Having not really taken much notice of all the many classics that have adorned us and then embarking on learning the piano I didn't really think classical music would be my thing.

Well how wrong could I be I am pleased to say. Seeing as I have been really enjoying playing my classical beginner pieces, a while back I thought I ought to go onto You tube and start listening to the many great composers to hear what they had composed etc (and not be an ignoramus as well).

I have started to listen to the obvious ones: Mozart's Symphonies and Beethoven's Symphonies, concertos and sonatas and I am just lost for words. I love the symphonies in particular.

Every time I listen to them I have goosebumps and an overwhelming feeling of Euphoria.

Does anyone else feel like this when they listen to classical music or am I just mad?!!!

If anyone can recommend anything that they feel I must listen to I would be most grateful. Also particular cd's that I could purchase rather than just You tube. I was looking at the Berlin Philarmonic Mozart Symphnies but its £70 (I'll save that for my xmas list I think).

no. it does the same for me too... such a vast range of emotions...

I would start by listening to a classical music radio station - one which plays popular classics so that you quickly get a feel for what you like most. Then buy a compilation CD which includes some of your favourites and more besides. Some CDs are really quite cheap, and coming up for Christmas, there will be huge selection, often at discounted prices. At secondhand and charity shops, you can often buy classical CDs very cheaply. Look also at selections.com where they sell CDs very cheaply. Sometimes they may not be by the best orchestras or artistes, but they will get you started.

ClassicFM is the most obvious popular classical music station. It's what got me into classical music so I can't knock it, although I don't listen to it now, mostly because of the chit-chat and the advertisements. An online radio station which is brilliant is accuradio.com - it has no chit-chat and very little advertising. You can select from an enormous number of options, and if you like symphony music, there's an option on accuradio.com to select just symphony music.

Do you have any classical music concert venues near you? A live performance is wonderful to watch

I remember our music teacher telling us that the one piece you absolutely have to listen to is The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. It would definitely show you something a bit different from Beethoven and Mozart.

You say you're a pianist but haven't mentioned any piano music, so maybe listen to some piano concertos. Personally, my favourites are the Rachmaninov and Shostakovich ones, but there's also Grieg, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, lots of Mozart, Ravel... Or some unaccompanied stuff... Beethoven sonatas, Bach's Well-tempered clavier and maybe some Debussy preludes and Chopin Nocturnes are the things that spring immediately to mind as obvious choices, or Rachmaninov Preludes or Grieg's Lyric Pieces.

I don't know so much about general orchestral music though, so will leave that to someone else.

How about renaissance music? You might be able to borrow CDs from the library. Try William Byrd's 4-part mass and listen to the Agnus Dei several times til it becomes familiar to you. If you aren't completely hooked after that, I'll eat my piano.

Ok I will attempt a very basic 'starter' list, from different periods, and with some emphasis on piano and symphonic repertoire. I am leaving out Instrumental Concertos, Solo Instrumnetal ,Choral/Singing, and Chamber Music.

BACH For piano, Well Tempered Klavier (Books 1 & 2), and Keyboard Partitas
For orchestra The 6 Brandenburg Concertos
VIVALDI For orchestra 'The Four Seasons'
HAYDN For piano, the 52 (!) Piano Sonatas, but the later ones are best, from about No 33 onwards
For orchestra, The Symphonies,, later ones also best 90 -104
MOZART For piano The 20 Piano Sonatas
For orchestra The Symphonies, ones with a 'name' eg Jupiter, Haffner, etc are best known
BEETHOVEN For Piano the 32 Sonatas, again ones with a name eg Pathetique, Waldstein, Appassionata , Moonlight etc
For orchestra, The Symphonies, suggest start with No 3 (Eroica) 6 (Pastorale) and 9 (Choral)
SCHUBERT For Piano, The two sets of Impromptus. Moment Musicaux. Also many Sonatas
For Orchestra Symphonies 5, 8 (Unfinished) and 9
SCHUMANN Just piano here - Carnival, Papillons, Davisbundler Dances, Kinderscenen, Waldscenen.
MENDELSSOHN For piano 'Songs witout words'
For orchestra Scottish and Italian Symphonies
BRAHMS For piano , the various pieces Op117-119
For orchestra The 4 Symphonies
TCHAIKOWSKY No 4 ,5, and 6 (Pathetique). Try No 4 first
DVORAK For orchestra Symphonies 7-9 , eg No 9 From the New World. Also Slavonic Dances.
MAHLER and BRUCKNER . Try Mahlers Symphonies 4 to 6, Bruckner Symphonies 4 and 7
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano preludes Op34, Preludes and Fugues Op87
15 Symphonies, suggest try No 5 first then maybe 10,11,12
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
BARTOK Lots of piano stuff, various sets of short pieces
Concerto for Orchestra
PROKOFIEV for piano, 'Visions Figitives' also 9 Piano Sonatas (best are 6,7,8)
Symphony nos 1 and 7
BRITTEN A Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, Simple Symphony
LUTOSLAWSKI Concerto for Orchestra
MESSAIEN Turangalila Symphony (10 movements) includes a strange instrument called a 'ONDES MARTENOT'

OK I will stop there, very difficult to know what to put in and leave out (eg I left out Sibelius Symphonies), but I hope you can enjoy some of above. Please other forumites, do not post lots of messages criticising this list, its just some basic ideas really.

Maybe I will post again later with a basic Concerto List !

Thank you everyone. There's plenty of recommendations to get me going, especially the huge list from Fsharp minor.

Already listening to Accuradio - Thanks Skylark

Good advice from fsharpminor, i.e. don't go and but a boxed set of Mozart, listen to a good cross section of music.

Oh and no you're not the only one to get goosebumps listening to classical music.



Ooh, no. Radio 3 is.

Good old BBC. Honestly, if you want to listen to whole pieces in context with some intelligent background info then Radio 3 can't be beaten. Just don't take "Breakfast" too seriously. Who suggested that name for the show? Breakfast Show would be OK, but Breakfast is cereal, toast, fry up, etc.

OK here goes with basic Concertos, someone might care to add a couple more woodwinds or brass as Im less familiar with those.

PIANO - Mozart wrote many, suggest Nos 20 and 21 for starters
- Beethoven wrote 5. No 5 is best known as The Emperor Concerto
Mendelssohn (two of them)
Grieg and Schumann Concertos in A Minor
Brahms in D minor and in Bflat
Liszt (no1) in E flat Minor
Chopin (three of them) Try No3 (E Minor I think from memory)
Tchaikowsky in Bflat minor
Rachmaninov (4 of them ) 2 and 3 best known
Prokofiev (five of them) No 3 probably the best
Shostakovich No2 (No 1 also interesting as it has a solo trumpet part too)

VIOLIN Bach - 2 for solo violin - no 1 in E and no 2 in A minor, and the Double one in D Minor
Lots by Vivaldi and other lesser baroque composers.
Mozart (5 of them ) the last is the best
Beethoven, just the one in D
Mendelssohn in E Minor
Brahms and Tchaikowsky (both in D)
Dvorak
Sibelius
Shostakovich
Prokofiev No 1
Elgar

CELLO The really great ones are by Dvorak and Elgar. Others are by Schumann and Haydn. Also Tchaikowskys 'Variations on a Rococo Theme' is also considered a Concerto. Two by Shostakovich, the second is the best.

BRASS Trumpet Concerti by Vivaldi (and the one for 2 trumpets), Josef Haydn, Michael Haydn .
Quite a few by other baroque composers.
Horn Concerti (4) by Mozart

WOODWIND (Help please ) Quite a few for Flute and Oboe by baroque composers eg Albinoni, Vivaldi
Clarinet Concerto by Mozart, some also by Crusell and Weber. One by Finzi.
Vaughan Williams for Oboe.
Flute Concerti by Mozart, also one for Flute and Harp.

PERCUSSION Try 'Veni Veni Emmanuel' by James MacMillan (Its a percussion concerto)

ORGAN Many by Handel, and Poulenc

There will be a few gaps there ! All the above from memory !

I would add that if it's Mozart and Beethoven that float your boat at the moment, don't be put-off if some of the very different styles of music leave you less enthused - at least at a first or second hearing.

Equally don't give up on the 'too different ' stuff - keep listening and exploring. I'd also put in a vote for radio 3.

Come back and report !

Yes that good advice from maggiemay. Mozart and Beethoven are very much easier on the ear than much of the 20th C stuff I have mentioned. Maybe be best to stick mainly to these and some of the better known romantic period for a bit, with maybe a bit of Bach, and then just keep trying something more modern from time to time, eg Rite of Spring, Shostakovich 5th are really quite easy to listen to.

Thanks everyone.

There are enough recommendations to keep me going for ever! I agree with listening to lots of different styles and composers. It's just that as I am a bit of an ignoramus in this dept I naturally started with the ones I knew.

I had to go and look up the difference between a symphony and concerto!

I will let you know how I get on.

At least my children will be well educated on the music front as I play it upstairs in the office in the evening when I work and they are going to sleep... and they love it!

glad you think so ! I like Shosti but have yet to get into Stravinsky - with one or two exceptions - which do NOT include Rite of Spring since you mention it!

Variety is the spice of life, and the thing to go for:

Accuradio is good, but not the bees knees.
Spotify has a lot of Classical music and is a fantastic source.
Classic FM is good but tends to be populist rather than varied and plays a lot of part-pieces. Few if any concerts, all studio recordings. After a while, irrititating.
Radio three is far more eclectic but I remember (in 1989?) being totally put off by a recording of Tibetan Goat-herd yodelling (I kid you not!!).

By the way, if you haven't noticed by now a lot of people can be very sniffy about the use of the phrase "classical music" and feel it should be reserved for "classical period music": Most of the rest of us know what we mean by "classical music" but pedants prefer the term "western art music".

Now how could that possibly put you off? Yes, eclectic is a fair description, which is what I think makes it such a good station. That and the knowledgable presenters.

Late Junction is a fantastic programme. You never know what you're going to get (apart from a late night).

As well as Accuradio and others, I can highly recommend downloading Spotify, which has a vast array of classical music tracks to listen to.

oh, yes! another vote for LJ. It is often quite difficult to turn off and turn in ...

I don't know whether this would work for you, Mini_mo, but on the Essentials of Music web site, it gives you some information about each composer and in most cases you can listen to clips of their main works

OK , following my earlier theme, a short basic list of Choral Works/Oratorios. (again from memory, so theer may beimportant omissions)
Most of these I have sung over the years, so there is an element of personal choice.

PALESTRINA Missa Papae Marcelli
BACH St Matthew Passion, B Minor Mass
HANDEL Messiah
PERGOLESI Stabat Mater
HAYDN The Creation, Masses (eg Nelson Mass)
MOZART Requiem
MENDELSSOHN Elijah
BRAHMS Requiem
DVORAK Stabat Mater
VERDI Requiem
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A Sea Symphony (I prefer to class this as choral as all 4 movment are solo/choral)
ELGAR The Dream of Gerontius
ORFF Carmina Burana
POULENC Gloria
WALTON Belshazzars Feast
TIPPETT A Child of our Time
BRITTEN War Requiem
RUTTER Almost anything !

As a rank (maybe that should be unranked) amateur, I'm adding just one... Beethoven and piano?

Beethoven's Triple Concerto

Not a chorister myself but how about . . .

Bach - Christmas Oratorio, Coffee Cantata?
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis?
Handel - Dixit dominus?
Berlioz - L'enfence du Christ?

Well I could have put lots more Bach in, but left it at his ( in my opinion) two best works. But I accept the Beethoven and Berlioz would be worthy. It is difficult to know what to include and what to leave out. I didn't want the list to get too big.

The list could go on almost to infinity...

When you need kleenex to listen to music you know you've found something very significant and beautiful

Try this----http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANP4CNzbqkY&feature=PlayList&p=72CE9CF1E75D48A8&index=5

When you start to appreciate classical music it becomes harder and harder to tolerate most (not all) popular music (never mind enjoy it). The good-stuff to total-drivel ratio is just too low.

So I can no longer stand to be in shops, restaurants or shopping centres that subject you to 'muzak' or the current hits of the day, nor can I work anywhere that someone has a Radio or CD player providing 'background' music.

Its the same with everything else though Mad Tom. When you develop better tastes in food you dont want to go back to naff food, and when you develop taste for good wine you dont want to go back to drinking plonk. When you get used to driving a good car, you dont want to go back to driving an old wreck. And so on..

Agree very much with F#m's lists but I'd have to add just one more

Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherezade

That, and the Grieg Piano Concerto (on a LP recording by Winifred Atwell, would you believe ), were what hooked me on classical music, at the age of about 6 or 7.

Mole

Ditto. It's not simply the choice of music - the quality of sound is often painful. I could quite cheerfully strangle someone after 3 minutes of tinny torture.

I have been listening to lots of Valentina's performances. She is pretty awesome.

I dont know if you've seen that Classic FM is offering a box-set of 40 CDs if you take out a subscription to their magazine. If you wanted to build up your collection of classical music and get a good selection of composers, this might be a way to do it.
M..

Yes, that sounds a good deal - magazine sub and a batch of CD's to boot.
But I'm more inclined to recommend Radio 3, for the fact of its variety, informed presenting, and quality recordings, many of which are of live performances - the Proms for starters.

The orchestral works I can remember giving me goosebumps and feelings of euphoria, hearing them for the first time at a young age, were:

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture (considered a bit cheesy these days by most people)
MussorgskyPictures at an Exhibition (Ravels' orchestration)
Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf (not solely for children, I still enjoy hearing it now)
Stravinsky Firebird andPetrushka ballets (more accessible than Rite of Spring)

Yes, that was the start my love of Russian music...

denmark

oh, almost forgot
Sibelius Finlandia (great!)

A few already mentioned but I love:

Mozart Piano Concertos 20, 21 and 24
Chopin's Nocturne in E Minor (Op.72 no.1)
Beethoven's 3rd Symphony ("Eroica")
Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Siegfried Funeral March
Liszt's Liebestraume #3
Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata

At the risk of upsetting the purists, I'd also suggest picking up some good film score CDs as well if you like something instantly accessible with more "punch". If Beethoven were alive today, he would undoubtedly be writing some seriously a**e kicking film scores IMO. Here are some examples of better known composers...

John Williams (Star Wars films, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, ET, Hook),
Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek, Alien, The Omen, Rambo),
Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings, Philadelphia, Silence of the Lambs),
Alan Silvestri (Castaway, Predator, Back to the Future, The Abyss)
Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Pearl Harbour),
James Horner (Braveheart, Coccoon, Appolo 13, Willow).
Clint Mansell (The Fountain.... amazing!),
Harald Kloser (Day after Tomorrow theme),
Michael Nyman (The Piano),
Javier Navarrete (Pan's Labyrinth).

I could go on forever as I'm a film music nut.

As for not tolerating other forms of music, I'm not so sure about that. I still enjoy drum 'n' bass and trance for example, although I am a lot more fussy about which particular sub-genre(s) I listen to now.

Oh me too, I love movie music. Love it!!!

Can I add a few more to that list, although there are some really great ones recommended already;

Ennio Morricone - Gabriels Oboe from the movie "The Mission"
John Williams - Saving Private Ryan
Hans Zimmer - Pirates of the Caribbean
Nigel Hess - Ladies in Lavender.... oh such a beautiful piece of music

And a couple of others
Samuel Barber - Adagio for strings
Elgar - Salut d'Amour

I could go on... and on and on.....

For me that happened today. Heard Holst The Planets for the first time since listening to my Dad's battered old 78 record as a child.

Mars I think is a particularly wonderful piece of music.

Lois

I should have mentioned that I love some of Eric Serra's work. "Cute Name" from Leon is a beautiful piece!

Have picked up at my local supermarket a copy of 'Classical Music - The 111 Greatest Works' from the publishers of Gramophone and Classic FM

On the cover it says 'The complete guide to building the essential classical music library' and

* A-Z of the Greatest Composers and their lives
* The best recordings of their key works and why
* "If you like that..." further music we think you'll enjoy

It's £9.99 so a bit pricey but in an easy to read magazine style and lots of info to dip in to

ISBN 9 780860240259


... and why 111 ? it says in the introduction that 111 is the opus number of one of Beethoven's greatest creations, his last piano sonata