Classical!

[Empty Glass]

I think we have a significant amount of people who like classical music here, so why don't we have a thread where we post some of our favorite composers and/or pieces? I've been listening to a lot of classical lately, and it would be nice to hear what others enjoy anyways.

Aaron Copland...for sure one of my favorites and a real interesting guy IMO. The Fanfare is also included in the fourth movement of his Third Symphony, which has some of the most phenomenally uplifting music to me.

Johann Sebastian Bach. I love quite a few of his works but he was extremely prolific; there's so much of his I haven't heard yet. Same goes for...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. BTW I'm seeing this piece (the Requiem Mass in D Minor) performed next month, and I am so excited...

[Woodsprite]

Excellent choices to pick for a start. They're beautiful.

Classical music, to me, is the truest form of "music" that there is. It isn't just all about lyrics, or having fun dancing, or waving your head around, or jiving, or anything like that. It's for mind release. It reaches the soul and touches you in the most indescribable way.

Favorite classical composer is Bach (more appropriately, favorite Baroque composer). Bach is considered by many to be the father of classical music. He influenced almost every great there is, including Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Stravinski, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Schumann, and so many others. He even influenced Billy Joel, who's now writing classical... Bach even influenced NASA, as the Voyager spacecraft was launched with material written by Bach as a "testament of humanities greatest achivements". He is, I believe, also the world's greatest master of counterpoint that has ever walked the earth.

What you listed of Bach is quite interesting, but I prefer more... brain-challenging music by him. You HAVE to hear the Italian Concerto if you haven't heard it yet. When you listen to the Italian Concerto, you feel like you're giving your brain a good scrubbing. Here's the 3rd movement:

The genius just exudes from this piece.



My second-favorite is Chopin, for obvious reasons. Some say he's one of the primary influencers of soft-spoken theme music for contemporary film score (especially James Newton Howard). One of my favorites includes Piano Concerto No. 1, particularly the Romance-Larghetto. You should really listen to this all the way through:

...and let's not forget the Grande Polonaise Brillante (allegro molto):

Personally, this isn't exactly the version I like the most, but this is the best I could find on YouTube (that had the best sound quality). Btw, both of these pieces, the Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Grande Polonaise, were written by a 19-year-old Chopin. 19.

[Human No More]

The only classical I really know other than the few obvious well known songs is Wagner.

[Aquaplant]

Speaking of Bach...

[Icu]

I want to point out that Mozart probably only wrote the first 8 measures of Lacrimosa.

And thus it really annoys me (and I'm not trying to call you out Empty Glasss ) when people use that one as the flagship movement of his Requiem or leave awful Youtube comments about how it transcends humanity or this or that.

The beginning of the Requiem is my favorite-

YouTube - 1.Mozart's Requiem - I. Introitus-Requiem aeternam (lyrics+translation)

And my favorite piece of music-

YouTube - Mozart Symphony 41 K 551 - Molto Allegro

Another favorite-

YouTube - Beethoven -5th Symphony, 4th movement: Allegro; Presto

Obviously there's too much to be shared in 10 pages of comments here, but hey there are some of the more well known pieces that I adore.

[The Man in Black]

[Spock]

Maria Callas singing "Vissi d'arte" (Tosca) by Puccini.

[Empty Glass]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

Excellent choices to pick for a start. They're beautiful.

Thanks! Glad you think so.

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

What you listed of Bach is quite interesting, but I prefer more... brain-challenging music by him. You HAVE to hear the Italian Concerto if you haven't heard it yet. When you listen to the Italian Concerto, you feel like you're giving your brain a good scrubbing. Here's the 3rd movement:

My brain certainly was trying to keep up with that! Wow, really shows the virtuoso that Bach was. Can't say I have heard the Italian Concerto yet.

Originally Posted by Icu

I want to point out that Mozart probably only wrote the first 8 measures of Lacrimosa.

And thus it really annoys me (and I'm not trying to call you out Empty Glasss ) when people use that one as the flagship movement of his Requiem or leave awful Youtube comments about how it transcends humanity or this or that.

No, no, I deserve a good calling-out, because I did know in the back of my mind that the Lacrimosa was not mostly Mozart's, yet I was just so insistent to post that as an example of his that I forgot all about it! You did better to post a different part of the Requiem, so pardon me.



And thanks everyone for posting everything, I am listening to them as I type.

[Raptor]

I'm quite a big fan of classical music. There are a wide variety of composers, each with a unique style, and it's impossible to say that one is better than the other. They're all great. One that I really like is Beethoven Violin Concerto Op.61.

This is the third movement.