Classical music for dummies

[wylton]

A bit late i know but try and get hold of this book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472252306/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
Some great suggestions and introduction / discussions.

Thanks, that's absolutely perfect! With the Spotify playlist too, it's a great way for classical dummies like me to get into some really fine music.

 

[JTWzen]

Thanks, that's absolutely perfect! With the Spotify playlist too, it's a great way for classical dummies like me to get into some really fine music.

Yes, sorry I forgot the playlist though I do use it.

 

[Conan]

When I'm in the mood for classical, I listed to Classic FM, R3 and Suisse Classique. If I hear something that I like, I Shazam it and it goes onto my Spotify playlist.

 

[Del monaco]

Get the Penguin Classical Guide. It stopped production some years ago but there is a post compendium that includes library recommendations and top choices. Gramophone also did one.I used to look forward to the revised edition every Christmas and do miss it.

 

[PsB]

Some years ago I picked up a battered copy of "Who's Afraid of Classical Music" by Michael Walsh. As its cover claims, it's opinionated and slightly iconoclastic (and rather out of date by now) but not too serious and could be a good starter.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-re...show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

 

[tones]

Most film scores are essentially music in the Romantic tradition, so the music of that era may be appealing. Tchaikovsky is, in my opinion, the greatest melody writer ever - the marvellous tunes in, for example, the ballet music (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker) are a feast for anyone's ear. Then there's Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Brahms, the Strauss waltz family...

One recording that is a must for everyone's library is this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001RJN5QO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Nev and the Academy did some of their finest work for Argo, and this recording is among the very finest. Here's Marriner's toe-curlingly gorgeous Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings:

 

[windhoek]

Most film scores are essentially music in the Romantic tradition, so the music of that era may be appealing. Tchaikovsky is, in my opinion, the greatest melody writer ever - the marvellous tunes in, for example, the ballet music (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker) are a feast for anyone's ear. Then there's Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Brahms, the Strauss waltz family...

One recording that is a must for everyone's library is this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001RJN5QO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Nev and the Academy did some of their finest work for Argo, and this recording is among the very finest. Here's Marriner's toe-curlingly gorgeous Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings:

Agreed re Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings - just fabulous!

 

[Dozey]

I would suggest Handel's Water Music (Naxos Capella Istropolitana) and the Mozart Horn Concertos.

 

[tones]

I would suggest Handel's Water Music

Agreed, but this one, in my opinion the best ever put on record:

 

[Dozey]

Have you actually listened to the Capella Istropolitana version? For example the trumpets in the air (corresponding to the 17 minute point in Pinnock)? They leave me in tears but Pinnock does not move me.

I prefer a balance with more brass and fewer violins.

 

[Dozey]

Sorry @tones I should have put your name in my reply to you.

 

[tones]

Sorry @tones I should have put your name in my reply to you.

Thank you, haven't heard it, but I'll look out for it.

 

[k90tour]

Sorry, late to this.
I'd caution against the best-of compilation approach. It's all too easy to find the sort of music that is so familiar that it becomes background music.
Find something that grabs your senses or awakens something in you that other music cannot.

I found classical music by accident. My parents were out for the evening and I seized the chance to find out what those records were that were stashed beside a bedside cabinet. They never played them. They also had a valve powered gramophone thingy. I grabbed that as well and took them into my own room.
The record I put on blew me away for its beauty. It was the first work that I listened to and the first time I'd been conscious of listening to classical music.
That was Beethoven's Violin Concerto, played by a violinist whose name I've never heard mentioned since. I have the record still.
I would suggest Anne-Sophie Mutter and Karajan conducting if you wanted to hear the Beethoven.

That prompted me to learn the violin.
I think Sibelius was one composer that I liked very early on. His music is very atmospheric.

Good luck. I hope you enjoy the same experience.