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Classical Tasting Menu (for the classically illiterate)

Columbo

Columbo

pfm Member
If you were to put together a "tasting menu" of classical tracks/albums to sample to give to someone who didn't know a violin from his arse, where would you recommend they look first? Ideally easily accessible stuff, in terms of broad appeal. Nowt to esoteric or challenging to start with.

Obviously talking about myself. I've tried rooting around the streaming services but find myself getting utterly lost

Cheers
 
Classical encompasses a very wide range of sounds and styles so the first thing is to find out what you like. Perhaps if you like some classical used in an advert or a a documentary on the TV use shazam (I think that’s what it’s called) to find out what it is and then try the music on its own.

Keep in mind that the bits used are often only a small part of a much longer and more complex work so feel free to listen to and get to know the bit that attracts you and maybe get to know the whole thing later and at leisure.

Most people I’ve introduced to classical have found a way in via well known classics such as Holsts Planets Suite and generally speaking found expressive, tuneful, orchestral music a lot easier to get in to than the more rarified world of chamber music. A couple of suggestions might include Mozarts Clarinet Concerto - try the slow movement first and if you like the sound of the clarinet try Copland’s Clarinet Concerto. A very descriptive piece, which is often used for shots of the sea running in over the beach, is Britten’s Four Sea Interludes. Elgar’s Enigma Variations is another piece that is easy to get in, just concentrate on the bits you like at first.

Having said all that I have found that some people new to classical don’t need a tune for navigation but go straight for the fantastic sound worlds from the likes of Gubaidulina, Ades and Schnitke. Not easy stuff for most folk though although if you approach classical without preconceptions who knows what might excite you.
 
Columbo said:
If you were to put together a "tasting menu" of classical tracks/albums to sample to give to someone who didn't know a violin from his arse, where would you recommend they look first? Ideally easily accessible stuff, in terms of broad appeal. Nowt to esoteric or challenging to start with.

Obviously talking about myself. I've tried rooting around the streaming services but find myself getting utterly lost

Cheers
Click to expand...
If you don't know a violin from your arse then the obvious place to begin is Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

If not, what about the Classic FM Hall of Fame?

 
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I'm going to kill time by listing the first classical pieces I enjoyed, in order

0. Vivaldi's Four Seasons
1. Schubert's unfinished symphony, especially the second movement.
2. Beethoven's Eroica symphony, the first two movements.
3. Brahms's second piano concerto
4. Bartok's third piano concerto
5. Allegri's Miserere
6. Mozart's Requiem
7. Mahler's 2nd symphony
8. Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Suite
9. The last movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
10 Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade

​

 
Columbo said:
If you were to put together a "tasting menu" of classical tracks/albums to sample to give to someone who didn't know a violin from his arse, where would you recommend they look first? Ideally easily accessible stuff, in terms of broad appeal. Nowt to esoteric or challenging to start with.
Click to expand...

Where are you coming in from? This matters IMO. My entry point was from fairly leftfield rock/pop, electronica etc and I found both ends of the timeline far more accessible than the middle, e.g. I loved Bach, Stravinsky, Schoenberg/Berg/Webern, Stockhausen, Glass, Reich, Reilly, Cage etc. I didn’t really get Mozart, Beethoven etc. To this day I’m not a huge symphony fan, I tend to prefer chamber music, string quartets, solo piano etc.

Chances are you can ignore all of that as my journey is atypical and is still around the fringes, but it is a huge area to explore and I guarantee you will love a lot of it once you find your area.

tldr; definitely shortlist Bach; Goldberg Variations, sonatas for violin/cello, Brandenbergs etc.
 
Similar to Tony in that I see various people get into classical via interest in left-field music, one of my routes in was the french 'impressionists' like Ravel, Debussy beloved of Miles Davis and Gil Evans. Bach and baroque music are popular as steady rhythms are key, Velvet Underground takes you to Lamonte Young and minimalists, CAN lead directly to Stockhausen and my desire to read every thing anyone wrote about Tim Buckley sent me exploring Xenakis and Varese (brilliant!). Although despite all that it was hearing Schubert's last string quartet, an experimental work in my view, which was the key to adoring classical music proper. It works well too to explore a sub genre like chamber music, whatever you like really. Also Shostakovich, Bartok, composers with things to say about the horror of the twentieth century pull new listeners in. So not just the classic FM tunes like Grieg's Peer Gynt suite (loved that as a teenager) or Rach 2 piano concerto.
 
I started with playing Haydn in school/town orchestras. After a teenage rebellion in pop/blues dance halls and some jazz I returned with FM Radio Stockhausen and Ligeti. Then followed all of the composers in the last two posts. I recently returned to the start with many Haydn CDs.
 
Not sure how relevant this is to this thread, but I wanted to put this somewhere as I enjoyed it earlier. From Innuendo Studios (the guy behind the truly superb ‘Alt Right Playbook’ animations). It focuses on classical music in films etc, but is very amusing IMO, plus showcases some great music:

 
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