I'm fully aware this thread might be short lived and go nowhere, but wanted to give it a shot. Over the last year or so I've developed a real enjoyment of classical music, and have also started learning piano. The hard thing about this genre is that people don't really talk about it much, so it's something I've enjoyed mostly in isolation.

I thought it might be fun to have some discussion amongst other enthusiasts on this board who listen to a lot of classical. I included film scores in the thread title because that's a big entry point to the genre for most people, and even those who aren't into classical per se might still love some of the iconic scores from Williams, Zimmer, etc.

Anyway, what kind of classical stuff are y'all into?

Beethoven's symphonies

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
St. Matthew Passion
Christmas Oratorio

Wagner, The Ring Cycle

I have enjoyed classical music for as long as I can remember, but am hard-pressed to claim any particular symphony by name. Beethoven, Bach, Wagner.

When I worked at a movie theater when Die Hard was showing, I could never identify the piece of music that plays over the end titles, but damn did I always enjoy listening to that while cleaning the auditorium.

I've long loved listening to movie scores from when my dad put the original 2-LP release of Star Wars in my 10-year-old hands. None of my friends from those years had any understanding of why I preferred that kind of music over something like Rush or Queen (even though I did listen to those and similar groups), but I just got to where I didn't give a crap what my friends thought and went on listening to what I wanted to listen to.

My kids' school has an annual contest where the kids get recognition and a pizza party for listening to classical and jazz composers. It is awesome. They listen to playlists that are about an hour of representative works for 50 composers (for the top prize level). So we hit all of the biggies are represented (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc) but also more contemporary, jazz, musicals, movie scores, etc.

I'm so glad that my kids get exposed to it and love it. I grew up with musician parents, so it has always been a part of my life. We need to keep passing it on and not let it get lost in the BS bubble-gum TikTok crap.

Anything Bruckner

I'm not necessarily a classical music fan, but IMO, Moonlight Sonata is the best piece of music ever created.

Scriffer said:

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Anything Bruckner

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I like Bruckner when I'm in the mood, but a lot of his stuff is super intense from the first bar and never really lets up. Awesome for sure, but intense.

MSFC Aggie said:

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I'm not necessarily a classical music fan, but IMO, Moonlight Sonata is the best piece of music ever created.

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If you really like the Moonlight but aren't familiar with other Beethoven sonatas, there's so much to explore! If you want a good one stop shop on Spotify, Daniel Barenboim has a complete recording of all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas.

If it's the iconic first movement you like from the Moonlight, other great slow movements to check out from Beethoven's sonatas would be #8 (2nd movement), #31 (1st movement), and my personal favorite #21 (3rd movement).

Rick Beato actually did whole video about #31, which was great.

Did a quick search for that Beato video, but couldn't find it. If you have it, please post.

A modern guy I really like is Max Richter. I got into him from the Leftovers soundtrack. He has some amazing stuff. So simple and haunting.

They aren't movie scores, but I highly recommend an album of overtures by Rossini. It was performed by Sir Neville Mariner, and includes The William Tell, Cinderella, The Thieving Magpie, The Barber of Seville and Othello. Once you hear them, you'll think to yourself that you've heard them before and didn't realize what they were. It's a great album/CD.

I love classical choral music. I have Handel's Messiah on repeat in my office during Christmas. I've been addicted to different variations of this piece by Marc Antoine Charpentier.



So beautiful, emotional. It's about Mary witnessing her son dying on the cross. The distraught bleeds through the music. I recommend listening with the literal English translation.

Bach's Cello suites are fantastic

Scotts Tot said:

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OldArmy71 said:

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Beethoven's symphonies

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
St. Matthew Passion
Christmas Oratorio

Wagner, The Ring Cycle

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I've come to the personal opinion that the 9 Beethoven symphonies are the greatest body of work in the classical repertoire. Not an original thought, I know. There's just so much there, and they never get old to me. My personal favorite is probably the Eroica (3rd), but also particularly love the 4th, 7th, and of course the 9th.

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My favorites are the 6th (Pastoral) and 9th. It's an amazing experience to sing the 4th movement in German with a symphony chorus.

The symphonies were how I started listening to classical music.

I graduated from A&M long ago and there were no art appreciation or music appreciation courses, and I knew I was missing something.

In my first year of grad school I saw an ad from TimeLife Books or something similar that was selling all of Beethoven's works, one group per month, spread out over a year or so. It was the Berlin Philharmonic and von Karajan.

The offering began with the symphonies. The first group included 4 and 5 and I was hooked. Those two and the ninth never get old.

Scotts Tot said:

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I'm fully aware this thread might be short lived and go nowhere, but wanted to give it a shot. Over the last year or so I've developed a real enjoyment of classical music, and have also started learning piano. The hard thing about this genre is that people don't really talk about it much, so it's something I've enjoyed mostly in isolation.

I thought it might be fun to have some discussion amongst other enthusiasts on this board who listen to a lot of classical. I included film scores in the thread title because that's a big entry point to the genre for most people, and even those who aren't into classical per se might still love some of the iconic scores from Williams, Zimmer, etc.

Anyway, what kind of classical stuff are y'all into?

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I don't play piano myself, but I love the classical piano repertoire thanks to my dad who has played his entire life. He still attends an annual classical piano workshop every summer. We try to attend as many concerts together as we can, including the Wiedman Piano Competition in Shreveport. Got to see Emanuel Ax in Baton Rouge this year. If you're a piano student, I highly recommend getting familiar with the essential piano concerti. Start with the Rachmaninov 2nd and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. (The 18th variation is the one you hear most often in movie scores, like Groundhog Day.) The 2nd movement of the Rach 2 shows up constantly in movies and pop songs like "Full Moon and Empty Arms" and "All By Myself".

I'd also recommend the Tchaikovsky 1st, Schumann in A minor, and Grieg in A minor piano concerti. All three are frequently performed and crowd pleasers. As your ear develops, then start adding the more complex works like Chopin's 1st, Prokofiev 3rd, Liszt 1st, and of course the immortal Rach 3 (featured in the movie Shine.)

ETA: One of the fun, but possibly challenging, things about classical piano recordings is finding a pianist whose interpretations you like. I personally find Van Cliburn's to be the most emotionally sensitive and evocative (especially for Chopin and Beethoven solo works) but when I'm in the mood for technical fireworks I like Andrei Gavrilov and Martha Argerich. For the Rachmaninov preludes, my dad loves Dame Moura Lympany. More contemporary pianists like Yundi Li and Alice Sara Ott (her Tchaikovsky #1 is excellent) are also worth seeking out.

OldArmy71 said:

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The symphonies were how I started listening to classical music.

I graduated from A&M long ago and there were no art appreciation or music appreciation courses, and I knew I was missing something.

In my first year of grad school I saw an ad from TimeLife Books or something similar that was selling all of Beethoven's works, one group per month, spread out over a year or so. It was the Berlin Philharmonic and von Karajan.

The offering began with the symphonies. The first group included 4 and 5 and I was hooked. Those two and the ninth never get old.

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Can't ever go wrong with Karajan and the Berlin Phil. The 1977 recording of the 9th on Deutsche Grammophon is fantastic. I also have the 1982 recording of the 5th and 6th symphonies as well as the recording of Schumann's and Grieg's piano concertos with Krystian Zimerman. All highly recommended!

Mozart's "Jupiter" symphony
Mozart's "Requiem"
Schubert's 8th ("Unfinished") symphony
Paganini's violin concertos

MSFC Aggie said:

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Did a quick search for that Beato video, but couldn't find it. If you have it, please post.

A modern guy I really like is Max Richter. I got into him from the Leftovers soundtrack. He has some amazing stuff. So simple and haunting.

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Here is the Beato video. The theme of the video is about Beethoven continuing to compose music after his hearing was gone, and the piano sonata #31 (op 110) was written during this time, so Beato focuses on it.

G Martin 87 said:

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Scotts Tot said:

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I'm fully aware this thread might be short lived and go nowhere, but wanted to give it a shot. Over the last year or so I've developed a real enjoyment of classical music, and have also started learning piano. The hard thing about this genre is that people don't really talk about it much, so it's something I've enjoyed mostly in isolation.

I thought it might be fun to have some discussion amongst other enthusiasts on this board who listen to a lot of classical. I included film scores in the thread title because that's a big entry point to the genre for most people, and even those who aren't into classical per se might still love some of the iconic scores from Williams, Zimmer, etc.

Anyway, what kind of classical stuff are y'all into?

---

I don't play piano myself, but I love the classical piano repertoire thanks to my dad who has played his entire life. He still attends an annual classical piano workshop every summer. We try to attend as many concerts together as we can, including the Wiedman Piano Competition in Shreveport. Got to see Emanuel Ax in Baton Rouge this year. If you're a piano student, I highly recommend getting familiar with the essential piano concerti. Start with the Rachmaninov 2nd and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. (The 18th variation is the one you hear most often in movie scores, like Groundhog Day.) The 2nd movement of the Rach 2 shows up constantly in movies and pop songs like "Full Moon and Empty Arms" and "All By Myself".

I'd also recommend the Tchaikovsky 1st, Schumann in A minor, and Grieg in A minor piano concerti. All three are frequently performed and crowd pleasers. As your ear develops, then start adding the more complex works like Chopin's 1st, Prokofiev 3rd, Liszt 1st, and of course the immortal Rach 3 (featured in the movie Shine.)

ETA: One of the fun, but possibly challenging, things about classical piano recordings is finding a pianist whose interpretations you like. I personally find Van Cliburn's to be the most emotionally sensitive and evocative (especially for Chopin and Beethoven solo works) but when I'm in the mood for technical fireworks I like Andrei Gavrilov and Martha Argerich. For the Rachmaninov preludes, my dad loves Dame Moura Lympany. More contemporary pianists like Yundi Li and Alice Sara Ott (her Tchaikovsky #1 is excellent) are also worth seeking out.

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This is cool…thanks for sharing! Have you watched Yunchan Lim's performance of Rach 3 at the Van Cliburn in Fort Worth last year? It has been thrown around as one of the greatest known performances/recordings of the concerto, which might sound a bit hyperbolic, but it is really incredible. Worth pointing out that Yunchan was 18 at the time, and became the youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn competition. This is worth the watch…



For more on the performance, here is a piano nerd talking about it in detail, including interviews with some judges who were on the panel in Fort Worth last year.

Oh, it's not hyperbole. Yunchan's performance here shows a remarkable amount of maturity and sensitivity regardless of his age. Many contestants treat the Rach 3 as a speed contest, and some judges are looking for flashy technique. Yunchan has plenty of that too (see the 1st movement cadenza starting at 11:13 and his magnificent transition from the 2nd movement to the 3rd starting at 28:29.) But he never loses the heart of the piece. And that was Van's signature characteristic in his playing. See the conductor's reaction in the 3rd movement at 32:37 for proof that Yunchan understands how playfully Rachmaninov can (and should) be played.

One of my favorite frictions of an orchestra actually playing the piece is from the movie "Copying Beethoven". The movie may not have been very good but this scene on the 9th crushes it.

Scotts Tot said:

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Scriffer said:

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Anything Bruckner

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I like Bruckner when I'm in the mood, but a lot of his stuff is super intense from the first bar and never really lets up. Awesome for sure, but intense.

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*Laughs in Mahler*


I played trombone in junior high and high school (quit because I hated marching), and I couldn't get enough of those enormous low brass sections just thundering through the arrangements.

A Nerdery thread this summer convinced me to buy a desktop headphone amp and headphones. I've been all over Amazon Music listening to hi res versions of all of these.

Scriffer said:

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Scotts Tot said:

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Scriffer said:

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Anything Bruckner

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I like Bruckner when I'm in the mood, but a lot of his stuff is super intense from the first bar and never really lets up. Awesome for sure, but intense.

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*Laughs in Mahler*


I played trombone in junior high and high school (quit because I hated marching), and I couldn't get enough of those enormous low brass sections just thundering through the arrangements.

A Nerdery thread this summer convinced me to buy a desktop headphone amp and headphones. I've been all over Amazon Music listening to hi res versions of all of these.

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A fellow former trombone player! I too loved playing loud and fast as a high schooler. Went to a small high school and we only had two trombones in the band, so I always felt like I had to compensate. I guess I've just mellowed some over the years haha.

That's why I'm loving this thread. Lots of stuff I've forgotten or overlooked.

I've been trying to get my 4 & 6 year old girls into this stuff, so I found this, and they can watch it over and over again.

Beethoven for symphonies.
Mozart for anything
Vivaldi for concertos

Brandenberg Concertos was mentioned but I always took heart from it because it was a failed resume.

Some not mentioned:

The one hit wonder Pachabel's Cannon

Handel's Messiah, Water Music and Royal Fireworks

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

Correlli's Christmas Concerto

For something more modern anything by Ray Vaughn Williams and Holst's the Planets

For someone still alive try Ludicovo Einaudi

Second the recommendation for Ralph Vaughan Williams - Lark Ascending is one of my favorite pieces of music.

The soundtrack from "Out of Africa" is quite good.

Then there's this piece of utter perfection.

Grieg's Peer Gynt is fabulous and familiar, especially if you are old enough to remember Looney Tunes.

ETA:
Somehow got the wrong Youtube video from your link, and wound up with Andre Rieu conducting Ode to Joy. Sorry for the confusion.

I don't understand the vocals, but the music makes me emotional every single time I hear Ode to Joy. It's been that way my entire life. Thanks for posting that.

localag88 said:

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The soundtrack from "Out of Africa" is quite good.

Then there's this piece of utter perfection.

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Elina Garanca is amazing. Here's another video of her in Carmen.

HtownAg92 said:

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Grieg's Peer Gynt is fabulous and familiar, especially if you are old enough to remember Looney Tunes.

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Turned that on and instantly busted out laughing. Love it!

[/ducksandruns]