Where should I begin with classical music?

I got this CD in mail from the Classic Composers series. The way it works is that they send you a different every three weeks or so and they cost 14.95. I am wondering if it is worth it; I know next to nothing about classical music but think I should at least have some representative selections in my music collection. There is some free stuff on the web but I am not sure how good a lot of it is.

Any suggestions?

http://theclassicalstation.org/

You can listen online if you wish. The best thing is, when you hear something you like, you can look it up in the schedule and see what it is. You can then buy it if you want. That exact same recording.

I listen to them a lot when I tire of RnR or just need restful music.

Some things to consider:

Deutche Grammaphone is considered one of the best produced classical labels out there.

If you like Strauss waltzes and dances, generally get them recorded by Austrian groups, the Vienna Philharmonic in particular. Those pieces were written for them and they are the best at interpreting those works.

Emusic has some things too. And they also have lists or suggestions as well.

music. Does your city have a symphony? Typically the tickets are very affordable. Also, if your city has a college, they'll either bring in classical performers, or students perform. Again, at a reasonable price. Live classical music is awesome!

I picked up a 6-CD set called 100 Greatest Classical Masterpieces a few years ago for $3.99. It's a good place to start and then pursue better quality recordings of your favorite works or composers.

is a life-long journey. That means you don't have to be in a hurry.

In years past I have found a number of people at Tower Records to be very helpful in choosing preformances since there can be quite significant differences between them.

Also, picking through music on Amazon.com can come with some excellent reviews from listeners.

in addition:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=278

I plan to ask him as well.

Stravinsky, well, maybe not quite as good.

The later, more austere stuff yeah, I would agree. But the early showy stuff like the Rite of Spring and the Firebird should be pretty accessible to anyone who has heard any movie scores since they started making movie scores.

You don't have to let them know that you won't be buying anything from them!

Or at least not many. I don't know why they don't have a music section. I usually go to Half-Price books and check out their used CD's. I don't know what they have in classical.

I just started listening to this CD I got in the mail and decided that I should explore some more.

I want to look into jazz and world music as well.

stations to choose from. Also Public Radio has some great classical stations.

Here's the Eastern Kentucky University station link. Check them out.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/weku/ppr/index.shtml During the weekdays they are wall to wall classics.

Here's a Jazz station I listen to quite a bit.
http://www.wncu.org/

You can also get it on iTunes.

Here's some info on Jazz and blues on Public Radio

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10002

Looks like a good site

http://www.publicradiofan.com/

and World Music, I suggest you check out the Pacifica affilitate in D.C. In addition to public affairs programming, they also play some of the best jazz, Latin and World Music that I know of. They are located at www.wpfw.org and their programming schedule is at http://www.wpfw.org/?db=content/Programming&tbl=Programming&id=1 Afternoons from 4:00-6:00 are very good and I also like Guy's Groove on Sunday afternoons. Check them out the next chance you get!

My favorite station by far is Sirius Disorder which plays an insane variety of things, though mainly on the rock/pop//world music side.
I love David Johanson's Mansion of Fun on Fridays. He will play an insane variety of things from Maria Callas to Hank Snow and everything in between. It's cool. I like the surprise of not knowing what I might hear.

But I will look into those others too.

That's only ~$5.95 a month, and you get a professionally done CD with a wide variety (though never the abstract 20th century stuff).

It also has a section in every issue called "If you like this, you'll like these..." in which "this" is some well-known piece.

It also has a focus on one composer every month, and they've covered composers from the 1500s to Steve Reich (and other living composers).

Reviews of hundreds of CDs every month, and lots and lots of information that is helpful to the person new to classical music, as well as being wonderfully entertaining and informative for those of us who have listened for a long time, studied it, and know it well.

14.95 per month is awful.

The last issue of BBC Music Magazine's CD was Renaissance Choral Music, and the one before that was Organ Symphonies by Vierne and Widor, and the one before that was Beethoven No. 9.

They won't often offer anything obscure or non-mainstream, but will likely push the envelope a little more than your local NPR classical station.

Wonderful place to start. And all their back issues are online.

BBC Music Magazine online here:
http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com/

Subscription page (be careful, because another subscription link will take you to one that's $150 a year, instead of this one, which is $79.95 a year for 13 issues, and I think this one comes with a free 4-CD set of Debussy's entire oeuvre music for orchestra)

https://www.neodata.com/pub/bcmm/nbneworder.shtml

Yes, I am not going to do that subscription thing.

B.B.C. Radio 3 is streamed via the internet, it's the station I listen to almost exclusively. They tend to accompany the music with intelligent information about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

but there is some that I like very much. Some of the best music ever written I think. You can't go too wrong with Mozart, Vivaldi, or Beethoven. A random choice from these guys will probably be a good one. Some of the other major composers aren't quite as consistently good for me. They have some things I really like a lot, but also a lot of stuff that I don't care for, so I have to be more selective with them. The three I mentioned, however, hit the mark with me almost every time.

It rocked my world to see the words in English above the stage, so I understood what was going on.


The Beeb Music magazine is an excellent idea.

... You're talking about a crap load of music just to say "classical music". Most people mean about 1700-1900 when they say "classical music", so that narrows it down. Whether or not something like a CD club or a magazine is the way to go probably depends on what you want to get out of it. If it's a casual interest, that might be the way to go. If you want to really know about the music, and if you have some free time, I'd suggest taking a classical music appreciation class at a college or university - most of them offer something like that.

Personally, I have a very negative view of all of these things. I think there's been a lot of revisionist history regarding classical music, and a strong cultural/political motivation for presenting it in the ways that it usually is. That being said, lots of people just find enjoyment in the music, and if that's what you're after, I'd say that you should just find stuff that you like and listen to that. That will lead you to other things.

As other have said, it's probably best to go to concerts. Unlike most contemporary music, classical music was composed before recordings even existed, so a recording is a less than ideal way to experience it. By going to concerts, you'll also be exposed to new things. Say you go to hear a Beethoven piece, but you also may get to hear something like Ravel or Ives that you wouldn't have heard otherwise.

I want to be able to recognize the most famous pieces when I hear them. With the CD I got in the mail, I do recognize most of it but I never would have been able to put a name to it or name the composer.

I do agree on going to see more performances. In face I have been invited to a concert on Tuesday.

is a good suggestion too.

They can help you see the different stages of music, classical, romantic, baroque and who the major composers are. You can also get a feel for what composer liked to express what qualities of sound.

I don't know pieces of work by name, other than the more famous ones, but I can say that a piece is Beethoven or Mozart or Bach.

100 greatest compilation, we got that and a collection of 50 great, famous pieces from ballets. $14.95 a month is too much

Helps you identify certain composers that you like, then you can research them further.

check out CDs from the public library, too.

borrow from friends.

listen to a classical radio station. OH you should track down the Carl Haas show that is on PBS

Classical is such a huge category, with so many subgenres; there really is something for everyone.

the soundtrack to Amadeus is amazing.

I love Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Beethoven, Strauss, Ravel, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, big loud opera overtures, ballet, Bach, Handel, Brahms...and the list goes on.

You have a lot to look forward to here

I think that listening to classical music regularly is a way to both learn in general, but also learn what you like. Skip the marketing promo. That said, some suggestions:


Aaron Copland: Appalachian Suite; Billy The Kid; Our town.
J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet; Lieutenant Kije

I am sure I could find a lot of stuff. It might be by obscure performers (like a lot of their music) but at a quarter a track I can afford a few duds.

You can count on anything on the Deutsche Grammophon label being decent.

What to get? Some real standard warhorses are Beethoven's 5th and 9th Symphonies, Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" (be careful with this one--it contains cannon fire, which will fuck your woofers up if you're not careful) and Bach's "Concerto for Two Violins."

Also listen to the William Tell Overture. It is considered to be a very good overture, the impact of which has not lessened by years of abuse as the theme song to "The Lone Ranger."

I think you'll like Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," too.

Then listen to some Phillip Glass.
You'll be well on your way!

I listen to a classical NPR station and I have thousands of classical songs on my computer and I still feel so dumb about it, I can't tell who's who, I just know that there are songs I LOVE, and most of those are by Mozart (get Symphony No. 29) or Vivaldi.
Bach's Brandenburg Concerto will always sound so beautiful :loveya: There are a few songs that I just LOVE so much but I don't know who wrote them or their names, I just know when I hear them they're my favorites. So I guess I don't have any advice except to say listen to it :)
Maybe finding a classical station would be the way to start because then all you have to do is turn on the radio, and some stations tell trivia about the songs and the composers between the music, it makes it more fun listening I think.

Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works

Excellent bios, listing of the best recordings of major composers and their definitive works (his opinion of course), brief but helpful definitions, why Mozart is a classical composer, Weber is a romantic and Beethoven is both. The composition of a symphony orchestra. In short a handy guide.

It's fun and readable and provides a basic overview of opera -- the best-known works and composers, the types of voices, selected recordings, and so forth.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780449005668

and it is completely free.

Here is mostlyclassical.com

http://www.sky.fm/classical/

I listen to it while I work, and it will show you what you are listening to. It sticks to many of the most famous classical works, so it will help give you a foundation to work from.

I find this much better than buying CDs of someone else's taste. This gets expensive and disappointing very quickly. It is better to know what you like first.

Tchaikowski, D'vorak, Mendolssohn, etc.

Bach, Vivaldi and Handel are baroque music, which is less complicated, melodically-speaking, and they generally didn't compose symphonies.

Beethoven and Mozart's works fall in between the Baroque and Romantic movements, and are what is considered "classical" in the strict sense of the word. I'm not a huge Mozart fan, because his music is complicated and difficult to play (I played violin as a kid and teen).

D'Vorak is my favorite. Symphony 9 (From the New World) is very popular in the US, because it was inspired by the composer's travels here. My absolute favorite work of his is the Romance for Violin and Orchestra. It is a heartbreakingly romantic piece. I have a recording of Isaac Stern, but there is a good one by Izaak Perlman available, too.

Also, Disney's Fantasia movies are a good starting point. As a kid, the first one got me interested in classical music.

Poorly recorded bottom of the barrel stuff.

The CBC used to run classical music 24/7 but they had a format change and run a lot of jazz now. However, check their schedule and their podcasts for classical hours. Pick the composers you like, then start collecting.

Don't let the 20th century or baroque scare you. A lot of it is approachable.

Many people say (like above) start with Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven. That's all one period - one I particularly loathe.

It's got a lot more spirit than a lot of the moldy oldies.

Don't let other people pick music for you that you might not like, especially if you are forced into paying money over a set period of time.

My suggestion would be to start with Disney's "Fantasia" then branch out to the masters from there (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc.).

For an introduction to chamber music, I would suggest getting one of Wynton Marsalis' CDs. The guy is (to me anyway) a lovely performer to listen to, even if he gets Salieri-like criticisms about being "too perfect" in his playing style. What is interesting about Marsalis is that he is the Neon Deion Sanders of the musical world: He is both a very accomplished jazz musician and a very accomplished classical musician (trained in Juliard and discovered by Herbie Hancock of all people).

Classical compositions often have stories behind them, and the composer was often trying to convey specific ideas. Since classical music is meant to stimulate the mind as much as the emotions, when you buy a CD, it's a good idea to hit Wikipedia and do a little reading on whatever's on the disc you just bought.

I n ever knew that about Marsalis. I'll have to check it out.

I've already decided that subscription thing is a waste of money. Emusic has quite a bit of stuff but I got sidetracked because I was also looking at jazz. I think I will need more than 100 downloads a month with all the stuff I have in the saved list. The good thing is that a lot of classical recordings are only a few tracks (but each one might be 15 minutes long) but they cost the same as a 3 minute pop song. Often I end up with only a few tracks at the end of the month, not enough for a whole album of something. I can find things in these other genres.

I took piano and violin lessons as a kid, and I've sung in choirs almost continuously since I was 8 years old, but I didn't really get into classical music until I lived in a dorm for people interested in the arts. I started going to my friends' recitals and tagging along to concerts with them. Another friend worked in a record store, and when I heard something I liked, I'd ask him what the best recording was. My first interests were Baroque and Early music. I didn't get into the nineteenth century stuff till later, and in the past five years or so, I've started to appreciate 20th century more.

The old favorites are favorites for a good reason, but these days, I've reached the point where I prefer concerts that feature pieces I haven't heard before.

I second the recommendation of subscribing to BBC Music.

Listening online is another form of education.

BBC3 has extremely good commentary and features a different composer every week. It also features jazz and world music.

KBPS-FM in Portland is a small all-classical station that is programmed by the hosts, so you get to hear things that are a bit outside the mainstream. It's at allclassical.org.

In short, you can take one of two approaches. You can take a music appreciation or music history class and receive a systematic introduction. Or you can use a discovery approach. Listen to classical radio and write down the names of pieces that appeal to you; then buy them. Or subscribe to BBC Music or Gramophone and just listen to the CDs that they send every month. Attend concerts.

Have fun.

A mediocre live performance will still have a far greater impact on you than the finest recording. If you're in a large city, then you're in business. Look up your local symphony, find out about recitals, etc. Community orchestras can put on a good show, and tickets are much cheaper. If there's a university nearby, check out their music department, they'll be putting on lots of performances, many of them free, not to mention probably offering evening classes in music appreciation. However, stay away from any "New Music Festivals," at least for now. You would find most of that stuff rather bewildering.

I love Opera

Go for Carmen!

My fave is Handel's Water Musik mainly because I love the story behind it. I'd say grab the tried and true, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Corelli, and Albinoni in variety collections and pick the ones you really like and expand from there. Happy listening!

They are very cheap, and usually pretty respectable recordings - you can move on to the more pricey labels (along with DG, I would add Telarc and Phillips) once you have more of a feel for what you like. And they seem to be available via eMusic and iTunes if you want to go that way.

Always try to keep in mind that although classical music is positioned and marketed as a Worthy Edifice of Western Culture, much of it was written as disposable entertainment. It's much more enjoyable if you avoid the trap of thinking of it as homework.

Do you have a local classical radio station? That's usually a good way to get to know most of the tried-and-true music canon, and you'll hear some lesser-known gems in there too.

As for a must-have recording that hasn't been mentioned yet - Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Breezy and light on the surface, but also pretty deep and complex. And you will almost certainly recognize most of them.

For $20 a year, you can listen to their entire library, which is huge.

This will give you a good introduction to classical music; and if you hear something you've just got to own, you can purchase it knowing you'll enjoy it.

Used cd stores are a great resource for finding inexpensive recordings. I buy a lot of previously owned cds, and have yet to be disappointed. You can buy used online, of course; but sometimes the shipping costs more than the cd.

Moonlight Sonata
Fur Elise
Carmen
War of 1812
The Syncopated Clock
Cannon in D Major

and
last but not least:
Eine Kleine Nacht Muzik (A Little Night Music)

Oddly enough, I just found a lot of these are offered on 2 discs here:
http://www.amazon.com/Classics-Kids-Box-Leroy-Anderson/dp/samples/B00000IGUV/ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1

Yeah, it says it's for kids, but it's great music to listen to.