Topic: Good Resources for Beginners

[mahlertitan]

Streaming Media:

www.naxosmusiclibrary.com
Is there a piece of classical music that you desperately want to hear? you'll find it at Naxos.

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/discoveringmusic/audioarchive.shtml
BBC Discovering Music Archive: An excellent resource for beginners and experienced listeners alike, with illustrated audio talks on a wide range of composers and pieces.

www.columbia.edu/itc/music/reserves/
Columbia University Music Reserves, the selection is limited, but the recordings are excellent.

http://www.archive.org/
Contains massive amounts of documents, videos, and audio, although the quality is somewhat questionable.

http://classical.com
not as good as Naxos, but decent enough to deserve a mention.


Sheetmusic

www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/

Looking for the scores of Bruckner's 9th? you'll find it here.

www.imslp.org
Looking for free scores?

Biographies/Music Learning

Wikipedia.com
A good place to read about composers that you don't know. Wikipedia has very good biographies and links.

www.musictheory.net
A good place to learn the basics of music theory, the first step of becoming a composer.

www.grovemusic.com
a website to find biographies on composers, however, Wikipedia actually contains more informations on composers than this site.

[Brian]

www.naxosmusiclibrary.com
Enormous collection of online music, anyone can access it for free.

Free is only for fifteen minutes at a time though, right?

[Que]

Site with a good introduction for beginners: Classical Net

Particularly helpful on that site:

- Basic Repertoire List
- Classical CD Buying Guide (read it!)
- Recommended Classical CD's

Q

[Grazioso]

BBC Discovering Music Archive: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/discoveringmusic/audioarchive.shtml

An excellent resource for beginners and experienced listeners alike, with illustrated audio talks on a wide range of composers and pieces.

[Novi]

BBC Discovering Music Archive: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/discoveringmusic/audioarchive.shtml

An excellent resource for beginners and experienced listeners alike, with illustrated audio talks on a wide range of composers and pieces.

Definitely a great resource .

Another programme I like on Radio 3 is the CD Review on Saturday mornings, in particular the Building a Library segment. Sometimes, it can be rubbish depending on who's presenting it, but this week's on Mahler 9, for example, was pretty good. They play excerpts and comment on different recordings, which, when done well, can be quite illuminating. I also learnt that 'Ancerl' isn't pronounced as spelt .

Unfortunately, the programme isn't archived, but can be listened to online for up to a week after its broadcast.

[The Mad Hatter]

Public Domain scores: www.imslp.org

A directory of free downloadable classical tracks online: www.classiccat.com (obviously not generally amazing recordings, but it's good to test if you like a work or composer)

[orbital]

http://www.classicalarchives.com/

A very large site with tons of information, live recordings and midi files (both live and score) from almost all composers who ever lived 
Free membership has a limit of 5 files a day though.

[George]

Some great stuff here at GMG:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/index.htm

Classical Music Links at the bottom. 

[dtwilbanks]

- Recommended Classical CD's

Q

You think these are good choices, Q?

[dtwilbanks]

Some great stuff here at GMG:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/index.htm

Classical Music Links at the bottom. 

Kiss-ass.

[George]

Kiss-ass.

Why go out for burgers when you can have steak at home? 

[mahlertitan]

http://www.classicalarchives.com/

A very large site with tons of information, live recordings and midi files (both live and score) from almost all composers who ever lived 
Free membership has a limit of 5 files a day though.

i've been to that site long time ago, it sucks, they only have midis, and even for midis, they only have incomplete collection of composer's works, the only time you should go to that site is if you like Russian composers.

[orbital]

i've been to that site long time ago, it sucks, they only have midis, and even for midis, they only have incomplete collection of composer's works, the only time you should go to that site is if you like Russian composers.

It might have changed from the time that you've been there perhaps MT. They have live recordings (albeit by unknown performers mostly) as well, but their midi collection is not matched anywhere else.
Where else would I be able to find the midi (and thus the score) of that Kempff transcription of Gluck's Orpheus' Lament   

[mahlertitan]

It might have changed from the time that you've been there perhaps MT. They have live recordings (albeit by unknown performers mostly) as well, but their midi collection is not matched anywhere else.
Where else would I be able to find the midi (and thus the score) of that Kempff transcription of Gluck's Orpheus' Lament   

why would i want midis, if i can listen to mp3 version of just about anywork on Naxosmusiclibrary.com?

[orbital]

why would i want midis, if i can listen to mp3 version of just about anywork on Naxosmusiclibrary.com?

not to listen to of course.
I get the midi files to learn pieces, especially if it is a rare piece (such as the one I mentioned above), a midi file may easily be converted into a pdf format score and printed out.

But apart from that it may be a nice place for beginners to listen to different composers, last time I checked they had live recordings from over 750 composers 

[Que]

You think these are good choices, Q?

Compared to other lists I've seen it's not bad at all as far as the choice of recordings is concerned, and it's the most extensive one on composers and their works.

Q

[mahlertitan]

not to listen to of course.
I get the midi files to learn pieces, especially if it is a rare piece (such as the one I mentioned above), a midi file may easily be converted into a pdf format score and printed out.

But apart from that it may be a nice place for beginners to listen to different composers, last time I checked they had live recordings from over 750 composers 

that is true, i used to do that to, but it's a bitch converting midi into a score, and the worst of all, you lose all the tempo, dynamic markings.

[Joan]

Classic Art Showcase    http://classicartsshowcase.org/
This is a broadcast feature that appears on various PBS or cable channels (usually at weird times like 2:00 am) it's a collection of clips from opera, dance, and concert films. It's a great way to sample all kinds of different material. I've just started trying to catch it again; it seems like the quality of material has improved compared to what I remember years ago.

Last week they showed a clip from the documentary series Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the 20th century, presented by Simon Rattle. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=102073   It's available from Netflix (except for episodes 3 and 7; maybe they lost them and had to re-order?) - I'm waiting for them to send vol. 1. Has anyone seen this? Any thoughts on it?

[mahlertitan]

Classic Art Showcase    http://classicartsshowcase.org/
This is a broadcast feature that appears on various PBS or cable channels (usually at weird times like 2:00 am) it's a collection of clips from opera, dance, and concert films. It's a great way to sample all kinds of different material. I've just started trying to catch it again; it seems like the quality of material has improved compared to what I remember years ago.

Last week they showed a clip from the documentary series Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the 20th century, presented by Simon Rattle. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=102073   It's available from Netflix (except for episodes 3 and 7; maybe they lost them and had to re-order?) - I'm waiting for them to send vol. 1. Has anyone seen this? Any thoughts on it?

yep, i used to wach lots of CAS, in fact, that's how i began listening to classical music. I think i saw a clip of "Carmen" there years ago, and it began.

[knight66]

The thread is an excellent idea and accords with Rob's concept of helping and informing people newly interested in the sort of music people here like. I have therefore made the topic sticky so it will remain at the top of the board.

Here is a resource I use to find the texts for songs....

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/

A resource on Bach Cantatas...

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/

A site on Berlioz...

http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.htm

Mike