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Classical Music Corner

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
Here is the place for all things classical music. Anything and everything about it, whether you already enjoy it or are maybe just curious. I discovered I liked it quite by accident a year or three ago and now my CD collection has swung from being virtually 100% popular music (mostly rock) to probably about 80% classical.

Enjoy!

(I searched for a thread such as this but couldn't find a general, all-encompassing one. If there is and I missed it please feel free to merge it or whatever).

:musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote:
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
This was one of the first pieces of classical music (wish it was called something else) that made me sit up and take notice. It is called Musica Profana, by the Estonian composer Lepo Sumera.

 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
I like some very highly specific classical music, some of which I aspire to learn and possibly make recordings of as a musician. I wonder if there is some unique way I could arrange pieces by john dowland, perhaps with more contemporary instruments and synths.. I also find the music of thomas ravenscroft very artful and historically important. His music also contained freer rules, strange flats and sharps and sometimes an intriguing lack of a tonal center, something about him seems overlooked. If I were to record a large body of his choral work and put it on youtube with my 3 octave range, that seems like it might be a significant thing to do , that nobody else seems to have really done. I also like medieval music, though I don't know if you'd class that as classical
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
I have quite a collection of classical music in mp3 format, mostly modern classical, YoYo Ma, Vanessa Mae, Bond, etc but some Bach, Chopin, Verdi, Brahms, Vivaldi.
 

Regiomontanus

Ματαιοδοξία ματαιοδοξιών! Όλα είναι ματαιοδοξία.
Here is the place for all things classical music. Anything and everything about it, whether you already enjoy it or are maybe just curious. I discovered I liked it quite by accident a year or three ago and now my CD collection has swung from being virtually 100% popular music (mostly rock) to probably about 80% classical.

Enjoy!

(I searched for a thread such as this but couldn't find a general, all-encompassing one. If there is and I missed it please feel free to merge it or whatever).

:musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote::musicalnote:


I am one of those weirdos that likes classical harpsichord. Scarlotti is the master:



Got Prokofiev?



Pretty much anything from the Bach family and Mozart goes without saying...
 

Regiomontanus

Ματαιοδοξία ματαιοδοξιών! Όλα είναι ματαιοδοξία.
I have quite a collection of classical music in mp3 format, mostly modern classical, YoYo Ma, Vanessa Mae, Bond, etc but some Bach, Chopin, Verdi, Brahms, Vivaldi.

Brahms piano concertos...so good! Love Vivaldi too.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I like some very highly specific classical music, some of which I aspire to learn and possibly make recordings of as a musician. I wonder if there is some unique way I could arrange pieces by john dowland, perhaps with more contemporary instruments and synths.. I also find the music of thomas ravenscroft very artful and historically important. His music also contained freer rules, strange flats and sharps and sometimes an intriguing lack of a tonal center, something about him seems overlooked. If I were to record a large body of his choral work and put it on youtube with my 3 octave range, that seems like it might be a significant thing to do , that nobody else seems to have really done. I also like medieval music, though I don't know if you'd class that as classical
I joined a small a cappella choir when I lived in The Hague that specialised in Renaissance polyphony. It was a real eye-opener. I had no no idea how intricate it was - and difficult to sing properly. They chose mainly Low Countries composers, because these were considered the best in Europe at that era (Josquin des Prez, Pierre de la Rue etc) I haven't sung any Dowland, but I have sung Gibbons, Tallis etc (including Spem in Alium, which was fun).

I've posted it before but here is Josquin des Prez's Ave Maria - with very cool graphics:

 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
For me, it was Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring and Petrushka) and Bach (Organ works) that grabbed me first, quickly followed by much more. Mind you, such was competing with my Jazz interest then. :cool:
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
For me, it was Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring and Petrushka) and Bach (Organ works) that grabbed me first, quickly followed by much more. Mind you, such was competing with my Jazz interest then. :cool:
Yes! Isn't Petrushka fabulous. Especially the coruscating piano part. I grew up with that and the Firebird Suite, on the family gramophone.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
Yes! Isn't Petrushka fabulous. Especially the coruscating piano part. I grew up with that and the Firebird Suite, on the family gramophone.

I can't remember which I heard first, Petrushka or The Rite (via Radio Three), but obviously the latter just amazed me on first hearing. I think I have most of the well known works, including The Firebird. I didn't actually see any ballet versions until much later - and that was a treat.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I am one of those weirdos that likes classical harpsichord. Scarlotti is the master:




Got Prokofiev?




Pretty much anything from the Bach family and Mozart goes without saying...
Do you know Christopher Hogwood's recording of Bach's French Suites? It's rather fascinating, as he plays on different harpsichords, with a variety of contemporary tuning systems. Some of the effects are a bit weird, especially this one, which is an alternative Allemande to the Suite in E flat.


This one always makes me burst out laughing. I can just imagine Anna Magdalena saying "No dear, your public isn't ready for that."
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
If anyone is starting at base camp (or perhaps on the lower slopes) of the vast world of classical (art) music, as I was not so long ago, I found this book to be a very useful primer:

The Vintage Guide to Classical Music by Jan Swafford.

It provides a chronological brief run through of all the "major" names, both with a biography and some recommended works.
 

Regiomontanus

Ματαιοδοξία ματαιοδοξιών! Όλα είναι ματαιοδοξία.
Do you know Christopher Hogwood's recording of Bach's French Suites? It's rather fascinating, as he plays on different harpsichords, with a variety of contemporary tuning systems. Some of the effects are a bit weird, especially this one, which is an alternative Allemande to the Suite in E flat.


This one always makes me burst out laughing. I can just imagine Anna Magdalena saying "No dear, your public isn't ready for that."

Thanks. Going for a long bike ride now, will listen to it then!
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
I joined a small a cappella choir when I lived in The Hague that specialised in Renaissance polyphony. It was a real eye-opener. I had no no idea how intricate it was - and difficult to sing properly.

It's incredible just looking at how some of that music fits together. And what I think I like so much is that this section of classical music seemed to have no aversion to adding weird chords to the key, and seeming to switch modes. Right there in this piece, ravnenscroft has both dorian and aeolian six's dancing around each other, which is a venture probably only taken by avant garde jazz artists. The soprano voice ends the cycle in a startling major chord by hitting a major 3rd, which changes the piece from a minor sound to a major one. And to go into that major 3rd while coming off a bit with an aeolian 6... seems like a move by like a 90's rock musician

 
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exchemist

Veteran Member
What defines a piece of music "classical"?

Have you heard Bach's D Minor Chaconne on the guitar? I was really impressed when I heard it.


It almost seems as natural for the guitar or lute as it does for the violin. But that is the beauty of Bach - the ultimate abstract music.
 
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