New member looking for advise

[Simes]

Hi there. I'm a new member. I have always liked classical music but I find it hard to know what to listen to as I find most classical isn't to my taste.  I like gentle emotional (I know all music is classical), slightly melancholy classical i.e. Fantasia on a theme.  I'd be grateful for any recommendations.  I'd also get into some opera on the same theme. Nothing that will burst my eardrums.  Thankyou

[jochanaan]

You'd like just about anything by Chopin, and probably most things by Mozart.  Try for a start Mozart's Symphony #40.

You've probably heard Beethoven's Piano Sonata Opus 27 #2, called "Moonlight;" there's lots more where that came from. You might also like Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture (sometimes called "Fingal's Cave") and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir of Florence and Serenade for Strings.  And if you're in an adventurous mood and like choral singing, try Bach's Cantata #4 and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.

That's enough to go on for now.

[marvinbrown]

You'd like just about anything by Chopin, and probably most things by Mozart.  Try for a start Mozart's Symphony #40.

You've probably heard Beethoven's Piano Sonata Opus 27 #2, called "Moonlight;" there's lots more where that came from. You might also like Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture (sometimes called "Fingal's Cave") and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir of Florence and Serenade for Strings.  And if you're in an adventurous mood and like choral singing, try Bach's Cantata #4 and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.

That's enough to go on for now.

  Excellent suggestions  !

Hi there. I'm a new member. I have always liked classical music but I find it hard to know what to listen to as I find most classical isn't to my taste.  I like gentle emotional (I know all music is classical), slightly melancholy classical i.e. Fantasia on a theme.  I'd be grateful for any recommendations.  I'd also get into some opera on the same theme. Nothing that will burst my eardrums.  Thankyou

Now with regards to opera that is along the same theme and that "will not burst eardrums" hmmmm......that's not going to be easy. The only opera that I know of that meets that criteria is Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande. But I would hardly call that a masterpiece. How about Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro or Cosi Fan Tutte?

  I think you will find that the majority of the operas that are considered masterpieces have some powerful vocals and large orchestras (Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Richard Strauss, even Mozart's Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute have soaring sopranos and powerful vocal scenes). Start with Cosi or Le Nozze and see how you get on.

  Good luck with your exploration.

  marvin

[The new erato]

Oh yes, Pelleas is a supreme masterpiece indeed, just not of the vocal chord busting kind.

[North Star]

Jon Leifs' Hekla is one piece you ought to listen - if you change your mind about your eardrums
Sibelius: Swan of Tuonela & Valse Triste are certainly worth a try.

[marvinbrown]

   

For some newer music, you could try some Morton Feldman.



But if you want something "gentle emotional (I know all music is classical), slightly melancholy classical" you would probably be happy listening to one Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 or #3.

  Ok perhaps I was a bit too harsh. Can we at least agree that it is not as great as Parsifal (the opera that most closely resembles it)?

marvin

[North Star]

You ought to try some Ravel too. (Mother Goose, Pavane, Le tombeau de Couperin, for instance)

The only opera that I know of that meets that criteria is Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande. But I would hardly call that a masterpiece.

  Ok perhaps I was a bit too harsh. Can we at least agree that it is not as great as Parsifal (the opera that most closely resembles it)?

marvin

I was going to listen to Wagner in the near future...      

[Simes]

Thank you for the advice.

[Wanderer]

I like gentle emotional, slightly melancholy classical

Some more suggestions:

Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra
Chopin: Piano Concertos & Nocturnes
Schubert: Impromptus
Medtner: Sonate-Idylle, op.56 & Sonaten-Triade, op.11
Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte

[marvinbrown]

Thank you for the advice.

  You are welcome.

  I can't help but feel that I am doing you a disservice by referring you only to operas that meet your criteria.  Opera is a world onto its own, some people say it is an acquired taste, others have a twisted impression of what it is all about...something along the lines of "fat women screaming their lungs out!"  But until you lose yourself in the dramatic world of Wagner's Ring Cycle or experience the perfect marriage of Verdi's symphonic score with Shakespeare dramatic text in Otello you really haven't experienced and appreciated what opera is all about.  All I can advise is to keep exploring.......

  marvin

[Ken B]

Sample some of John Dowland's lute music performed by Paul ODette. Explore Bach & Fauré. Maybe even some Webern.

Dowland is a great recommendation, but it's cheaper and just as good on Brilliant.
Chopin.
Miaskovsky fits what's asked for.
Brahms piano.

[River]

Hello Dear Forum! 

(Sorry my english in advance. English isn't my mother language. I learn it yet.)

I'm seeking for music.

I'm comparatively new in classical music. 3 years ago I've been beginning to inquire for classical music really. But I listened soundtracks and only some classical music. (It has begun from Beethoven's C-sharp minor piano sonata. What a mood!) Lately I was among competent people for a short time and I got to know a lot from them about the (classical) music. My interest became higher. 

Because the repertoire is pretty large - countless composers and music. One life is too short for knowledge of these music! - I don't know what I should look for.

My top favs:
Bartók: Allegro barbaro, Piano sonata BB.88, Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, Romanian folk dances
Beethoven: Piano sonata in C-sharp minor, Piano sonata in F minor
J. S. Bach: Harpsichord concerto No. 5 (but I prefer the piano transcript)
Liszt: "Les Préludes" from Symphonic Poems
Vivaldi: Violin concerto No. 4 in F minor alias Winter (1st and 2nd movements)
Mussorgsky: A tear, Pictures at an Exchibition
Ravel: Bolero
Schubert: Serenade
W. A. Mozart: Marcia alla turca
Orff: Carmina Burana

I still like a lot:
Bartók: Piano concerto No. 2 and a few music from Mikrokosmos
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (I haven't listened all yet)
J. S. Bach: Cello suite No. 5
Tchaikovsky: Piano concerto in B-flat minor (1st mov.)
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor
I listened a few music from Mozart but I can't fully feel his perfect music.(except Marcia alla turca) Not my world.

My favourite instruments are piano, violoncello and guitar. I like especially the slow tempo, the dark atmosphere and the melancholy; sad but hopeful and beautiful music. I like very much too the heavier and fast music as Beethoven's piano sonata in F minor (1st and 3rd mov.) or Bartók's Allegro barbaro. Yes, I know, musical taste is subjective. Everyone has individual taste. Associations are different.  Any genre and any style are OK. Sonatas, etudes, chamber music... etc. But I don't like so much the march, the operas and the symphonies, but I don't know in advance what I will like.

Can you recommend me similar music to aforesaid?

(Sorry for my english again! I hope my lines are perspicuous. And sorry for the long text.)

[EigenUser]

Hello Dear Forum! 

(Sorry my english in advance. English isn't my mother language. I learn it yet.)

I'm seeking for music.

I'm comparatively new in classical music. 3 years ago I've been beginning to inquire for classical music really. But I listened soundtracks and only some classical music. (It has begun from Beethoven's C-sharp minor piano sonata. What a mood!) Lately I was among competent people for a short time and I got to know a lot from them about the (classical) music. My interest became higher. 

Because the repertoire is pretty large - countless composers and music. One life is too short for knowledge of these music! - I don't know what I should look for.

My top favs:
Bartók: Allegro barbaro, Piano sonata BB.88, Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, Romanian folk dances
Beethoven: Piano sonata in C-sharp minor, Piano sonata in F minor
J. S. Bach: Harpsichord concerto No. 5 (but I prefer the piano transcript)
Liszt: "Les Préludes" from Symphonic Poems
Vivaldi: Violin concerto No. 4 in F minor alias Winter (1st and 2nd movements)
Mussorgsky: A tear, Pictures at an Exchibition
Ravel: Bolero
Schubert: Serenade
W. A. Mozart: Marcia alla turca
Orff: Carmina Burana

I still like a lot:
Bartók: Piano concerto No. 2 and a few music from Mikrokosmos
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (I haven't listened all yet)
J. S. Bach: Cello suite No. 5
Tchaikovsky: Piano concerto in B-flat minor (1st mov.)
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor
I listened a few music from Mozart but I can't fully feel his perfect music.(except Marcia alla turca) Not my world.

My favourite instruments are piano, violoncello and guitar. I like especially the slow tempo, the dark atmosphere and the melancholy; sad but hopeful and beautiful music. I like very much too the heavier and fast music as Beethoven's piano sonata in F minor (1st and 3rd mov.) or Bartók's Allegro barbaro. Yes, I know, musical taste is subjective. Everyone has individual taste. Associations are different.  Any genre and any style are OK. Sonatas, etudes, chamber music... etc. But I don't like so much the march, the operas and the symphonies, but I don't know in advance what I will like.

Can you recommend me similar music to aforesaid?

(Sorry for my english again! I hope my lines are perspicuous. And sorry for the long text.)

I'm a huge fan of the Bartok piano sonata and also the 2nd piano concerto. You should try the 1st piano concerto as it is very similar to the sonata. His "Out of Doors" is also great -- very heavy, percussive use of the piano. If you like Bartok's piano writing, there is a good chance that you'd like some of Ligeti's finger-breaking piano etudes. "Fanfares" (No. 4) is very similar to Bartok's "Microkosmos" #153, though infinitely more difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/v/h0qoue0JbbU

Concerning Ravel's "Bolero", you will likely find that a lot of hardcore Ravel fans actively dislike that piece (Ravel didn't even like it and was amazed at how popular it became). While I am a hardcore Ravel fan, I like "Bolero", though it isn't his best. Try his D minor piano concerto (for the left hand -- commissioned by a pianist who lost his right hand in WWI). There is a long section in the middle that sounds strikingly similar to "Bolero".

[Karl Henning]

I like the Boléro 

[Marc]

Brahms: Sonata for violoncello & piano in E minor, opus 38.

http://www.youtube.com/v/eX3OkNYz8tw

Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, opus 16.

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

[Marc]

Mentioned before by North Star: Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte.
The composer playing, recorded in 1922.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tn6_yT9SKpM

[River]

I listened once to all music that you reccommended for me.
Ligeti's Etude No. 4 is really interesting and exciting. I really like the part of the left hand. And the picture in the video is very appropriate. It express excatly what I feel during listening this etude.
Bartók's "Out of doors" suite is amazing. Formerly I knew only the "Night's music".
I listened Bartók's first Piano Concerto earlier, but his second Piano C. had a greater effect for me at the first try so I have been starting to listen that more often.
Ravel's Concerto is amazed me most of all. Grieg's Concerto and Brahms's Sonata (especially the 3rd movement) are very good too. And I like Pavane pour une infante défunte's mood.

Well, I like each music. Thanks for your great reccomendations!

What I mostly like in Bolero is such (I don't know what the good word for it) building(?) music.

[Marc]

As conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) once said: "the Bolero is the Bible of orchestration."

More building music ... musical architecture at its best:

J.S. Bach, Passacaglia & Thema Fugatum in C minor BWV 582.
Lionel Rogg playing an 18th century organ in the Domkirche of Arlesheim (Switzerland), built by organ builder Johann Andreas Silbermann, completed in 1761.

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

And for a sorrowful mood:

Stravinsky, Elegy for solo viola.

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

[EigenUser]

I listened once to all music that you reccommended for me.
Ligeti's Etude No. 4 is really interesting and exciting. I really like the part of the left hand. And the picture in the video is very appropriate. It express excatly what I feel during listening this etude.
Bartók's "Out of doors" suite is amazing. Formerly I knew only the "Night's music".
I listened Bartók's first Piano Concerto earlier, but his second Piano C. had a greater effect for me at the first try so I have been starting to listen that more often.
Ravel's Concerto is amazed me most of all. Grieg's Concerto and Brahms's Sonata (especially the 3rd movement) are very good too. And I like Pavane pour une infante défunte's mood.

Well, I like each music. Thanks for your great reccomendations!

What I mostly like in Bolero is such (I don't know what the good word for it) building(?) music.

Messiaen is a composer you might like as well. I've been listening to him quite a lot recently. Here is the 10th of his "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus" ("Twenty Contemplations on the Birth of Jesus"). This particular one is "The Contemplation of the Joyous Spirit". A good friend of mine learned this on piano recently.
https://www.youtube.com/v/Wcq-B2opVDk

For music that builds, try the 10th movement of the massive "Turangalila-Symphonie". The ending (last two or three minutes) are spectacular.
https://www.youtube.com/v/4reSBqOhSGY

I think you will find that most people here are more than happy to give suggestions .

[Ken B]

I'd say you have a good list of composers there, and pretty much anything you find by any of them is worth a listen. (Maybe not so much Ravel  ) 

One thing I would suggest. There is a flood of great recordings cheap these days. Don't worry about buying the cheap stuff, most of it is very good.

Enjoy exploring.