What's the Best Classical Music Ever?

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:00 pm

With classical music, there really doesn't seem to be a middle ground, you either love it or find it appalling. My mother really loved it, so I too have a few favorites.

Three favorites for me:

1. The 1812 Overture

2. The Grand Canyon Suites

3. The Peer Gynt Suite.

Oh..and if I want to go road raging in heavy trafiic it's got to be..

The Ride of the Valkries!

What's your favorite?:D

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:06 pm

Trumpet Voluntary

Torreadors march from Carmen

1812 overture

William Tell overture.
Just to name a few !:)

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:12 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: 1812 Overture

Pachelbels Canon

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto

Dance of the Fairies....Gluck

Beethovens 9th

Holst....Planet Suite

All probably a bit middle of the road for the true Classic aficionado

I prefer it when I hear something I instantly recognise....makes you dive for the controls and turn the volume up....then the old sub-woofer starts dancing accross the floor

then the grouchy old neighbour knocks on the door

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:12 pm

JAB wrote: It's good sometimes to not have words "interfere" so that you can really feel the music.

I couldn't agree more! Hmmm..."Planet Suites" That sounds totally cool!:rolleyes:

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:16 pm

Did you ever hear 'Hooked on Classics'....really awful. 'Rocked up' classsics that were just snippets. Just when you were humming along to one tune, it went straight into another.

Uncle Kram · Post by **Uncle Kram** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:26 pm

Air on a G string - Bach

Canon - Pachelbel

Nimrod - Elgar

Flower Duet - Delibes

Addagio for strings - Barber

Largo - Dvorak

This is about as high brow as I get I'm sorry to report.

Being a Philistine, I'm afraid that I can't listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of The Lone Ranger

Uncle Kram · Post by **Uncle Kram** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:28 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: Stunning pieces of music. Mars, bringer of war, Saturn, bringer of old age really dramatic pieces ( no Pluto though

)

Love Jupiter . Probably because "I Vow to Thee My Country" was always my fave hymn at school

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:33 pm

any Italian or French opera. but not German! Aida. Butterfly. Tosca. Traviata. La Boheme. Carmen. etc etc......

Uncle Kram · Post by **Uncle Kram** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:36 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: Forgot about Barber, makes you want to cry

I agree. Very emotive.

The vision that ALWAYS comes to mind when I hear it is from the first time I ever heard it.

There was a TV documentary on the 25th anniversary of the bombings by the IRA in my hometown of Birmingham. They played black and white news footage of Firemen carrying bodies out onto New Street in slow-motion. This haunting music played in the background and really moved me. I found out what it was and for me, it's become synonymous with that vision.

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:04 pm

Swan Lake, The Firebird Suite, The Four Seasons, The Nutcracker Suite

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:42 pm

Pachabels' Canon. Loved to play it in band, also was played at my wedding.

Nutcracker

Beethoven's 5th

and Flight of Bumble Bee can't remeber who composed it though.

SOJOURNER · Post by **SOJOURNER** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:44 pm

~ Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade

~Wagner's The Ring Of The Nibelung

~Strauss's Blue Danube Walty

and pieces from John Philip Sousa's marching band

I have found that my taste in listening to various instrutments have changed over the years. I use to love piano, then it was the flute. Now I am smiten with the sound of the violin.

nvalleyvee · Post by **nvalleyvee** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:50 pm

Sheryl wrote: Pachabels' Canon. .

I just got it learned on piano..................what a love song!!!!!!

Explorer the eighth · Post by **Explorer the eighth** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:22 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: Theres a symphony by Shostakovich that also makes me cry (well he was really good at doing funeral music) its unbelievably moving but I cant remember which one it was

It was probably no 5 which is one of the most lyrical of Shostakovich's symphonies and which has some sad moments in it too. If it wasn't that one, it may have been no 8 or no 10 which have some sad moments, but they are more aggressive in places and they are not as melodic.

Explorer the eighth · Post by **Explorer the eighth** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:27 pm

These are my classical favourites:

BERLIOZ - Romeo and Juliet dramatic symphony; Funeral and triumphal symphony.

MAHLER - All ten symphonies; Song of the Earth; Das Klagende Lied.

BRITTEN - War Requiem; Sinfonia Da Requiem; Four Sea Interludes.

VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS - Sinfonia Antartica

CHOPIN - Nocturnes

GERSHWIN - Piano Concerto in F

DEBUSSY - Images

SHOSTAKOVICH - Symphony no 4

CARL ORFF - Trionfi

HOLST - The Planets

STRAVINSKY - Rite of Spring

JANACEK - Hary Janos suite

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:28 pm

I glanced at my CDs when I saw the thread, and wondered whether there was any overall pattern to their selection. They do seem symphonic, mostly. A lot of it even I hadn't heard of until I tried it and liked it, so the names can get a bit obscure. I doubt if they could qualify as "best classical music ever".

OK, this is my third try at writing a list. The first would have taken a week to play. What's best? Aiming at most popular would get a best ever list of a sort. When you find horn, violin, piano or cello solos in classical pieces, I get weak-kneed, and that must be true for most people who are prepared to listen to an orchestra.

The most intricate and moving works I find to be choral. Hakenberger's Motets excite me, and Yuri Laniuk's Chant Pour Un Equinoxe.

Whoever mentioned Holzt might like to find Ernest Bloch's Schelomo Voice In The Wilderness for comparison.

Schumann once wrote Six Fantasy Canons for his organ with instructions "not too quickly", "with intimate expression", "not too quickly!" and "adagio!!". I'm sorry, I'm being silly.

If you'd asked what bit me first as a lad, that would be easy - Bruch's violin concerto. More recently it might be Alban Berg's Wozzeck, having heard it in London.

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:31 pm

Do Barenaked Ladies count as classic, I am currently listening to "all their greatest hits (1991-2001)

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:46 pm

minks wrote: Do Barenaked Ladies count as classic, I am currently listening to "all their greatest hits (1991-2001)Give it a hundred years, they'll be up there with Beethoven.

I have a theory that anything at all, listened to six times, is likeable. Stockhausen springs to mind.

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:51 pm

spot wrote: Give it a hundred years, they'll be up there with Beethoven.

I have a theory that anything at all, listened to six times, is likeable. Stockhausen springs to mind.

ack pity I shant be around that long oh well live for the moment hehehehe

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:36 pm

Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I love Summer the best

Chopin's Ballades

Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor

(These are the pieces I am currently playing alot, so they are my current favorites)

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:53 pm

moverguy wrote: Bolero and Thus Sprake Zarathustra

The movies "10" and "2001" totally ruined those pieces for me. Stupid numbered movies.

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:15 pm

chonsigirl wrote: Addinsell: Warsaw ConcertoOh, good shot - I put that on my first try at a list and didn't have the nerve to bring it into my final one.

Blackjack · Post by **Blackjack** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:57 am

Another vote for Bach's Brandenburg Concerti. His violin concerti are really good too. I love just about anything by Bach, in fact, though I'm not too big on the Goldberg Variations.

Mozart's First Salzburg Symphony and Requiem in D-minor are worth mentioning too.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:48 am

What no Americans? What about Aaron Copland, Gerschwin, Rogers & M

Hammerstein (OK so I can't remember which was the composer and which the lyricist:o ) George cohan, I suppose that raises the question of what exactly classical music is. Is Elvis presley singing it's now or never great classical music or an insult to the original opera?

posted by jives

With classical music, there really doesn't seem to be a middle ground, you either love it or find it appalling. My mother really loved it, so I too have a few favorites.

My problem is I don't just have a few favourites-it depends on the mood I'm in, the list is endless.

Carl Orff Carmina Burana-definitely one of my favourites, -ever seen a translation of the words? If it was in English it would be banned as obscene.:yh_rotfl

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:49 am

Clancy wrote: ......by the Scottish Wee Free Presbyterian, types ? ....or a general blanket cover ??

You tell me. Sometimes it's better if you don't understand the words. It's like italian opera, understanding the words isn't essential to appreciate the music and often will detract from it.

http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~rejs/carmlyr.html

Uncle Kram · Post by **Uncle Kram** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:31 pm

Clancy wrote: 1 Four Seasons Vivaldi

2 Carmina Burana -- Carl Orff

3 Bach's Brandenburg Concerto *

4 Air on a G string - Bach

5 An album called "Together" it's Julian Breem & John Williams (two classical guitarists) playing various classical pieces, transcribed for guitar.

*Useless {classical related} trivia fact.

Paul McCartney was watching the BBC when he saw a group called The New Philharmonia perform Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto #2." He got the idea to add a trumpet part to a new song for, The Beatles, and asked the group's trumpet player, Dave Mason, to play the solo on Penny Lane . Mason brought 9 trumpets to the session, eventually deciding to use a B-flat piccolo trumpet.

P McCartney & George Martin {producer} had already done the music score, and the solo would involve playing a note {the last note of the solo} normally out of range for the piccolo trumpet, but they coaxed Mason into going for it. He reached the note, it went onto tape

If you have Penny Lane in your record collection put it on and listen to a Brandenburg style B-flat piccolo trumpet solo, played, and matched well, into contemporary music.

Excuse me Clancy, but are you Paul Gambaccini in disguise ? :wah:

DesignerGal · Post by **DesignerGal** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:08 am

I dont listen to classical enough, but I can tell you that everytime I AM listening and I hear a song I like, the announcer comes on and says its Vivaldi. Anyone know the best CD of Vivaldi to get? Id like to buy one.

Blackjack · Post by **Blackjack** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:27 am

DesignerGal wrote: I dont listen to classical enough, but I can tell you that everytime I AM listening and I hear a song I like, the announcer comes on and says its Vivaldi. Anyone know the best CD of Vivaldi to get? Id like to buy one.
The Four Seasons. Though you'll find lots of different CD's from lots of different performers at lots of different prices. With classical music it's not always easy to decide which CD is the best for your money, sometimes you just have to guess and hope for the best. If you're thinking about getting it online, the buyer reviews at amazon.com can actually be very helpful here.

I have this one:

I like it, especially since it also has one of the pieces from Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico on it, but apparently there are some much better performances of The Four Seasons out there.

This looks like a good bet, though it's just The Four Seasons and nothing else and it's a bit more expensive than most of the others there:

Post by **spot** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:26 am

DesignerGal wrote: I dont listen to classical enough, but I can tell you that everytime I AM listening and I hear a song I like, the announcer comes on and says its Vivaldi. Anyone know the best CD of Vivaldi to get? Id like to buy one.The version of the Four Seasons recommended on the BBC website page http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/vivaldi.shtml is also the top pick of the Gramophone Magazine, and I liked it a lot. If you can find the Cello concertos, they might interest you as well - Christopher Hogwood's double CD recording with the New London Consort is worth looking for. Amazon have it at $18 labelled "Vivaldi - Concertos / New London Consort, Pickett ~ AAM, Hogwood".

bigdaddy · Post by **bigdaddy** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:33 am

Zuckerman's version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is the best.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:13 pm

Holst - planets

Tchaikovsky - 1812 overture

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:02 pm

I played Bach two and three part inventions this weekend...................

Post by **spot** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:20 pm

chonsigirl wrote: I played Bach two and three part inventions this weekend...................:)I hope you pleased yourself, Chonsi, and after that I hope you pleased anyone in earshot... but you haven't yet uploaded a recording of your playing some of it, so you might think of it - then you'd be pleasing us too.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:30 pm

Oh, I never thought of that. Maybe some Brandenburg Concertos, my friend and I play duets of them. We are repairing this lovely old violin, and we are waiting to hear how it sounds. One of us will use it if it sounds like we hope it will.

chocoholic · Post by **chocoholic** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:22 am

Bruch's Violin Concerto

Unger's The Ashokan Farewell

Most anything by Chopin

Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyrie and The Wedding March from Lohengrin

Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks