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Anybody else here listen to Classical (NOT classic rock)? You know the music with the orchestras and pretty instruments! :P

If you do, list your favorite composers and songs if you like!

My favorite composers are Mozart, Handel, Beethoven and quite a few others, I'll listen to anything classical actually!

I like that guy who wrote the Hunt, cant remember who he is but his music was good, a little faster than some I like.

Sara.

OOH!  Orchestral music was my first love.  From rennaisance madrigals to Bach's fugues to Mozart's symphonies to Beethoven's piano concertos to...Schubert to... Brahms to... Stravinski to... Bartok (this could get boring quick!)

I played the viola in my high school orchestra (please, no viola jokes!) but I really love the piano.  I feel the music more than I hear it. Especially Mozart and Beethoven.

I love Jazz too.  New Orleans old fashioned jazz, Big band music from the 1930's and 40's and beebop and beyond.  It's like classical but with b_lls (in the "musical" sense of course!)

Of course, when I was that age I listened to and liked the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and .  .   .

I could (and have somewhat) go on and on.  Like Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it IS good!"

I like a number of pieces but I'm fuzzy (at best) on the names.

I know I like pieces from Beethoven (Fur Elise) and Strauss (Blue Danube) and others but I normally recognize them by hearing them not by name.

Mostly I listen to the more modern stuffs though.

Oh yes! I like Jazz as well! Especially Big band...

I absolutely despise modern music, so... I'm always listening to classical or jazz.

I love Crieg and Debussey. I just love piano concertos. I love full symphony pieces too. The first calssical music I ever listened to was Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture original version for Orchestra, miltary band, bells and cannons. I still have that very album. Which is good old vinyl for all you youngsters. It was a state of the art phase 4 stereo recording. The year of this marvel of modern technology...1960.

Cassie

Mozart's one of my favourites. I remember trying to dance to Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture for a lark in university.

Bach's a little too mathematical for me, but it's good to listen to at some times.

Dennis

edit: to make it clear I didn't think 1812 was written by Mozart.

I LOVE Beethoven... especially his piano sonatas, although I also love his symphonies.  I like to think I understand his moodiness.  At least, I've always enjoyed putting my own moodiness into his music.  :)

Joseph

I played the cello in the school orchestra.  I love classical music and listen to most of it, I also like Bach.

Have you ever watched the Andre Rieu programs on public tv?  He does a very good job of "popularizing" classical music.

Sarah L.

Mozart´s piano concertos and operas and Requiem are sublime...Chopin is another of my favorites, and so is Monteverdi,Vivaldi, and Bach´s choir and organ.
As for Russians composers...I saw Tchaikovsky´s "The Nutt-Cracker" on stage, by The Kiev Ballet - I absolutely love this piece - and of course Mussorgsky´s masterpiece, " Pictures at an Exhibition " can´t be forgotten.
I like some oldies jazz and ALL the blues...and I play the harmonica myself  :)

This is a fun but difficult one to respond to as there are so many.  Yes I agree with what Victoria has provided but I would have to add some such as:  Smetana, Dvorak, Janacek, and Vivaldi to list only a few.  There are so many that it is hard to select just one Special one but my all time favorite would be "Ma Vlast, (My Country)" by Smetana, it is always the first symphony played during the Prague Spring series of concerts in Prague, Czech Republic.   I have recordings by both the Boston Symphony and the Cheska Filharmonic (Czech Philharmonic) and much prefer the Czech Version.  The Prague Spring  series of Concerts is truly fantastic and highly recommended.

As already been said, there are so many.  I can drown myself in classical music, listening to it all the worries & stresses of life just float away.  All the composers mentioned have produced works of joy and beauty - however how come nobody has mentioned Rachmaninov?  Obviously an oversight :)

I go for Ravel in a very big way. There is a warmth (and check out this ballet/pantomime called Ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose) the last tableau, Le Feerique Jardin, should make ya cry.) coupled with a coolness, clothed in the silk and cool of his orchestrations, and a sensuousness... I could go on...
Stravinsky is key. Le Sacre du Printemps. (gotta love a work that its premiere inspired actual fisticuffs among its immediate defenders and critics)
Bartok Concerto For Orchestra. Music For Strings Percussion and Celesta (night music, INSECTS)
Debussy's more Orientalist stuff, tho some of his stuff is too pastel and sugar-sweet for me.
I go for 20th century (and hey now it's the 21st, peoples still writing music, how bout that)... and something mas pica por favor. I dump extra hot sauce on lotta my food too.
[When you say 'classical' it has the connotation somewhat of the per se classical period, Mannheim School, and you think of Mozart Haydn et al. - the nineteenth century.
There is a certain 'for dead popes' aroma to that in my nose sometimes, but as craft and art it's pretty hip.]
Also formally, the forward movement of classical music is all about the male thrust to completion, the drive to the tonic, drive it home, boys. EG: Ravel (tho is sometimes macho or almost macha), by contrast, just lingers there, if ya know what I mean, (loves you long time and takes his time) and I think some o y'all MIGHT... tee hee)

Aaron Copland -  Hoedown.
well don't get me started here...........

I have dozens of CD's of all different composers, this music relaxes me allows my mind piece.

In December I will be going to a show with Andre Rieu (in California), his orchestra plays all types of waltz music and the women all wear the loveliest gowns.

Sarah L.

Classical music can be relaxing, but it can be profound, uplifting, spiritual.  I love the Beethoven symphonies, the piano concertoes of Mozart, the later symphonies of Dvorak--the second movement of the Ninth Symphony is one of the most haunting and beautiful pieces of music ever writing imo.  I also like the late symphonies of Anton Bruckner which are long, intense brooding pieces.  The Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich is another intense piece.  The music of Ralph Vaughn Williams has helped define my transition (this is hard to explain) most especially the Fifth Symphony and the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis which have almost a New Age feel.  And last but not least, the Planets by Gustav Holst.

Dawn

helen was right on target i listen to all of that i like classical as a matter of fact i am a musician so i do  like varius styles of music but im not big on rap!
take care
jaded

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I do have to say that classical can get very loud. For the most part it seems pretty though and that's one reason I like it... however it can still be very exciting and loud. :P I usually listen to the calmer music though.

I like several individual classical songs but am really not familiar with any composers. My favorite kind of classical is the style of Copland's Rodeo, Rossini's William Tell Overture, Tchaikovski's 1812 Overture, Bach's Brandenberg Concerto #3, Vivaldi's Spring, etc. Especially Shostakovich's Jazz Suite Waltz #2 (it's the theme song to Eyes Wide Shut).

I also like piano numbers such as Für Elise and Maple Leaf Rag, but they're not as intense as the others.

Quote from: umop ap!sdn on July 12, 2006, 12:19:01 AM
I also like piano numbers such as Für Elise and Maple Leaf Rag, but they're not as intense as the others.

I like playing Für Elise on the piano.  It's one of the few songs I know and the only one I know where I play with both hands.  The others are just simple songs.

Melissa

And its not just musical instruments type classical music.  Have just come back from choir where we were practicing the Oratorio by Mendelssohn "Elijah"  The chorus "Be not afraid"   

Anyone told me a couple of years ago that this type of stuff would ever move me, I would have laughed.
Yet I find I need it like oxygen :)

I get carried away sometimes,  instead of droning away in the bases, sing the melody which is often much better :)     Was told by some other choir members that they should put me in a dress with the contraltos.  "Anything it takes"  I said.   Ha ha ha we all said - good joke and they thought I was joking too  :D

Rana

Quote from: Melissa on July 12, 2006, 02:02:39 AM
I like playing Für Elise on the piano.  It's one of the few songs I know and the only one I know where I play with both hands.

I never did quite learn to play that one, but I used to be able to play a halfway decent redition of Watermark by Enya. (Not exactly classical though I guess. :D ) I miss my electronic keyboard.

Really?  I learned it in about 2 days.  Mind you I'm still not that great at it and need a lot more practice, but I think that's pretty good for not having played 2-handed on the piano before.  It's probably due to years of using computer keyboards and being ambidextrous.  After I figured out I was ambidextrous, I started seeing what I could do.  I can flip 2 swords around (1 in each hand) at the same time.  I like doing that with the kids' toy lightsabers.  It looks pretty cool in the dark.

Melissa

Funny how this topic resurfaced after  6 months. Today I openned a birthday card from my mother, and with it she sent 4 classical CD set from London Philharmonic of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. I enjoy light romantic instrumental music. Symphonic, soundtrack, Kenny G, G4, some opera are all my favorite music. Enya I almost put in there too since its mostly instrumental, with light vocals.

I love listening to early music played on period instruments, Hildegard von Bingen, JS Bach, Chopin, also modern composers such as Arvo Part, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Harry Partch... I tend to prefer chamber music instead of orchestral, especially string quartets, classical guitar or piano.

Zythyra