Classical music!

[COMECON]

So that's it.
Do you like classical music? If so, which are your favorite composers/interprets?

I really love Chopin, I play it since I started playing piano again. Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygy721nzRc) you have a nice recopilatory of 2 hours with his best pieces. My favourite interpret, without any doubt, is Valentina Lisitsa (http://www.valentinalisitsa.com/). He has also a YouTube channel. Plus, she's beautiful!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Warsaw-valentina-lisitsa-cr-alexei-kuznetsoff-14.jpg/151px-Warsaw-valentina-lisitsa-cr-alexei-kuznetsoff-14.jpg
Oh, Valentina, I'd like to be like you. You play and look like angels!


I also like Tchaikovsky. Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_WWz2DSnT8) you have another recopilatory of him :)
What about you?

Catbuntu

[Jakin]

Erik Sadie, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Tchiakovsky.

[peter d]

I love classical music.

My favourite composers are many - that's the beauty of it, there's so much variety. Not all of my favourites are stritly classical but here's a list of great composers from the past and present.

J S Bach
W A Mozart
L van Beethoven
Thomas Tallis
William Byrd
G F Handel
Arvo Part
Steve Reich
Igor Stravinsky
R Vaughan Williams
John Adams

There are so many more, but that's a few to start with.

[MG&TL]

Yup, I'm a big fan. Although bizarrely, rock music also does it for me.

Favourite composers would probably include Beethoven (love his piano works), Liszt, and Chopin.

I used to play classical piano, but exams and a lack of time ended up in me giving up. I intend to get back in to it, probably once I've gone through university.

[oldos2er]

I'm a classical (as well as other types) music fan. With a few exceptions I mostly prefer 19th century and earlier composers.

[zer010]

What, no Pachelbel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Af372EQLck
Still one of my favs.

[Statia]

Erik Sadie, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Tchiakovsky.

That would be Satie and Tchaikovsky.


For me the Richards: Strauss and Wagner.

[Jakin]

That would be Satie and Tchaikovsky.


Whoops. Quite :D

[Gremlinzzz]

:popcorn:funtwo - Canon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF6cnLnEARo

[lisati]

<nostalgia>
I remember seeing a live performance of The Great Waltz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Waltz) in the Drury Lane Theatre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Royal,_Drury_Lane) back in 1971, during a family visit to London.
</nostalgia>

The musical tastes in the Lisati household are wide and varied, with a bit of "classical" music thrown in for good measure every now and again, but operatic works are low on the list of things to listen to. I don't mind listening to the occasional piano concerto: on a delayed broadcast of a concert I attended that included Beethoven's "Emporer" concerto (#5) many years ago, long before I met Mrs Lisati, I'm sure I heard myself coughing.

[QIII]

I've always liked Canon in D Major, but I've also always thought the choice of instruments left a sort of muddy dissonance in the background. Missing a certain ring of clarity somehow. Never have put my finger on it.

Anyway, from Baroque (especially the late Baroque period: Bach, Vivaldi, etc) to Late Romantic (Tchaikovski, Dvořák, etc) for me.

I like Bach a lot, but that could be because much of his work is so easily transcribed for classical guitar -- Christopher Parkening was a great hero to me while I was playing guitar. Beethoven, of course, was brilliant as the best known of the vanguard of the transition out of the Baroque period.

[JDShu]

Not really a big classical music fan but I like listening to the famous pieces once in a while, such as Air on G, Adagio in G Minor, Canon in D, Four Seasons etc.

Pieces I've studied or practiced intensely hold a special place for me personally, including La Mer by Debussy and Chopin's Waltz in C# Minor.

Over Christmas I revisited the Nutcracker suite and found myself humming waltz of the snowflakes and march. Catchy stuff.

Oh yeah, check this out for laughs. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZXBpoilUsw&feature=player_detailpage#t=216s) Years ago for a music recital in high school, the person before me played something really nice like Meditation and then I come up and play a Stravinsky etude. The look on the audience's faces was hilarious.

btw pachelbel rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM) ;)

[kaldor]

Does this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1q1k9MXKfE)count?

[Hylas de Niall]

Mozart
Mussorgsky
Orff
Antonioni
Satie
Debussy

...all rock my boat from time to time, especially Orff's 'Trionfi'.

[Statia]

Oh and recently also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJEfyZSvg5c

Hildegard von Bingen.
Listen to it in the dark.
It is amazing that this music has lived on since the 12th century.
And what a talented woman she was, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath (to quote Wikipedia).

[Linuxisfast]

Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss in western classical, I have other choices from other parts of the world as well.

[Paddy Landau]

What, no Pachelbel? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Af372EQLck
Hmm, nice.


pachelbel rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM)
LOL


Does this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1q1k9MXKfE)count?
Indeed, I've always wondered what would count as "modern classical" (an oxymoron, I know). I think — but I'm just guessing here — that modern classical would need:


Rich and varied use of melody and harmony (so something like Da Da Da (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZviYmTMpBXE) would not count).
Technically skilful (again, not Da Da Da :) ).
Rhythm depends on the music rather than on a strong background drumbeat.
Entirely optional: A single theme over two or more movements, such as, say, Kitaro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gXZPaIl6us) or Camel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTMQ25yzsFU).

For reason #3, I would be inclined to exclude both Ulytau's Winter (four seasons), lovely as it is, and Camel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJEfyZSvg5c
Hildegard von Bingen.
I love those choral sounds!

[neu5eeCh]

Do I like classical music?

I'm one of those way-over-the-top classical music listeners you read about. I was transfixed by Bach when I was 2 years old. I've been listening to Classical Music non-stop all my life. Went to conservatory of music and passed out of music history. Studied composition. Wrote fugues and canons. Studied piano and violin. Decided I was better at listening to music than composing or playing it. :|

I was a classical music buyer for one of the defunct CD chains in the 90's.

If you play a piece I've never heard I can usually tell you when it was written within 5 years. I can usually tell you where the composer lived and who he (or she) was influenced by. I would *love* to have Philip Wilby's talent. :???: < --- Jealousy. He's probably someone few have heard of; but he's the go-to musician who does many reconstructions of lost and partial Mozart concertos (did them for the Phillips Complete Mozart Edition). Nobody can fake Mozart's voice and textures the way Wilby can.

Mid to late 20th century "classical" is my kryptonite though. I don't listen to it and so I'm not as familiar with it. I find jazz, rock, blues, etc... to be the better music in the 20th and 21rst century.

Anyway, my fav composer is and has always been JS Bach. I have a soft spot for CPE, JC, WF and Johan Ludwig Bach and many other minor baroque, rococco and classical composers, like Fasch, Dittersdorf, Zelenka, M Haydn, Schobert, etc., etc.... This is the era that I love the most.

[Statia]

Rich and varied use of melody and harmony (so something like Da Da Da (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZviYmTMpBXE) would not count).

But it is a classic...
:-)

[Paddy Landau]

… my fav composer is and has always been JS Bach.
If you're into philosophy, you may enjoy the dated but still superb book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter ("a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"). Hofstadter weaved together an exploration of art and consciousness with the three artists Bach (music), Escher (drawings), and Gödel (mathematician).


But it is a classic...
LOL

[neu5eeCh]

If you're into philosophy, you may enjoy the dated but still superb book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter ("a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"). Hofstadter weaved together an exploration of art and consciousness with the three artists Bach (music), Escher (drawings), and Gödel (mathematician).

I tried reading that when I was 17; and it went stratospherically over my head. I should go back and try it again.

[Paddy Landau]

I tried reading that when I was 17; and it went stratospherically over my head. I should go back and try it again.
The book is hard work, LOL!

[leclerc65]

Not earlier than Bach nor later than Chopin, Schubert.

[neu5eeCh]

My list of favorite "second tier" composers:

Geminiani (Love him. He was an art collector with a strong taste for Irish fiddle music.)
Wassanear [sic?] (Nobleman who only wrote 6 concerti but was a musical genius.)
William Herchel (The great astronomer & a phenomenally good composer -- yes, they were all geniuses back then.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl-3ixhy6gk

Micheal Haydn (Joseph Haydn's older brother whose choral works approach genius. J Haydn flatly considered his brother's choral works to be superior to his own and Mozart's Requiem sounds uncannily like M Haydn's own Requiem for his little daughter. Mozart idolized M Haydn's music and grew up with M Haydn in Salzburg. Mozart's 37th Symphony is actually by M Haydn with an intro by Mozart.)
Johann Friedrich Fasch (Mentioned as a favorite composer by Bach. Sort of a cross between Telemann and Handel.)
Johann Dismas Zelenka (Also mentioned as a favorite by Bach. The vast majority of his compositions were destroyed by the Dresden bombing. The few choral works that survive can be quite powerful.)
Johann Ditters von Dittersdorf (Contemporary of Mozart who had a real gift for melody.
JC Bach (JS Bach's youngest son, the London Bach -- like watered down Mozart. Even so, he's always a step above mediocrity and can sometimes make you think you're listening to very early Mozart.) His Symphony in G minor comes out of nowhere and approaches greatness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqgUSBvTAg4


CPE Bach A complete eccentric.
WF Bach Bach's "lost" eldest son. His solo keyboard works approach and display genius. His keyboard concertos won't be to everyone's cup of tea, but they bring a level of virtuosity to the keyboard unmatched by anyone in his generation. Died of a broken heart, spirit, and destitute. His orchestral suite is sometimes called JS Bach's "fifth suite".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKASNBJu1SQ

Leopold Kozeluch Mozart's contemporary, played with Haydn and Mozart in their String Quartet meetings, and was the composer everyone was jealous of (not Mozart). He was the most prolific composer of the era: arrogant, conceited and vain. He had the effrontery to suggest to Mozart how he might have improved one of Haydn's Quartets. Mozart shot him down. All considered, Kozeluch's music is quite good. His few string quartets are incredibly beautiful in parts.

Jospeh Kraus Known as the "Swedish Mozart". Born the same year as Mozart, and died the same year. Haydn called him one of the period's great composers.

Juan Cristostomo de Arriaga A contemporary of Schubert. Called the "Spanish Mozart". He died at the age of 21 (I think). He was a genius who probably would have rivaled Schubert had he lived. His last works were three string quartets, far exceeding anything Schubert wrote at the same age.

William Boyce An English composer, one generation younger than Handel. Incredibly ebullient music.

Anyway, maybe I'll add more later. (I could do this all day and must stop.)

[scouser73]

I like André Rieu, and the only Samuel Barber piece I know is Adagio For Strings.

I just find classical music very calming.

[AstroLlama]

Toru Takemistu, a master of composing shifting timbres and sounds. Especially "From me flows what you call time" and the Reqiuem. So good!

[Statia]

I like André Rieu, .

That's not a composer. He is an arranger (not sure if that is an accurate translation). All he does (and opinions differ whether this is a good thing) is turn classical pieces into easily digestible titbits (preferably turned into a waltz) so people who ordinarily don't listen to classical music can enjoy it.

[Statia]

Wassanear [sic?] (Nobleman who only wrote 6 concerti but was a musical genius.)


Wassenaer. Named after a Dutch town (near The Hague), nowadays spelled Wassenaar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unico_Wilhelm_van_Wassenaer

I think even in The Netherlands he's mostly forgotten.

[Statia]

Talking of modern classical: Joe Hisaishi.
Wrote a lot of music for Japanese animator Miyazaki.
Like this piece from Totoro, a film I can watch over and over, not in the least part because of the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfoSlbxEOEg

[neu5eeCh]

Wassenaer. Named after a Dutch town (near The Hague), nowadays spelled Wassenaar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unico_Wilhelm_van_Wassenaer

I think even in The Netherlands he's mostly forgotten.

That doesn't surprise me. One wonders what his reputation might have been had he devoted himself to musical composition. My own feeling is that he could have been one of the great names in the baroque period, somewhere between a Corelli and Handel.

[OrangeCrate]

My wife and I listen to a lot of classical music. Our favorite composers include...

From the Baroque period:

Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann

From the Classical period:

Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn

[t0p]

Bach's Goldberg Variations is lovely for its sitting-back-and-losing-ones-self-to-ness. In the novel Silence of the Lambs, we're told that Hannibal Lecter is listening to the Variations while he butchers his guards and makes good his escape. I'm not sure about the movie - I don't have a copy to hand - but it may well be different, that movie played fast and loose with a few details, famously that line about enjoying a census taker's liver "with some fava beans and a nice chianti" whereas in the novel he says the wine was "a big Amarone". Nevertheless I can imagine that the Variations would be splendid background music while one peels off a corrections officer's face and wears it as a mask to expedite one's escape.

EDIT: After a little research (Google Is My Friend) I believe it is the Goldberg Variations in the movie. And interestingly, that isn't the only use of the Variations in the tale - check out this link (http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/03/20/148988529/hannibal-lecters-guide-to-the-goldberg-variations) to Hannibal Lecter's Guide to the Goldberg Variations.

[lisati]

But it is a classic...
:-)

LOL! There is a certain uncomplicated "something" about the song which helps with its appeal.

Worthy of mention: Felix Mendelsohn's "Hebrides" overture, a.k.a. Fingal's Cave. It was one of the set pieces I studied music at school back in the 1970s, as was the opening movement for Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto.

[Bandit]

While I have an appreciation for classical music, I dont tend to listen to it just to listen to it. However I do love to play many songs on the piano such as the popular Canon in D, Fur Elise and many others.

[Buntu Bunny]

My fav composers:

Boccherini
Bach
Vaughn Williams
Vivaldi
Handel
Bach
Beethoven
Chopin
Ritter
Rossini
Ravel