^^ Superb post. Tons for me to explore there, too! Dunno why I didn't mentioned Shostakovich's string quartets myself, as I really like those.

Glad I could help you too!

anyone have any recommendations for highly intense classical? I really enjoy classical but I am not into fluffy Nutcracker type classical. It doesn't necessarily have to be dark, just something with intense counterpoint and power.

To start, try Bach's Preludes and Fugues - the Well-Tempered Clavier. The fugues are especially contrapuntal. I don't have time to look up other stuff at the moment but I will certainly find more and post here later :)

Pretty much any of Beethoven's later works are extremely intense. I'd recommend specifically checking out his last few piano sonatas and string quartets. Here's two pretty well known ones:

The Appasionata Sonata, movement I


This is the last movement of his last string quartet, his last published work:


During the Romantic period, many composers were creating extremely intense pieces. One of my favorites being Liszt, he composed some of the most technically challenging yet beautiful piano pieces. Here's an example:

Beethovens moonlight sonata...amazing piece, I used to be able to play it all the way through...once upon a time!

Ludovico Einaudi - Primavera
 

Very similar to Michael Nyman, but thats not a bad thing!!

Beethoven - Symphony No.7 in A major op.92 - II, Allegretto - Always one of my favourites, was well used in the Kings Speech

Could anyone suggest a decent album/compilation (could be of various artists or just one artist)? I've somewhat neglected this genre of music and my taste is only limited to Isaac Albeniz, Tchaikovsky, and Dvorak. It could be modern or older compositions (not picky).

I can definitely recommend stuff to you. I suggest starting with a compilation, that way you get the best music from every musical period. I believe a lot of stuff that is for sale on Amazon is also available in a store, if you don't like/can't do shopping online. But check this out anyways: Amazon.com: Classical Compilations.

From those selections, I would suggest compilations similar to this: Amazon.com: 25 Classical Favorites: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Antonio Vivaldi, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Johann II [Junior] Strauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georges Bizet, George Frederick Handel, Maurice Ravel, S. There are some other ones in this series that feature different music so I recommend checking those out too. They all have a similar cover so they're not hard to find.

If you prefer to shop on iTunes with a gift card, I HIGHLY recommend this: Classical Music News: 24 Hours of Classical Music From Naxos on iTunes. I purchased this compilation about a year ago and I love it. It's only about $10 as well, and you're getting over 300 pieces of music, including Handel's Messiah in it's entirety. What I like about it is that the music is drawn from every important musical period in history, from Medieval until the 20th century. If you like to burn CD's, it's pretty easy to split this one into playlists that will fit on the disc.

Out of the two that I've suggested, I strongly recommend the one from iTunes. It's such a great deal!

Edit: The iTunes compilation gets all the music from the Naxos Music Library, and I invite you to check out their website as well: http://www.naxos.com/. They have some pretty good articles under the "Education" section in the sidebar on the right :)

Thank you. This will keep me busy for a while.

You're very welcome!

I'm pretty entry-level with classical music. Here's what I have so far:

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 and some of those Slavonic dances.
Shostakovich: Symphonies 1 and 5
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust and Smyphonie Fantastique
Stravinsky: The Firebird
Beethoven: Symphonies 1 to 9, sans 6
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4 to 6, Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, The Storm, and Overture solennelle 1812.
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

I'll look into everything else posted so far, but if you have any other recommendations, please do tell.

Well listen to Beethoven 6, I think it's the best of those. But listen to a quicker performance not a really slow one. His piano concertos 1, 3, 4 and 5. The Coriolanus Overture.

Tchaikovsky symphony 3 is very underrated. Also listen to his first piano concerto, serenade for strings, and ballet music (start with the shorter suite versions).

Shostakovich symphony 10.

Dvorak - cello concerto, serenade for strings.

Stravinsky - rite of spring

I recommend Secret Garden. Their music is delicious.

I'm looking into Henry Cowell, and Stockhausen. I need an entry point for both. Remember, also, I'm a seasoned avant-garde, and classical listener, so no need to worry about accessibility.

I'm not terribly familiar with Henry Cowell, but I do know Stockhausen's music having studied some of it in a music history class. My personal favourite of his is Gesang der Junglinge.



A good "entry point" to Stockhausen's music, I think, is the series of pieces he called Klavierstücke (wikipedia: Klavierstücke (Stockhausen) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). There are 19 of them; here's the first 4:



I also recommend Zyklus:



And for something a little more adventurous (and creepier), I suggest Mikrophonie I & II:

I


II


Hope this helps you.

Many thanks for the suggestions. I downloded Mikrophon I and II, and am going to start on them soon.

Got a piano collection of Henry Cowell. Not bad stuff:

You're welcome. That Cowell piece is very cool. I'm going to look into more of his stuff. Also, the way it's played reminds me of George Crumb's Makrokosmos, at least Book I, with the reaching into the piano and that. I mentioned the Makrokosmos piece to loose_lips a few weeks ago and he liked it and downloaded it :)

looking for upbeat "inspirational" music
 

I'm looking for some upbeat, "inspirational" or romantic type of music that is almost akin to rock music, but is less "loud" (if you catch my drift). An example might be that music at the end of the movie "Remember the Titans" (Trevor Rabin - Titan Spirit).

Thanks.

For Henry Cow his most famous is possibly Leg End (aka Legend) from 1971. I'm not sure he's normally put under classical though, it's more an experimental mix of things.

Thanks, but I can't seem to find it on Youtube. Anyway, I heard some of his other music and I don't think much of it. Do you have any other suggestions?

I was actually replying to someone else. :D

For some triumphant music, something like this, Walton - Crown Imperial.

I don't understand why Henry Purcell is not universally regarded as one of the truly great Baroque composers. Maybe he's popular in the UK and other countries, but here in the US, it seems that the stations never play him. I'd never heard of him until a few years ago when I listened to a King's Consort CD with Purcell's "O fair Cedaria" sung by Barbara Bonney. The song came to me from time to time, but I forgot the composer's name. Recently, I discovered two Purcell operas, Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen, which is based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. There are You Tube excerpts from both operas. In particular I recommend excerpts from The Fairy Queen performed at Glyndebourne Festival, conducted by William Christie. Purcell is sublime and earthy. "Come away, fellow sailors" in his tragedy Dido and Aeneas may be unique in Baroque music, a number about drunken sailors on shore leave.

I love Purcell's music, and I think he was just overshadowed by more popular composers during that time, like Bach and Handel, for instance.

Thinking of looking into Schoenberg, and thinking of giving Webern another chance. What would be the densest, and bizarre of their works?

Thank you.

The first opera I have liked is Cosi Fan Tutte.
I still haven't listen to the whole opera yet,but would like to hear suggestions for a second opera to listen to.

Marriage of Figaro if you don't know that.

Thank you! :)

Can anyone recommend me some stuff similar to this:



Not just opera, but in the same tone/feeling.

That isn't opera it's lieder (Lied - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Schubert wrote over 600 of them, so good to look at others by him as he is considered the greatest in that area.

Thanks!

looking for best stuff from Stravinsky (besides Rite of Spring), Delius, Sibelius, Dvorak, Bartok, Schopenhauer

and operas besides the obvious (Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro etc)

I really like Les Noches from Stravinsky.

As for Bartok. ALL of it except his vocal works are top notch. However, Concerto for Orchestra, Works for piano and drum, and the utterly illuminating "Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta":



Off the point but, I also really have been liking Berlioz from the astounding 'Symphony Fantastique'.

I personally enjoy Stravinsky's Symphony in C, particularly the first and fourth movements.

Mozart Moonlight Sonata for rock guitar by Razworks
 

Is anyone interested in critiquing a rock guitar arrangement of Mozart Moonlight Sonata. I appreciate your candid opinion.

Anyone have any suggestions for somewhat fast and furious classical piano music? It could either be solo piano or a larger group of instruments where piano is simply the focal point, either is fine. Start this video at about 3:30 to hear an example of the kind of stuff I'm looking for:

Well, you've certainly come to the right thread Jansz! When you said "somewhat fast and furious piano", I immediately thought of several different pieces, all of which are readily available in the iTunes store (or anywhere, really, if you don't use iTunes). I will provide you with the full titles here so you can search for the exact ones.

Ludwig van Beethoven:

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, "Pathétique": III. Rondo: Allegro



I'm sure you've heard his "Moonlight" Sonata. Here's the third movement:

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, "Moonlight": III. Presto Agitato



Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, "Appassionata": III. Allegro Ma Non Troppo - Presto



Franz Liszt:

Totentanz



The sinister theme in this piece is called the Dies Irae. I can tell you more about it if you're interested.

Sergei Rachmaninov:

Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23, No. 5



I also encourage you to check out two pieces by Robert Schumann:

Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15 and Masquerade Suite. Both of those works contain many short movements (the first one has 13 and the second one has 20), all of which are about 1-2 minutes long, each. Available on iTunes, and YouTube (some of them anyways).

I hope that's the kind of stuff you need!

Oh, they are all piano solos.

These are perfect BD! I'll try and check out all of them. I think the Liszt one is my favorite. And you have me intrigued here—tell me more about the Dies Irae!