Where to Start?
 

I have basically no knowledge of classical music, but I like various pieces I've heard. Most recently, Beethoven's Fidelio. I really would like to get into this genre though. How should I begin this journey?

Start by buying movie soundtracks. Most movies use famous classical pieces, or those pieces become famous because of the movie. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey. The music in that film is amazing.

Also Sprach Zarathustra - R. Strauss



On the Beautiful Blue Danube - J. Strauss



Also, if you don't know how to read music but still want to follow the piece, I recommend the Music Animation Machine. The creator, Stephen Malinowski, has a channel on Youtube - smalin. Here is one that he made.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4: III. Presto You might already know this piece, it's quite famous.



I'm a 2nd year music major so I analyze this stuff all the time. If you have questions or want recommendations, just PM me.

I was in your position not long ago. Do you have a particular style that you enjoy? If you enjoy dark, powerful music like me you might really like:

- Modest Mussorgsky, "A Night on Bald Mountain"
- Carl Orff, "Carmina Burana"
- Antonin Dvorak, 9th "A New World" Symphony
- Wolfgang Mozart - "Don Giovanni"
- Anton Bruckner, 8th Symphony
- Wolfgang Mozart - Requiem

The use of Also Sprach Zarathustra is indeed amazing, but perhaps more interesting to me is the use of Ligeti's Atmospheres and Requiem during the beginning obelisk sequence. The off-kilter, mysterious nature of these pieces lent very well to the scene.

It's been so long since I've seen the movie! Forgot about that piece. Ligeti's work is amazing.

If you are interested in classical music (orchestral music) but don't know much about older more traditional music, looking at film scores is a good idea. John Williams is a genius (I know cliche, but his work is 2nd to none!) and Danny Elfman, all the Tim Burton work he does makes me happy! Not to mention Hanz Zimmer and so many others... even try Stephen Schwartz, broadway composer, orchestrally amazing...
if u are looking for something more simple (solo piano) I reccomend Chopin Fantasie Impromtu, and Debussy The Sunken Cathedral and The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (La Fille aux cheveux de lin)

Nick :)

For a start, classical's something you won't have much luck at all with finding it online, so you're gonna have to do some high-street hunting.

Also, you should look out for these - some of my favourites and I reckon pretty good introductions...

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Dvořák - Symphony #9

If you're going with Tchaikovsky, I would recommend "Marche Slave."

Beautiful.

BEAUTIFUL.

don't forget all those wonderful waltzes he made!

Waltz of the flowers
Waltz from swan lake
Waltz from Eugene Onegin
Waltz from sleeping beauty
And, his 1812 overture, is really good.

Oh and seeing that you like the Fidelio overture, why not try Beethoven'sother overtures?

Coriolan overture
The creatures of Prometheus
Egmont (my favourite!)
Leonore no.3
(theres a whole load more)

Plus, there are Beet's nine symphonies,

his 5th symphony is really good and I'm sure you would have heard it before ;) his 9th is just magnificent, the last movement, Ode to Joy, is just staggering. My favourite though is the 7th symphony, the 2nd mvt in that is BEAUTIFUL!

Rossini is an italian composer, he made stuff like:

william tell overture, I'm sure you'll love that and you've probably heard it before.
Barber of seville overture, again this is a well known piece.

Then there's Edward Elgar, an english composer. He did some lovely pieces like:

chanson de matin
chanson de nuit
Salut d'Amoire
Enigma variations
The cello concerto (listen to Jacqueline du Pre's recording!)

Dvorak:

All his symphonies, his new world symphony is the best though
Cello concerto in B minor (again, Jacqueline du Pre's is the best)I prefer this to Elgar's tbh.

Mozart, perhaps the most well known composer of all time:

Don giovanni overture
The magic flute overture
The marriage of Figaro
All his symphonies, his 40th is just great to listen to, and his 41st is also lovely.

go forrrr PENDERECKI aaaragaghrhr

I've had a recording of Beethoven's full symphonies for a while now but I just recently discovered how good the 2nd movement of the 7th is. Great piece with a great central melody.

its his lesser known symphonies that i really like, like his 2nd, 4th and 8th, but still the 7t h will always be my all time fav.

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and St. Luke's Passion are seriously scary works. I love 'em!

Less scary but no less awe-inspiring is Messaien's Turangalila Symphonie.

If you really like the darker side, then it's hard to beat Skryabin.


On the lighter side, anything by Vivaldi rocks - even the overplayed 4 Seasons. His concerti (especially the ones for wind instruments) are awesome, and I'm particularly partial to the Gloria in D.

Perfection in harmony - J.S. Bach without the fiddly bits.

there's Edward Elgar, an english composer. He did some lovely pieces like:

chanson de matin
chanson de nuit
Salut d'Amoire
Enigma variations
The cello concerto (listen to Jacqueline du Pre's recording!)

For light classical pieces I would TOTALLY recommend the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
It is so beautiful, and very easy to listen to.
The opening track.

Another piece later in the movie.


EDIT: As the two pieces I recommended above are piano based, I thought I'd give some more piano based music. Chopin is always worth a listen. Beautiful compositions.

Fur Elise. Ridiculously famous piece xD


These aren't piano pieces, but they're very very famous and lovely to listen to.
Pachelbel's Canon in D.

Eine kleine nachtmusik (A little night music) - Mozart


Enjoy! ^_^

I heard a performance of Elgar's "Enigma Variations" recently, and I became very fixated on the beautiful variation called "Nimrod," which is the high point in the piece. I agree this music would be a good place to start on one's venture into classical.

The conductor explained how Elgar wrote each variation about someone who had touched his life, starting with the first variation, which was about his wife, and ending with a variation, for Elgar himself, that incorporated aspects of all the other variations.

Elgar's final variation, about himself, is a beautiful way to symbolize through his music how all the people he loved or cared about were part of him.

One of the other variations includes around 20 seconds at the beginning when the music shows, through sound, Elgar's dog running down a hill, springing into the water of a lake, and then dog-paddling around before climbing onto the bank and shaking himself off, LOL!

A middle variation, "Nimrod," is the most famous Enigma variation. The conductor described "Nimrod" as being framed by all the other variations before and after, which serve much like the frame of a painting to help transition the person experiencing the artwork from the space outside the piece of art, and then into the artwork itself, and then back out again.

I liked the analogy between a composition of music and a visual art composition, because, if you think about it, listening to music and viewing a painting are very related: they are both temporal experiences that require you to be aware of relationships of parts to the whole as you appreciate the piece.

Elgar - Enigma Variations - "Nimrod"
This YouTube video had the best recording I could find of the piece. It is repeated 3 times here, which is great for those of us who like to listen to a piece of music again and again! :)



Nimrod: Elgar the philosopher - YouTube