lake, March Slave. I'm sure you'd love them all.
Wagner's orchestral music is tremendous for a beginner, try and find a CD of orchestral music from the ring, you'd like that. The opera's are an aquired taste.
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is an immense work read the story behind it whilst you listen... Saint Saen's organ symphony and Danse Macabre
I'm missing out Mahler, I'm not sure he's for beginners, but do try some of the Sibelius symphonies especially if you like Finlania. No's 2 and 5 are the easiest to listen to.
Then for the orchestral fireworks try Rimsky Korsakovs Capriccio Espagnol, and Mussorgskys Pictures at an exhibition.

If you fancy a bit of a challenge try stravinsky and Shostokovitch. Stravinsky's firebird and rite of spring are unbelievable when you get into them, and Shostokovitch's symphonies are amazing. Probably 5 and 7 are the ones to start off with there.

For the most noise you'll ever hear try some Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathrustra (the 2001 music) or perhaps Don Juan or Till Eulenspiegel are well worth a listen,

I'm bound to have missed a few off, but if anyone wants any other suggestions please ask having listened to some of these please ask
 
Thanks guys.

This should gives me some starting points.

lordsummit: thanks for the orientation - makes things slightly less confusing!

duncan: Only kidding about the tweed ;-) You suggestions were exactly what I was looking for - a selection of different pieces that will help give me a way in. I will PM you about Big Star.

The radio 3 suggestion was a good one - they seem to have a lot on the website as well.

Jim
 
... BBC R3 with reference to genuine Radio Times programme listings (although e.g. cable TV-Radio box has some limited info) for preference, but you might get some value from Classic FM smaller, more 'popular' stuff (despite adverts) on FM as well as digital.

Although not a 'Classical specialist', I seem to have bought lots of discs throughout the years for 'emotional-time-context' association reasons, (e.g. back in about 1975 BBC2 TV broadcast Carl Orff 'Carmina Burana', and ITV used snippet on 'Old Spice' ads!)and I could not really imagine making any sense of it if I were to start 'from scratch' now - apart from being 'stimulated' into curiousity by e.g. some advert or film soundtrack.

It's always amusing to find out what famous rock/pop songs were based intentionally on less often heard 'classical' tunes ....

To reiterate, probably Classic FM and R3 are best economical intros.
 
Originally posted by jimb0
I was thinking in terms of smaller scale stuff and really like the sound of strings ("Stroke it Noel" off of Big Star's 3rd album anyone?).
Click to expand...

Great song.

I really like Beethoven's late String Quartets, especially the Grosse Fugue, which has a fantastic chaotic energy, as if it's about to collapse in on itself at any minute. Ludwig definitely knew what he was about.

This box is really good.

-- Ian
 
Jim, the pointer to classic fm is a good one.

It has its limits:
* The transmission quality is dire, overblown and compressed however you can pick it up easily generally as a result.
* Except for evening concerts they play only a movement from a piece i.e. 2nd movement from Rach Piano Concerto No.2
* It focuses on the popular rather than more deeply into genres

As a result, it's a bit of a comic. However, the flip-side means it is easy to dip in and out of, it is my usual station in the car or in the kitchen. I can thoroughly recommend subscribing to the magazine which is informative and includes a free cd each month. You're not going to get complete performances but it's a useful introduction to a variety. I have done this from the first few issues and I'm to about 120. Much repetition over time but who cares. You use it as a tool to go seek pieces you particularly like.

Paul
 
Originally posted by sideshowbob
I really like Beethoven's late String Quartets, especially the Grosse Fugue, which has a fantastic chaotic energy, as if it's about to collapse in on itself at any minute. Ludwig definitely knew what he was about.
Click to expand...

I can only agree 100% - this is quite possibly the most sublime music ever written.

Try to get to see some of the Beethoven quartets in concert - they feature regularly in programmes, and the experience is worth more than many recordings.
 
It's all a bit new to me as well.

I've come in through the recommendations of the encyclopeadic Mr Lees, and I'm starting now to branch out into buying things.

Classic FM is good for sampling things, I've found, and getting a 'to listen to' list together - although I've found that Classic FM seems to think that all classical music is 'relaxing', which I've not found to be the case.

However, for mellifluous driving music, particularly at the end of a bad day, it takes some beating.

This months magazine actually has 2 cd's - Elgar (including the Cello Concerto) and 'Smooth Classics at 7'. Which for £4.10 makes for a pretty good bargain IMO.

I'll be taking a printout of this thread down to the local Virgin once I've got the time.
 
quote:
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Originally posted by sideshowbob
I really like Beethoven's late String Quartets, especially the Grosse Fugue, which has a fantastic chaotic energy, as if it's about to collapse in on itself at any minute. Ludwig definitely knew what he was about.

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Quote

I can only agree 100% - this is quite possibly the most sublime music ever written.

Try to get to see some of the Beethoven quartets in concert - they feature regularly in programmes, and the experience is worth more than many recordings.

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Hmm.. haven't quite worked out how to do quotes on this site yet. Slow learner.

Going to see some Beethoven and Bartok quartets tomorrow night in Oxford, performed by the estimable Lindsay Quartet!

I'd also suggest the late Beetovens and one of the couplings of the Ravel and Debussy Quartets as good places to start. Bartok and Shostakovich are pretty fabulous if you fancy something more modern and dissonant.

For string quartets in "pop" look up a copy of Chelsea Girl by Nico. I has some lovely arrangements and was the record that first introduced me to the beauty of the string quartet sound.

Kevin
 
Hi Kevin - what's the programme at the Lindsays concert? I've seen them do late Beethoven at the Wigmore Hall, including the Grosse Fugue that Ian mentioned (a really superb concert), and their set of the Bartok quartets is one that I still enjoy - so I'm envious! -- T
 
kjb: I know the Nico stuff very well, it's fantastic.

Modern and dissonant is good, on a slightly different angle I have been listening to some of the John Cage prepared piano pieces which was interesting after listening to the Aphex Twin efforts influenced by them.

Thanks the suggestions so far I now feel well equipped for a couple of initial purchases.

Jim
 
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