Works that got you into classical?
 

Just curious what works got everyone into classical since, unless you've been raised around it, it's not the easiest of genres to get into.

For me, it's Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. That's probably still my favorite Symphony work. I also really like Tchaikovsky, and Copland. The familiarity of the latter's themes to be before listening played a big part in my recognizing and being able to appreciate his music from the getgo.

I've actually always been in to the intensity and raw emotion of orchestrated movie and video game scores so it wasn't a huge deal to jump into Classical. It helps that I had taken music all through high school and gained an appreciation for the traditional instruments (and played about 20 different arrangements of Canon).

The final push came from a course on Music History I took in university (Classical period to Modern day). We had to memorize about 30 pieces of music and then had listening tests. Getting to know the music so well that you can pick out the piece and movement at any point in the music will really do a number on anyone, provided they stick with it.

But in all honesty, and as cliche as it may be, Beethoven's Fifth. Mahler has some great numbers, Mozart and Papa Haydn as well. Holst, Wagner, Puccini, Liszt and many others.

I had to take 4 of those courses - Medieval/Renaissance, Baroque, Classical/Romantic, and 20th Century. So I know what having to recognize those pieces inside and out is all about :) Were you a music major? I see you're from Toronto, very cool, so maybe at U of T or York? RCM? Just curious.

I first got into classical music with Vivaldi. My dad has a recording of the Four Seasons on vinyl and he would play it occasionally. Taking music class throughout school introduced me to the most famous works of composers like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Debussy, Wagner... all those guys. When I started music in university my knowledge of classical music and composers went so far beyond any of the more famous composers and pieces - as far as getting really into 20th century stuff, like Schoenberg, serialism, Cage, Crumb, Stockhausen, minimalists like Riley and Young, and now more post-minimalist stuff.

Nah, music is just my passion. I prefaced the course with a course on "Music from TV and Film." Now that was an interesting course. Started at Wagner and finished at today's film composers. I actually graduated with an Engineering degree. I've only been in T.O for two years now, as I went to school at McMaster.

It was a few pieces to start out with, mainly Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on Theme by Paganini and Holst's The Planets. I also took a music appreciation class in college which really turned out to be a rudimentary music theory class combined with a solid history of western music. I had long since been listening to "classical" music by that point, but that class really honed my critical listening skills, as well as added a lot of depth to my listening experience as a whole.

I go to Mac! Small, small world.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I suppose, Spring particularly

it was always played at receptions and functions that I could barely get it out of my head

so i got the other three seasons and fell in love with them

The Nutcracker was the first ballet I saw when I was a child, and since that I fell in love with it.

Beethoven.... his quartets and symphony's are amazing. He is my favorite musician.

Scarlatti. Definitely Scarlatti.