Please Help

[Glyde]

I am, to put it plainly, a metal head. I listen to metal, but I love listening to music with an orchestrated component, especially in metal. However I find listening to my favorite music is distracting when I study and this is where you come in. I am looking for two types of music, that must be instrumental:

1)Heavier/Darker Orchestrated music (I may be in the wrong place for this). A lot of emphasis on things like the cello are good here.

2) Some good listening for studying. Essentially when you are at work/studying or doing something else, what kind of music really sets the mood, and makes working easier?

Thank you for your help. And if I'm in the wrong place I am sorry for wasting your time.

[bhodges]

Hi Glyde, welcome and just a suggestion: your questions are very difficult to answer without knowing just a little more about you and your musical tastes.  Perhaps consider posting a little more about you in the "Introductions" section? 

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/board,2.0.html

There are a number of metal listeners here, as you can see from this "non-classical" music thread:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,27.0.html

--Bruce

[Glyde]

Thanks for the heads up, I was just about to go out, I'll look over those when I get back. Appreciate it.

Just a quick note to anyone still willing to help, I like a lot of power metal, which tends to get very instrumental, such as:

Blind Guardian (here's a song by them, the video is irrelevent http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1gIIpzxUZ0M )

Symphonic Metal (I think that's what it's called):

Nightwish- another song http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdhXxxWREo with an irrelevent video

Metal(?)

Apocalyptica - http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=SGigthgbpDI The reason I came here, song starts roughly at the 40 second point

And one last song:

Demons & Wizards - http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=bcVPKpRYeXs


I also really enjoyed S&M Metallica, it was a live Album they made with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra if I recall correctly.

Hope this helps you help me 

[Mark]

Hi Glyde

An interesting mix of links you provided - some Power Metal (the successor to 80s Hair Metal, no question), and some Speed Metal, if I'm not mistaken. Reminds me of the kind of stuff I used to enjoy more years ago than I care to remember. Kinda like Iron Maiden on speed.

Getting to your questions, this isn't easy. The first piece which springs to mind in answer to Q1 is this by Mussorgsky (but re-orchestrated by Ravel): A Night On Bare Mountain. Not the best nor fastest performance, but enough to give you an idea.

I'll post more as they occur to me.

[Mark]

You might also like this by Stravinsky: a slice from his Rite Of Spring. Again, it's being played far too slow here - there are some performances out there which really thunder through this dark section of the work.

[greg]

You might also like this by Stravinsky: a slice from his Rite Of Spring. Again, it's being played far too slow here - there are some performances out there which really thunder through this dark section of the work.

Awesome, Mark! Didn't know they had a recording of Boulez conducting the Rite on youtube! 
Well, I'm not sure this is the best part to start from. I'd either start from the very beginning and listen through to the end (recommended) or hit the highlights first (7:30 in Part 3) or the ending (although i see it's way too slow here)..

[Keemun]

Hi Glyde, here is something that might fit your first category: 

Elgar: Cello Concerto

http://ca.youtube.com/v/L5C99JyP2ns

[Solitary Wanderer]

2) Some good listening for studying. Essentially when you are at work/studying or doing something else, what kind of music really sets the mood, and makes working easier?

Well, I'd suggest exactly the opposite to what you usually listen to! 

Seriously, for study [mental concentration] you need very quiet, all-instrumental, orderly music with even dynamics 

In casino's they play that noise [it's not music] which is specifically designed to disturb peoples mental functioning so that they can't think straight and thus won't walk away from a game - it's pure evil 

[Lethevich]

Give this, this, this and this a shot. Sadly lousy SQ, especially on the last one. Edit: This one, too Grr @ horrible sound quality! ;__:

Seriously, for study [mental concentration] you need very quiet, all-instrumental, orderly music with even dynamics 

Indeedie - generally people seem to find baroque or classical era chamber music ideal for this. Things like Handel's oboe concerti, or sub-Mozart classicists (Mozart and Haydn may be too engaging for background music ) such as Dittersdorf or Boccherini - fine composers though they are.

[eyeresist]

The symphonies of Brahms and Dvorak may be good for your purposes. There are some good cheap boxsets of these out there.

[Glyde]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to come back here until now. Thanks for the tips, I've enjoyed most of the music that was posted here, now I have one last question. Where do I go to buy classical music? I'm Canadian, so your franchises might not exist here, and I'm unsure whether HMV (one of the big music sellers in Canada, not sure about the states) carries classical music.

[imperfection]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to come back here until now. Thanks for the tips, I've enjoyed most of the music that was posted here, now I have one last question. Where do I go to buy classical music? I'm Canadian, so your franchises might not exist here, and I'm unsure whether HMV (one of the big music sellers in Canada, not sure about the states) carries classical music.

Try www.amazon.ca, many affordable titles around and LOTS of selections.

Sorry about your wallet 

[RebLem]

Most classical music is not intended as background music.  A few things can be used that way, but they tend to be things literally meant to put you to sleep, like Chopin's Nocturnes (solo piano pieces), not things intended to facilitate mental activity and study.

Now, if you are talking about things you can listen to paying full attention, that will stimulate your mind and get you in the right frame of mind for study, that's another thing. 

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is good.  It is THE core work of 20th century music, and many excerpts will be familiar to you from movies and TV commercials.  Lots of spiky rhythms, too.  Try the Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra performance.

Mahler's Symphony 1 "Titan" is good, too.  Very accessible, the third movement is based on the folk song, Frere Jacques, but is done as a funeral march.

If you want something really rousing, try Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  If you have a good stereo system, the Giulini/Chicago Symphony is a sonic spectacular. 

Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is short, about 15 minutes usually, and will make you want to get up and dance, or at least move around in your chair. 

And you might want to try some simple, easy to follow, but nevertheless great, tuneful piece like Beethoven's Archduke Trio.  I recommend Szerying, Rubinstein, and Fournier.