Expanding my classical horizons

[Superhorn]

   I would advise you to take your time in getting to know the vast and wonderful classical repertoire .
   And remember,if you don't initially like a particular work,or just don't seem to "get" it,or it seems puzzling, give the work repeated hearings. Once you get to know a work better,it will start to make more sense to you,and you can get to love a piece which you might not have liked or understood right away.
This has happened to me many,many times.
  In classical music,it's not familiarity which breeds contempt, but unfamiliarity !  That's one of my basic tenets in the field.
   Try symphonies such as Joseph Haydn's no 88, 94, and 100-104 for starters(he wrote of 104 symphonies!), and by Mozart, symphonies
25, and 35-41(there's no symphony no 37,and there's a long explanation for that).
  Then the nine of Beethoven, Schubert's 5,8 and 9, Mendelssohn's 3 and 4, the four of Robert Schumann, the four of Brahms, the one by Cesar Franck, nos 8,8,and 9 by Antonin Dvorak, no 3 by Camille Saint-Saens (featuring an organ), nos4,5, and 6 of Tchaikovsky for example. There are plenty more to explore after these .
   

[vandermolen]

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.

My first classical CD was Fritz Reiner and the Chicago SO performing Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and the first composers I seriously got into were Bruckner and Vaughan Williams - so yes, it is a bit scary - maybe we are actually the same person suffering from split-personality disorder 

[Mirror Image]

My first classical CD was Fritz Reiner and the Chicago SO performing Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and the first composers I seriously got into were Bruckner and Vaughan Williams - so yes, it is a bit scary - maybe we are actually the same person suffering from split-personality disorder 

Yes, it makes me wonder that's for sure. I guess you're my English brother from another mother then? Anyway, Bruckner and Vaughan Williams just send my mind into orbit. I love their music so much that it's almost a sickness. 

[Sid]

Since you seem to like solo piano & you've explored some of the three B's, maybe get into some of the works of guys like Liszt, Alkan Hummel & Schumann. Some of the earlier stuff for clavichord or forte piano such as by Haydn & Scarlatti may also interest you. As for later c19th/early c20th, I agree that Debussy (& Ravel) are good places to start. Some more involved things from later on include piano pieces by Schoenberg, Berg & Webern, as well as Bartok's Mikrocosmos, which does have moments of lyricism (pieces that sound like folk ballads), but also more vigorous aspects. & talking of ballads, in the orchestral realm, some of Frank Martin's compositions by that name are pretty lyrical. If you want to explore the c20th piano further, some of the works of Messiaen (8 preludes) & Villa-Lobos can also be quite lyrical and poetic at times... 

[RJR]

Hi mglwd40, I'm a newbie too. Six months later than you.

Here are a few slow movements to savor:
2nd movement Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto
2nd movement Beethoven 4th Symphony
2nd movement Bizet Symphony
2nd movement Brahms 4th Symphony
2nd movement Schubert 9th Symphony
2nd movement Roussel 3rd Symphony
2nd movement Frank Martin Violin Concerto
2nd movement Dvorak New World Symphony
2nd movement Beethoven 7th Symphony
2nd movement Mozart Jupiter Symphony #41
3rd movement Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 106
2nd movement Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 110
2nd movement Bartok 3rd Piano Concerto
Debussy l'après-midi d'un faun
Ravel le tombeau de Couperin, Mother Goose Suite
Mozart 2nd movement Piano Concerto #24
Mozart Flute, Clarinet, Oboe Concerto slow movements
Nielsen Fifth Symphony First Movement (Horenstein conducting, if possible)
A few choice, slow movements for you...