Expanding my classical horizons

[mglwd40]

I have been getting into classical music alot over the past few months, and this site has been very helpful in learning about some of it  .  However, I feel that the selection of things I've been listening to has been fairly narrow (75% of it is beethoven/bach/chopin...not that I think thats bad, but I feel like I'm missing out on alot of it)  I was just wondering if anyone had some suggestions of some different composers or pieces that I might look into?  I find it a bit overwhelming trying to discover new classical music to listen to, as so much of the names of pieces are just numbers like op. 103 no. 3, etc....it gets confusing and hard to keep track of!  I strongly prefer slower and more relaxing pieces or movements as opposed to the faster and louder ones....mvt 2 of both the appassionata and pathetique sonatas are probably my favorites!  Thank you all in advance for any help provided, it is much appreciated.

[DavidW]

I think that you'll need to complete your "..." in order to get good recs.  As it stands who knows what is all on your list?

In the mean time, maybe you haven't heard Gorecki's 3rd-- which is slow and powerful, check it out.

[Octo_Russ]

Sounds like you're very much into piano music, then i would certainly suggest Schubert, his Impromptus have a great selection, especially the third one from the first set, nice and lyrical [D899/3], and also Satie's Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes, also Debussy's Images or Estampes, and then there's Brahms, his Klavierstucke Op118 has some nice music in it, as well as his 4 Ballades, also i would mention Rachmaninov's 24 Preludes.

If you're thinking of Orchestral works, then Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 2, and Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez [Guitar Concerto] have wonderful middle slow movements, the same can be said for Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Grieg's Piano Concerto, also Bruch's Violin Concerto 1 is beautiful.

Symphonies will always have faster/louder music in them, but Schubert's Symphony 8 [Unfinished], Mahler's 4th, Dvorak's 9th, and Vaughan Williams's 5th have some wonderful slow music in them, and are well worth checking out.

[Opus106]

Hey, mglwd40. One suggestion that I always provide to listeners new to classical music, is to tune into a radio station that specialises in the genre. Just listen to it for a few days, making sure to take note of the name of the piece or the composer of the music that catches your fancy.

Some Internet streams recommended by GMG members are posted here. Some of them have a traditional radio station running, too.

Once you find an interesting composer, you can consult the GMG Composer Index, which has links to all the separate threads dedicated to different composers, to participate in the discussion and look for recommendations of recordings and such.

As for your preferring slow movements, -- I don't know if this will work out, although there is no harm in trying -- perhaps you could listen to  performers who are known to take things more slowly so that you get a wholesome musical experience while it is played in a way you like it. Now, I'm generally not into the recording-recommendation business, so I will leave this to others who might suggest pianists and conductors who are known to be on relaxed side of things.

Oh, and do not worry about keeping track of opus numbers, you can always look it up.

[hornteacher]

Dvorak is a great composer to get into.  He's one of those composers that managed to find the balance between artistic merit and audience accessibility.  The Slavonic Dances are great piano duets.  Then there's the Symphonies 7, 8, 9 and the Violin Concerto and Cello Concerto and the later string quartets.

[Mirror Image]

I have been getting into classical music alot over the past few months, and this site has been very helpful in learning about some of it  .  However, I feel that the selection of things I've been listening to has been fairly narrow (75% of it is beethoven/bach/chopin...not that I think thats bad, but I feel like I'm missing out on alot of it)  I was just wondering if anyone had some suggestions of some different composers or pieces that I might look into?  I find it a bit overwhelming trying to discover new classical music to listen to, as so much of the names of pieces are just numbers like op. 103 no. 3, etc....it gets confusing and hard to keep track of!  I strongly prefer slower and more relaxing pieces or movements as opposed to the faster and louder ones....mvt 2 of both the appassionata and pathetique sonatas are probably my favorites!  Thank you all in advance for any help provided, it is much appreciated.

One of the important things to remember about classical music is that there's really no easy way into it. Just close your eyes and pick a composer and start to listen. My first classical recording was Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra," "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta," and "Hungarian Sketches" on RCA. Bartok, Ravel, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, and Bruckner are some of the first composers I really got into and fell head-over-hills for. From these composers, I got into Stravinsky, Dvorak, Janacek, Elgar, Mahler, Respighi, Martinu, R. Strauss, Berlioz, de Falla, and Smetana. From here, I just wanted to start exploring countries individually. I found a whole wealth of great composers by just singling out a specific country. When I was exploring England, I was already aware of Vaughan Williams, Holst, and Elgar, so I got into Delius, Alwyn, Walton, Arnold, Ireland, Bax, Rubbra, Howells, Butterworth, Bridge, Parry, Brian, etc. One composer just led to another and before you know it I had a great survey of England just by exploring this one country. I did this with most countries in Europe, then I moved onto Russia. After Russia, I started exploring my own homeland (the Unites States), then I moved onto Latin America, which has proved to be an incredible discovery for me.

One other thing that has helped me out considerably is reading and researching. I'm constantly reading about composer's lives and their music. As I said, there's no easy way to get into this music, you just have to keep searching. Most of my interest in classical music lies in the Romantic Era and the 20th Century. Most if not all of the composers that I like come from these two periods. I do like a few Baroque composers like Vivaldi, Rameau, Corelli, Telemann, etc, but I enjoy the more Romantic and Modern periods much more.

[Mirror Image]

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

   
• Parsifal Prelude
• Tristan und Isolde Preludes

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

   
• Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

György Ligeti (1923-2006)

   
• Lontano

I'm not so sure I would recommend Ligeti for a new classical listener. There's too much dissonance, which speaking from my own experience is something you have to take in strides, especially heavy usage of dissonance. Now, I'm used to it, but it took quite awhile for me to train my ears to really comprehend it, especially Ligeti's music.

[kishnevi]

Yea but I don't care if your unsure ... neither does the main requestor. This isnt about YOU. He wants sure & solid recommendations that broaden his horizons, not more of the same 'ol stuff. Enter Ligeti. His Lontano fits the bill perfectly ..  a beautiful, unique... smooth soft-edged slowly moving composition ... a masterpiece.

Whereas I would tell anyone to run away from orchestral Ligeti. 
But I wouldn't say to avoid Ligeti altogther :  I'd suggest the piano etudes or the string quartets first. 
Or Carter's string quartets.

(James, I think you and I had a discussion on this point on another thread a while back).

[sospiro]

Hi mglwd40.

Don't be afraid to give opera a whirl. You can borrow most of the well known ones from a library so won't cost you too much. Rigoletto by Verdi has some great tunes and an exciting gruesome story.

Enjoy your voyage of discovery.

[Mirror Image]

This reply is in response to a message James left, but soon deleted and the message he left was the following quote:

"Yea but I don't care if your unsure ... neither does the main requestor. This isnt about YOU. He wants sure & solid recommendations that broaden his horizons, not more of the same 'ol stuff. Enter Ligeti. His Lontano fits the bill perfectly ..  a beautiful, unique... smooth soft-edged slowly moving composition ... a masterpiece."

What did I ever say or do to you? Ligeti is not a good place for a classical newbie. Do you want to scare the guy away or do you want to suggest to him a composer that is a bit more approachable? Whatever the case may be, your response to me was rude and uncalled for. The composers that I suggested in my post above are far from the "same ol' stuff" as you so ignorantly put it.

[greg]

Take the dissonance like a man! 

[Mirror Image]

Take the dissonance like a man! 

Yeah and squeal like a pig boy....



Hey, I'm from Georgia, so you had to be expecting this joke sooner or later.

[Mirror Image]

I never read your post so I dont care about that.

If you never read my post, then how can you respond intelligently? But it's fine, I don't really care what you think anyway. I'm only offering the initial poster my perspective, which is up to them to acknowledge or not.

By the way, out of curiosity, where did I say ignore Ligeti's music? Where did I say don't ever listen to Ligeti? I didn't. All I said was his music might not be the best place to start. This is only a suggestion that I made. Again, it's up to the initial poster to decide what he/she wants to listen to first. You're making it out to be like I'm a bad guy for going against your recommendations. All I did was offer a different perspective, which you so callously mocked and ridiculed.

I don't care if you respect me or not I'm not here to impress you, but show some respect to the person who's asking for suggestions. Maybe he/she enjoys being offered different opinions, which is what I provided in spades.

[Bulldog]

I strongly prefer slower and more relaxing pieces or movements as opposed to the faster and louder ones....mvt 2 of both the appassionata and pathetique sonatas are probably my favorites!  Thank you all in advance for any help provided, it is much appreciated.

In the area of baroque music, you might want to try the solo works of Froberger, Francois Couperin and Louis Couperin.  Each of them wrote tons of gorgeous reflective and inward music.  Another wonderful work in this category is Dowland's Lachrimae. 

[Bulldog]

This reply is in response to a message James left, but soon deleted and the message he left was the following quote:
 
What did I ever say or do to you? Ligeti is not a good place for a classical newbie. Do you want to scare the guy away or do you want to suggest to him a composer that is a bit more approachable?

I have no idea if Ligeti would be good for a newbie; depends on the newbie's musical experiences before coming to classical music.  At any rate, I don't see a problem with recommending Ligeti; a newbie would likely sample a composer's works before spending the bucks.

[Mirror Image]

I strongly prefer slower and more relaxing pieces or movements as opposed to the faster and louder ones....mvt 2 of both the appassionata and pathetique sonatas are probably my favorites!  Thank you all in advance for any help provided, it is much appreciated.

Here are 10 suggestions to start out with:

1. Mahler: Symphony No. 5: IV. Adagietto
2. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5: III. Romanza (Lento)
3. Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
4. Delius: The Walk to the Paradise Garden (an intermezzo composed for his opera "A Village Romeo & Juliet)
5. Sibelius: Lemminkainen: No. 2 - The Swan of Tuonela
6. Vivaldi: Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello, Op. 3/7, RV 567 "L'Estro Armonico": I. Adante
7. Bruckner: Symphony No. 7: II. Adagio
8. Barber: Adagio for Strings
9. Ives: Symphony No. 1: II. Adagio molto
10. Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2: III. Adagio

Happy listening!

[Mirror Image]

And to add just one more to my initial list of works/recordings above ...

I'm sure you would, but it appears that you have been outshined by my incredible list.

[Mirror Image]

what is this a competition now all of a sudden lol

There certainly is room for other peoples recommendations besides your own. 

No, this isn't a competition, James, but merely a fact: my suggestions are better. By the way, I enjoyed your nasty private messages, it's good to see you control your emotions much better in public.

[Mirror Image]

http://www.youtube.com/v/l2OQbA3r78M

James you wouldn't happen to be Bach from the TalkClassical forum would you?

[greg]

This is also slow.
http://www.youtube.com/v/FfBVYhyXU8o

(we'll never see mglwd40 again)