Jump to content
aberdeen-music

Wanting to educate myself in Classical music


Guest batterypowpow

Recommended Posts

Guest batterypowpow

I'd like suggestions for CDs that offer a full collection of a composer's specific work. For example, i've a Rachmaninoff CD that contains his complete piano concertos.

I've found it to be a really good way of learning the music of composers by having CDs that contain the entire works of specific... i don't know what the word is - but i mean whether it's concertos, symphonies, overtures...

So now i can say "of Rachmaninoff's 4 piano concertos, i like the 2nd and the 3rd the most" because i have them all there in that one CD.

I saw something about "Beethoven's violin concerto" earlier i think. Did he only do the one violin concerto? If he did, that'd be another good example to have so i could say "i like/don't like Beethoven's violin concerto", just to slowly build up my knowledge of the composers, the music itself and the sub-genres within classical music.

I hope i've made sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my main problem is differenciating between classical and romantisist. I would recomend taking a book out of the liabary.

That's a good point. Learning the history and time lines of "classical" music is a great idea and very interesting (you can see how different composers that you are listening to relate to one another).

Pretty sure at one point in my classical training I'd have been able to reel off a good explanation of what the differences are but my memory has faded somewhat since those days. One of the main differences is a fairly marked change in the types of notes that were used together and different types of rhythms that become popular and acceptable between these periods. Moving on a stage to impressionist period you can listen to music by the likes of Debussy and Satie (

my favourite of his haunting Gymnopedies), beautiful stuff.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a good point. Learning the history and time lines of "classical" music is a great idea and very interesting (you can see how different composers that you are listening to relate to one another).

Pretty sure at one point in my classical training I'd have been able to reel off a good explanation of what the differences are but my memory has faded somewhat since those days. One of the main differences is a fairly marked change in the types of notes that were used together and different types of rhythms that become popular and acceptable between these periods. Moving on a stage to impressionist period you can listen to music by the likes of Debussy and Satie (

my favourite of his haunting Gymnopedies), beautiful stuff.

It basically goes like this:

Early music 11th - 16th centuries: Gregorian chant, Hildegard of Bingen, William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Jacopo Peri, Claudio Monteverdi

Baroque period 17th - 18th centuries: Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn.

Classical Period 18th - mid 19th centuries: Antionio Salieri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Giacchomo Rossini

Romantic period late19th - early 20th century: Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gabriel Faure, Giacomo Puccini, Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Edward Elgar.

late 20th century onwards: Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan, Karl Jenkins.

I think you would be best looking at a book like 'the friendly guide to classical music' which has a CD with excerpts of important pieces from each era of classical music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're just wanting to educate yourself about Classical music, there are books and websites galore that are all good starting points (many of which have been mentioned here already).

But if you're wanting recommendations for good stuff, or just for where to begin listening to some classical music, it's a veritable minefield. There's so much music (from early to 20th century), with such a wide range of styles that it can take quite a long time to discover what sort of stuff you like most.

My advice is to try a selection of composers that could be considered good, archetypal examples of each period and style.

Eg:

Early=Palestrina, Tallis

Baroque=Bach

Classical=Mozart, Haydn

Romantic=Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Mahler

20th Century=Britten, Prokofiev, Tippett, Jenkins

Minimalist=Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley

And so on and so forth.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest batterypowpow
But if you're wanting recommendations for good stuff, or just for where to begin listening to some classical music, it's a veritable minefield. There's so much music (from early to 20th century), with such a wide range of styles that it can take quite a long time to discover what sort of stuff you like most.

My advice is to try a selection of composers that could be considered good, archetypal examples of each period and style.

Eg:

Early=Palestrina, Tallis

Baroque=Bach

Classical=Mozart, Haydn

Romantic=Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Mahler

20th Century=Britten, Prokofiev, Tippett, Jenkins

Minimalist=Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley

And so on and so forth.....

I know i'd be into listening to the minimalist things. I'm not really looking with the intention of finding things i like, rather just to know it and be able to say "i like that" or "i don't like that". Hence why i'm looking for CDs that contain full collections (or as full as possible) to give me an immediate knowledge of a composer's piano concertos, or overtures or whatever.

Thanks very much for the responses so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know i'd be into listening to the minimalist things. I'm not really looking with the intention of finding things i like, rather just to know it and be able to say "i like that" or "i don't like that". Hence why i'm looking for CDs that contain full collections (or as full as possible) to give me an immediate knowledge of a composer's piano concertos, or overtures or whatever.

Thanks very much for the responses so far.

PM me man. I have a cd that might be exactly what your looking for. I have 2 copies of it because I lost one and bought another. I then found it an have 2 copies now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...