# Another newbie



## edfed (Nov 5, 2011)

Hi everyone, 
As it says I'm new here and would like to listen and appreciate classical music. Any help or suggestions to start? I know thats a loaded question, sorry for the flame war for my first post.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

No flame wars here. The mods pee on the kindling.

You are technically in the wrong forum, but welcome anyway. Be very careful around the green thing and the toothy pig, you'll be OK.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Welcome! If you're just getting started, I suggest listening to classical radio to familiarize yourself with some of the umpteen thousand works that are out there. Most stations keep many of the familiar works in regular rotation, while mixing in more obscure pieces.

There is a wonderful syndicated program called Exploring Music where you can learn a lot about classical music. http://www.wfmt.com/main.taf?p=31,1


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## edfed (Nov 5, 2011)

Sorry, I'll try to find the right place and I'll beware of the green, and the piggy things


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> No flame wars here.


Haha, pathetic, can you provide any source of is it another of your uneducated views? Try understanding Webern and then we may talk.


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## CountessAdele (Aug 25, 2011)

Welcome! You'll like it here, TC is great! Just do a little digging in the different forums and you'll find some suggestion threads.  Just a heads up, the actual search feature doesn't work. Lol


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

The most important thing is to do lots of listening in an uncritical, non-judgemental way.

You can use radio - eg BBC Radio 3 on the internet - or services like Spotify.
Find a composer you like and listen to more of his music (it is usually a 'he'). 
Find his contemporaries and listen to their music.
Find his predecessors and listen to their music.

Most people, new to classical music, favour twentieth century music (big generalisation, I know, but one to work with in the absence of any other).

Use free, online, resources like Wikipedia to inform your discoveries.

If you would like a "seed work", try Shostakovich's fifth symphony. You'll find it on Spotify. 
If you like that, do some research and listen more.
If you don't like that then
(a) if it's too "modern", listen to Beethoven's seventh symphony and go from there 
(b) if it's too "conservative", type _Penderecki _into Spotify and listen to his _Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima_ (which was top of the list when I looked just now).

Subscribe to a decent magazine (_International Record Review_ or _Fanfare_) and listen to what their reviewers say is worth hearing (I know, I'm one of them). Read online reviews: MusicWeb is good (www.musicweb-international.com)

Above all, follow your nose, learn for yourself what you find iinteresting.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

edfed said:


> Sorry, I'll try to find the right place and I'll beware of the green, and the piggy things


Don't worry. They're completely harmless. You need to be very careful what you say about the weight of a certain opera star, though.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Fsharpmajor said:


> Don't worry. They're completely harmless. You need to be very careful what you say about the weight of a certain opera star, though.


Not if you love every pound of her though.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

^All those pounds are in the right places, and her lips have left a lasting impression in my cheek.:kiss:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

The green thing has awoken


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## Marios (Nov 3, 2011)

Hi,

I'm new as well!
As I recently wrote to that post I enjoy listening classical mussic from iTunes without commercials and a lot of talking.
I enjoy this days Classical Radio. An other member here tried from their website. I'd prefer to vied the playlist (althought Classical radio seems to have a problem about that last week) but its nice to here nice music and then when something sounds very nice, I'm searching to find some info about the composer, the era, the historic periode that the composer was into etc..

Thats the way I listen to classicals that time, 
Have a nice day.


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

My suggestion is to listen live.

This forum has an unhealthy obsession with it's collective collection of compact disks. Recorded music is garbage compared to live performance.


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## Lucifer (Nov 5, 2011)

Amybody can help you with their choices,as for apprciate,either you will or you wont.
Try Beethovens Symphonies to start with,i did. Now i have a hand in most classical music pies.
And About the best place to buy cd's at great prices is [email protected]/01352 5572988
He is alsao good with info,if you nd help.I use him all the time.


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## Lucifer (Nov 5, 2011)

That is so wrong,you can't compare the masters of the past to most of the living singers.I freely admit there are some great singers still living though!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Rasa said:


> My suggestion is to listen live.
> 
> This forum has an unhealthy obsession with it's collective collection of compact disks. Recorded music is garbage compared to live performance.


Considering the concomitant drawbacks to living in a place with frequent competent 'live performance'... I'll pass. Plus, I appreciate the volume control.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

One of the easiest ways to get started is to consult a reputable list of the most recommended works by category. Just sample some of the works on the list, and if you like them, check out more works by the same composer.

This site has several recommended works listed sorted by genre, including:
http://www.talkclassical.com/12443-tc-150-most-recommended.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/13220-tc-top-100-most.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/11676-talk-classical-top-272-a.html

This site also has some very useful lists, including:
http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-symp.html
http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-opera.html
http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-top10.html

As for actual listening, youtube is one of the best resources.. other good online resources include spotify and Naxos Music Library.


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