Good Resources for Beginners

Started by mahlertitan, May 06, 2007, 12:01:39 PM

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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

Quote from: MahlerTitan on May 06, 2007, 12:01:39 PM

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.
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Novi

Quote from: Grazioso on May 07, 2007, 03:55:24 AM
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 :-[ ;D.

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

Durch alle Töne tönet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Für den der heimlich lauschet.

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  :D
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

Quote from: Que on May 06, 2007, 08:48:43 PM

- Recommended Classical CD's

Q

You think these are good choices, Q?

dtwilbanks


George


mahlertitan

Quote from: orbital on May 14, 2007, 08:00:57 AM
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  :D
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

Quote from: MahlerTitan on May 14, 2007, 09:30:09 AM
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   :D

mahlertitan

Quote from: orbital on May 14, 2007, 09:35:50 AM
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   :D

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

orbital

#14
Quote from: MahlerTitan on May 14, 2007, 09:40:06 AM
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

Quote from: dtwilbanks on May 14, 2007, 08:06:25 AM
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

Quote from: orbital on May 14, 2007, 09:45:37 AM
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

Quote from: Joan on June 17, 2007, 09:07:34 PM
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



DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.