Recommend any good composers?
 

Modern or early?

I've liked every classical song I've played in symphonic band and stuff I've heard off of my Star Wars soundtrack. I'm curious about this genre of music, but I don't know anything about it.

Anyone recommend any good composers? Albums?

I'd recommend for the beginner listener in Classical music to start off with some Chopin piano music (his etudes maybe, the Barcarolle Op. 60, or Polonaises), some J.S. Bach (I like the double Violin Concerto in d minor but anything is great), some Debussy, Beethoven Symphonies (No. 3, 5, and 9 are my favorites), Stravinsky (Rite of Spring), and Schoenberg (if you are feeling adventurous).

For the more advanced listener, some of my favorite composers are Manuel de Falla (try Nights in the Gardens of Spain), Corelli (Concerto Grossi), Gyorgy Ligeti (anything...he's like a modern Beethoven....genius), Samuel Barber (anything), Bela Bartok (anything), Ravel (Gaspard de la Nuit).

Any "albums" out there I need to look for? Or is most of this stuff just on compliation CD's and whatnot?

Dax Johnson is a great Neo-Classical pianist/composer (I guess.)

Konishi Kayo & Kondoo Yukio who composed the elfen lied soundtrack.

Indeed.

I am reviewing that OST for an anime site I work on.

cool, lilium goes superbly well with the anime. It's proabbly my favourite/

Shostakovich
Mendelssohn
Stravinsky

All good composers. I'm keen to check out some Bartok too - I heard a snippet of one of his songs and it has me hooked.

J.S Bach is a genius and I would swallow every piece of work you could find by him.

This isn't objective just my personal favourite

Bela Bartok-Concerto For Orchestra
Bach: 6 Unaccompanied Suites by Yo-yo ma
Richard Wagner: Tristun Und Isolde, actually pretty much anything by him

Symphony No. 2 (The Romantic) by Howard Hanson is absolutely gorgeous. An excerpt from it was used as the closing music for Alien.

you guys know if there's anything by Samuel L. Hazo in store I can buy?

I'd start with the early and work your way forward. Here are a few recommendations to get you started:

Baroque era:

Johann Sebastian Bach--The six "Brandenburg concertos"
Johann Pachelbel--"Canon in D"

Classical era:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--Symphonies #40 and #41
Franz Josef Haydn--"The Horn Signal" (Symphony #31)

Transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras :

Ludwig van Beethoven--Symphonies #5 and #9
Franz Schubert--"The Great" (Symphony #9)

Romantic era:

Johannes Brahms--Symphony #4
Johann Strauss II--The Blue Danube

JS Bach is truly a musical genius. I recommend everything by him as well.

Try Grainger - Children's March
Or Zappa - Dog Breath Variations.

I second the Brahms mention from an earlier post. In fact, most of the stuff that came from the Romantic era is absolutely amazing. I personally suggest looking into Faure and Ravel while you're at it. Both have some amazing classical pieces.

Aside from the above mentioned though, my favorite composer and one that I always end up suggesting would be Gustav Holst. Most of the 'planets' compositions are amazing.

For new Classical Music people I have devised a short listening list of composers! 1, is for the easy listeners, and 4 is the hardcore Classical expert!
1. Mozart is a MUST for people looking for a start in Classical music, may I recommend-
The Symphonies, especially 41, 40 and 25. They are the most famous.
The Piano Concertos- 19-25, these are fabuolous. especcially the ones in C, D minor and in B.
Flute and Harp, and Clarinet Concertos, these are wonderful lyrical works, especcially the second movements of these Concertos.
Eine Kliene Nachtmusik, after the first few bars, how much do you know? These are incredibly famous works, that bring great pleasure if listened to start to finish.

Please know that Mozart is ONLY for new Classical music listeners, all people that have any intrest in classical music, very much like Mozart.

For the more Hardcore Mozart listener:
Mozart Piano Sonatas
Marriage of Figaro Opera.
Don Giovanni Opera.
The Magic Flute Opera.

Best Disk for a new Classical Music listener: The Very Best of Mozart.

2. Wagner and Beethovan and Mendelsohhm.
The Beethovan Piano Sonatas.
Ode-To-Joy.
Wagner-Die Meistersinger Opera.
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Mendelsohhn Violin Concerto.
Beethoven Piano Concerto.
Mendelsohhn Songs Without Words.
Daniel Barenboim is a must for all Beethoven Piano Works.

3. Vivaldi, Satie, Debussy, Hadyn, Handel.
The Seasons, Vivaldi, Is so famous, and so dramatic and eye-catching! You must listen to this if you love Vivaldi.
Satie-Gymnopedies-These are beautiful pieces from a Bewildered Composer.
Debussy- Suite Bergamesque, Preludes, Golliwog's Cakewalk, The Children's Corner.
Hadyn-The Father of the Symphony. The string quartets, and the London Symphonies are very famous.
Handel-This Baroque genius brings us very uplifting music, the Royal Fireworks music are prime examples of the joy Handel brings.

4.Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann,
J.S Bach, the Baroque Genius, the King of Counterpoint-Well Tempered Clavier, Cantatas, Air on the G String and Arioso.
Chopin-Ahhhhhhhhh, Chopin. My Favourite composer, with unique harmony, beautiful melodies and Patriotic lyricisim, a must for all pianists. Try the Etudes, op.10-op.25, Ballades 1-4, the large works of the Poet of the Piano, [Chopin] Four scherzo's, sugary seriousness, bitter sweet, playful and beautiful all in one. Nocturnes, Waltzes. Every one of Chopin's pieces are a masterpiece. For Chopin, Rubinstien is a must, along with Evgeny Kissin, and Valentina Igoshina.
Liszt- The Virtuso, Hungarian Rhapsodies, Consolations and Liebestraum, along with the two piano concertos.
Schumann-Album of the Young, Piano Concerto, and Dreaming, and of-course the Symphonies!

Hope this helps!

Definitely John Adams, and if you want to get back into the early roots, try John Cage. Terry Reilly and Steve Reich did a lot of work with phasing and that's pretty cool stuff, too. I personally adore Michael Nyman. If you really like the strings, try Arvo Pärt's quartets. Henryk Górecki's third symphony is also BEAUTIFUL and more commonly known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

Maurice Ravel Piano Trio in A or anthing by Ravel, who was truly an original composer.

So why are you posting in the Classical forum? lol it just seems strange...

i dont think he quite grasps how to use a forum...

Did you notice he's posting like 5 threads on the same topic? :rofl:

yeah lmao, i tryed to tell him to bear in mind lots of people from different timezones use the forum, & would be best to wait till tomorrow etc, to give others a chance to listen..
but the threads got deleted i think :laughing:
all his posts were wan or two words!

Messaien's Turangalila Symphonie is utterly amazing - but he was a bit of an oddball, and much of his output is hard work.

Also recommended; Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" - it'll freak you out, but the only other piece he wrote that is as outstanding is his "St Luke Passion", which is kinda more of the same.

I completely disagree that Mozart is only for new classical listeners - his music has such profound depth that even experienced listeners can get something from it. Some of his later music particularly transcends even Bach. He was a geniusses genius.

A french composer named Erik Satie is my favorite. Not only is his life and the stories surrounding him fascinating and hilarious, his music style seems very unique (then again I dont know much about classical) and beautiful imo. Gymnopedies is probably his most critically acclaimed. Also Ive heard his compositions are hard to interpret, so they sound pretty different from performer to performer.

I wish I knew more composers like him.

I like rachmaninoff (rachmaninov). especially no. 3.

Bach: 1052-> d-minor keyboard concertos or Mozart's "Great" C-minor Mass
A must have for every classical lovers.

Check out Glenn Gould - props for my great grandpa :P

He played alot of Bach.

I agree with the guy who said Gustav Holst. There's a cool version of him conducting The Plannets along with a marching song called "Holst Conducts Holst". It sounds nothing like what modern composers do with the piece (it feels like he's conducting it at like, four beats a second, god) so it's got mixed reviews but I personally love it.

Edward Elgar is also pretty cool. Check out "The Enigma Variations".

Eh, I'm a sucker for the modern era.

Isaac Albéniz. As an example, his most famous composition (originally for piano), played by John Williams:

If you're looking to build your classical collection, I just bought 80 Chopin pieces for $15.99 on iTunes. All performances are by well respected musicians.

Wolfgang Mozart, Ottorino Respighi, Aaron Copland

Just to name three that came to mind at the top of my head, but there are plenty more.

Boccherini, Paganini, Pachelbel and Faure are all brilliant composers, depending on what you're into at the moment. Erik Satie too, less quantity, but I highly recommend his sole piano compositions. A more modern composer, and sometimes experimental one would be Ludovico Einaudi. Not nearly as high-q as the old masters, but still manifests to give classical music a modern edge!

I know lot of names and pieces in this thread.

But I don't see here one name who made me love classical music - czech romantic composer Antonín Dvořák.
I think I can recommend him. His symphony "From the new world" is very famous, it was my first CD with classical music :love:
Slavonic Dances, String Quartets, Concertos for cello (B minor) and some other pieces are also very nice music.

Antonín Dvořák - Last.fm

Antonín Dvořák - Wikipedia


Part of symphony "From The New World" - my loved Largo

Fryderyk Chopin, of course, my countryman :D I also like Verdi.

Maybe try paganini? I think you'll like the grand sonata.
Also haydn is very relaxing.

Try Mozarts piano concerto no 20 - its the best classical piece ever written!
Mozarts Requiem is also something you definately should check out.
Also try one of Schuberts greatest: Symphony no 8 "the unfinished"

I also recommend Haydn. I would like to learn more about his 100+ symphonies, because not all are relaxing. Tonight my orchestra, in which I play violin, is performing Haydn's 49th symphony. The 2nd movement is my favorite because it feels dramatic and intense to me, as well as playful.

I love doing this piece with the orchestra and am looking forward to soon being under the hot stage lights (anything warm right now in Iowa is wonderful) in less than 2 hours, feeling a little excited because of the suspense of the performance, waiting to play....

classical crossover might be a good start
 

Hi there!

I´d like to recommend one of my favorite artists today to you, Catya Maré, who does classical crossover music, what means her songs are based on classical music and involve all kinds of different music styles, such as pop, world, electronica etc...try to google her name and you´ll find plenty of her music online :)