# What is some good classical music to check out for someone new to classical music?



## evagreen (Apr 12, 2013)

Hi guys,
I've never really listened to classical music before but I heard some the other day and I realized I'd like to start. What are some good composers or compositions I could download? Nothing too crazy, just something for a newbie to this all.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Here are a few works that got me into classical and that I still like very much:

Mozart - Clarinet concerto
Schubert - Symphony 8 ("unfinished")
Brahms - Violin concerto
Saint Saens - Symphony 3 ("with organ")
Rimsky-Korsakov - Sheherazade
Rachmaninov - Piano concerto 2
Grieg - Peer Gynt suites 1 and 2
Debussy - La Mer


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

evagreen, you're gonna get a lot of recommendations here, I suspect! 

My own might be be: 

- Dvorak: Symphony #9
- Mozart: Requiem 
- Chopin: Nocturnes 
- Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) 
- Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 
- Shostakovich: String Quartet #8
- Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2
- Verdi: Otello 
- Bizet: Carmen
- Allegri: Miserere
- Szymanowski: Stabat Mater
- Rzewski: Variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!)
- Takemitsu: From Me Flows What You Call Time
- Crumb: Black Angels 
- Reich: Music for 18 Musicians


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

I first fallen in love for classical music a few months ago when I heard Symphony No. 2 "Ressurection" from Mahler. It is very dense and I didn't understood much, but the power of it (specially the first movement in the beginning) changed my life.

After that, Dvorak (Symphonies 8 and 9 specially), Schubert and Beethoven (all symphonies, piano sonatas, string quartets) worked for me.


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## OboeKnight (Jan 25, 2013)

Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens is a thrilling introduction to classical.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

evagreen said:


> Hi guys,
> I've never really listened to classical music before but I heard some the other day and I realized I'd like to start. What are some good composers or compositions I could download? Nothing too crazy, just something for a newbie to this all.


It would help if you could tell us what you heard. If you don't know the name or composer, just give a vague description. It would help us to give you recommendations that we think you personally would like instead of just shooting in the dark.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Don´t forget Mozart´s piano concertos. There are even some complete sets with recordings of all 27 concertos available at cheap prices. They are beautiful and represent very varied moods and musical language, yet refinement, and it is unlikely that you will ever grow tired of them, even after many years. I would suggest recordings with a "real" piano, not a historical "fortepiano", which has a different, "unusual" sound - perhaps try that later on.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

A good introduction is usually baroque composers like Georg Philip Telemann and Georg Friedrich Händel, classicists like Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and then romantic melodics like Franz Schubert. 
But like Mahlerian says, it would be good to know what You have been exposed to so far to help You build on that! One good way of getting to know a lot of classical music is to listen to classical radio with a notepad at hand taking down what composers/works you encounter/like (You can do the same if you have a service like Spotify/Mog with the suggestions given here!)

/ptr


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## userfume (Nov 21, 2012)

Dvorak Cello Concerto - no effort required to enjoy it! This does not however diminish from the work's quality.

I suggest this recording with Pierre Fournier:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dvorak-Cello-Concerto-Symphony-No-8/dp/B008W5TCDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365780163&sr=8-1&keywords=pierre+fournier+dvorak


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Some great recommendations already. Some of mine would be:

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1
Chopin - Waltz in B Minor, No. 2, Op. 69 
Schubert - Trout Quintet
Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture
Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals (Aquarium and Le cygne)
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Smetana - Ma vlast, Vlatva
Handel - Concerti Grossi, Op. 6


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Have a look at the "Orchestral music"section. It has some very good lists of the "top" pieces for several different styles
It certainly helped me with my initial steps into the music
Failing that
Anything by Satie:devil:


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Schoenberg: String Trio, Pierrot lunaire

Boulez: Le Marteau sans Maitre

Messiaen: Et Exspecto


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

cwarchc said:


> Have a look at the "Orchestral music"section. It has some very good lists of the "top" pieces for several different styles
> It certainly helped me with my initial steps into the music
> Failing that
> Anything by Satie:devil:


I like your profile pic, Cwarchc :devil:


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## evagreen (Apr 12, 2013)

Thanks a lot for all your replies,I hope it will going to help me.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Ignore all of the above and just listen to this. It's like having sex for the very first time.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Couchie said:


> Ignore all of the above and just listen to this. It's like having sex while two people in the same room shout at each other in German.


And it's almost as distracting!

Anyway, if I may offer a (far) less well rounded list:

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G / Piano Concerto for the Left-Hand / La Valse / Miroirs
Scriabin - Symphony No. 1 / Piano Sonatas No. 3, 5 & 9
Mahler - Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3 & 4
R. Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra / Vier letzte Lieder
Messiaen - Turnagalila-Symphonie / Vingt Regards
Webern - Passacaglia / Five Movements for String Quartet
Fauré - Nocturnes / Barcarolles


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Lesser known awesome stuff:
Heinrich Biber: Battalia
Michael Haydn: Requiem
Mozart: Misericordias KV222
CPE Bach: Hamburg Symphonies (the orchestral ones not the string ones)
Giuliani: Guitar Concerto no. 3
Wagner: Symphony in C
Farrenc: Symphony no. 3
Schumann: Violin Concerto
Wieniawski: Violin Concertos

Better known awesome stuff:
Bach: Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland BWV62
Haydn: Symphony no. 52
Beethoven: Symphony no. 4
Paganini: Violin Concerto no. 4
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Prelude and Liebestod to begin with. 
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
*Sibelius: EVERYTHING!!!!!!!* (the symphonies and symphonic poems are the best known of his works)
Ravel: Mother Goose
Schoenberg: A Survivor From Warsaw
Ligeti: Atmosphères
Stockhausen: Helicopter Quartet
Carter: Clarinet Concerto


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Couchie said:


> Ignore all of the above and just listen to this. It's like having sex for the very first time.


That's so sad. I'm sorry that your first time was like that. 

_____________

Most people enjoy some of the following:

Gustav Holst - The Planets.

Beethoven - I think the 7th symphony is a good cross section of his middle period style. Also any of his piano sonatas. The Pathetique is representative. It gets a little wild in the first movement but the second movement is very -- well, it's _moving._

Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished." You've probably already heard this one somewhere or other.

Joaquín Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez (especially movement 2). You've probably heard this one too.

J. S. Bach - almost anything. (I stay away from The Art of the Fugue though, except when I'm in a really intellectual mood.)

I envy you your journey into new territory. Cheers!


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Symphonies:
Beethoven: Symphony no.9
Beethoven: Symphony no.6
Dvorak: symphony no.9
Mozart: symphony no.41
Mendelssohn: symphony no.4

Concertos:
Mendelssohn: violin concerto no.2
Schumann: piano concerto
Mozart: clarinet concerto
Chopin: piano concerto no.2
Rachmaninoff: piano concerto no.2
Brahms: violin concerto

Solo piano works:
Beethoven: piano sonata no.29
Beethoven: piano sonata no.23
Chopin: Ballade no.1
Chopin: 24 preludes
Mendelssohn: songs without words
Bach: the well tempered keyboard

For any other recommendations why don't you take a look at talk classicals' top reccommends sticky thread

Hope this helps.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Couchie said:


> Ignore all of the above and just listen to this. It's like *having sex for the very first time*.


you know that's often an underwhelming experience 

while we're on sex analogies, how about *a silly romp*?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

deggial said:


> you know that's often an underwhelming experience


I think Couchie is referring to ************ rather than...with someone else, ya know?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

oh, bless!  he should've posted it in the _losing touch with reality while listening to music_ thread...


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## Guest (Apr 13, 2013)

I would like to encourage all newcomers everywhere to never ask this question, "What is some good classical music to check out for someone new to classical music?"

Never. Sure, once you have discovered some things for yourselves--and the easiest things to discover on your own are the things people tend to recommend because those are the things everyone recognizes as great--you will naturally want to talk about your adventures with other people who have had some adventures themselves.

Asking this question, however, is a way of giving over your adventure, _your_ adventure, to others. And that can't be good. Have some adventures. Find some people who have had similar adventures to talk to about the adventures. This talking before the adventures seems off, somehow, to me, you know? As if you don't want to have any adventures yourself, especially at first, when the adventures are the most exciting. What you want is to borrow other people's adventures. Just doesn't sound very adventurous to me, really.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

some guy said:


> I would like to encourage all newcomers everywhere to never ask this question, "What is some good classical music to check out for someone new to classical music?"
> 
> Never. Sure, once you have discovered some things for yourselves--and the easiest things to discover on your own are the things people tend to recommend because those are the things everyone recognizes as great--you will naturally want to talk about your adventures with other people who have had some adventures themselves.
> 
> Asking this question, however, is a way of giving over your adventure, _your_ adventure, to others. And that can't be good. Have some adventures. Find some people who have had similar adventures to talk to about the adventures. This talking before the adventures seems off, somehow, to me, you know? As if you don't want to have any adventures yourself, especially at first, when the adventures are the most exciting. What you want is to borrow other people's adventures. Just doesn't sound very adventurous to me, really.


What? What in real, specific terms is the difference between "talking about adventures" and asking for recommendations? I mean, the rhetoric is great, but what is the actual content of this post?


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

some guy said:


> I would like to encourage all newcomers everywhere to never ask this question, "What is some good classical music to check out for someone new to classical music?"
> 
> Never. Sure, once you have discovered some things for yourselves--and the easiest things to discover on your own are the things people tend to recommend because those are the things everyone recognizes as great--you will naturally want to talk about your adventures with other people who have had some adventures themselves.
> 
> Asking this question, however, is a way of giving over your adventure, _your_ adventure, to others. And that can't be good. Have some adventures. Find some people who have had similar adventures to talk to about the adventures. This talking before the adventures seems off, somehow, to me, you know? As if you don't want to have any adventures yourself, especially at first, when the adventures are the most exciting. What you want is to borrow other people's adventures. Just doesn't sound very adventurous to me, really.


Then again, Mahlerian said that without the OP providing any information about what she was looking for, offering suggestions was "shooting in the dark".
Asking to be shot at in the dark sounds pretty adventurous I think.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Try the Brahms piano quartets: No.1 No.2 No.3


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## Nevohteeb (May 5, 2010)

I fell in love with Classical Music, with: Beethoven, Piano Sonata #18, in Eb+, Op. 31,#3; and Sonata #21 in C+ (Waldstein); Piano Trios, in Bb+, Op. 97 (Archduke); in Eb+, Op. 70 #2; These works, always cheer me up, even on the dreariest of days. To try them out, go to Instant Encore. Then, to Arkiv.com, and you can order anything, and get it in days, if you live in the U.S. Go for it.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2013)

Really science? Really?

You don't see any difference between talking about experiences you've already had and just listening to other people talking about their experiences before you've had any of your own?

Dude!

As for Neriffid's remark, however, .


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## kennedy (Apr 15, 2013)

Thanks ol for ur replies!!I hope it will help me!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I drove an old friend to the store today for his first classical music shopping adventure. He's what he got.

Beethoven-symphonies 1 & 6 Cleveland Orchestra/Szell
Beethoven piano sonatas Pathetique; Moonlight; Les Adieux
Debussy- solo piano music Entremont
Dvorak-symphony no. 9 
Mussorgsky-Pictures/Night On Bald Mountain Bernstein
Tchaikovsky-symphony no. 5/Capriccio Italien Cleveland Orchestra/Szell
Stravinsky-Firebird/Prokofiev-classical symphony


From my collection I tossed in Beethoven symphony no. 7 Ashkenazy/Philharmonia Orchestra
Stravinsky-Petrouchka/Rite Of Spring/Fireworks Ozawa CSO/BSO


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Beethoven - Emperor. It is a great one. 
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 2. Pretty easy to follow. Orch, piano, orch, piano, etc.. 
Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 From the New World. 
Holst - The Planets:Jupiter, Mars. 
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker. Not the suite, the actual thing. 
Chopin - Nocturnes. Especially the earlier ones. 
Haydn - Piano Trio. Basically any one, so I won't specify. 
Chopin - Fantasie Impromptu. 
Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos No. 2 and 4. 

At first, perhaps abstain from Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16. An excellent work to listen to when one knows classical music in general well. 
Do not listen to Tchaikovsky's 6th too early on: become somewhat familiar with the composer's style before you do so. 

Have fun!


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## SIoannou (Oct 6, 2013)

I think it depends a lot on what music your are currently listening to. Anyway what got me into classical music:
Dvorak -symphony no. 9
Debussy - clair de lune
Grieg - piano concerto


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2013)

One, we all know what the warhorses are. And with a little, a very little, effort anyone who doesn't already know can find out.

Two, we all got "into" classical music by different routes. Suggestions for where to start amount to little more than information about the people doing the suggesting. Maybe some of those pieces will really thrill a particular beginner. Maybe not.

Still seems sensible to just listen to some music. If you are naturally attuned to classical music, you'll like quite a lot of it. If you're not, then you should maybe be listening to death metal or country/western instead. 

In any case, the logical order still seems to me to be first to listen to some music then to talk about it.

Talking about it and then listening to it seems backwards somehow.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Well, I thank all the gods that you weren't the first person I talked to about classical music. I might've missed out on many thousands of hours of pleasure.


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2013)

I doubt that you're all that impressionable. I'll bet that you would have been able to ignore whatever you thought I was saying and gone on to enjoy many thousands of hours of classical music.

I'll bet, too, that if we had gotten into a conversation in person, and you had said something about not knowing anything about classical music, I would probably have had all sorts of enthusiastic things to say. Would probably have recommended all sorts of things.

I look now at "Talking about it and then listening to it seems backwards somehow" and think that that's probably simply not true. Probably both ways are fine, and I need to just CALM DOWN.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

some guy said:


> ...I need to just CALM DOWN.


Yeah, I agree with that generally.


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## augustine (Mar 27, 2013)

You're probably overwhelmed with suggestions. I'm a beginner also; a little farther along than you perhaps but not much. I can say without a doubt however that Beethoven was key in whetting my appetite for music. I have a preference for the piano and I find his concertos and sonatas to be among my very favorites. His 3rd Piano Concerto and, especially his 5th (Emperor) are just amazing. As for the Sonatas, 8, 14, 21, and 29 are good places to start. If you like those, Mozart's Piano concertos are worth looking into also. All that being said, I've branched out a little bit just recently into Chopin, Bach, Schubert. All have been impressive and my only challenge has been deciding where to start.

All of this is very subjective because people's tastes vary widely. You should also give sacred choral music a try as well. I'm a bit more versed with that period and the Palestrina Masses (Especially Missa Papae Marcelli) tend to be very rewarding for most people. Just that one work can open up an entire world of music that most people completely disregard.

The best suggestion I can make however is not to relegate classical music into the background. This is a common way that people listen to contemporary popular music and it was an early mistake that I made as well. I would put on a CD for background music while I was doing other things and, because of that, I never gave classical music a fair chance. In that context, you cannot fully appreciate a piece and you will likely come to regard all classical music as boring or at the least, not very interesting. If you decide to listen to something and want to really appreciate what it has to offer, you'll need to give it your full attention, just as you would for a movie or TV show.



evagreen said:


> Hi guys,
> I've never really listened to classical music before but I heard some the other day and I realized I'd like to start. What are some good composers or compositions I could download? Nothing too crazy, just something for a newbie to this all.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I certainly agree with augustine's enthusiasm for Beethoven 

A piece I often recommend to classical beginners is Sibelius' 5th Symphony, particularly to those who accuse classical of being "boring." The thrilling finale soon changes their mind on that one. But seriously, I think it is a great 20th century work which is challenging but also instantly appealing.


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## badRomance (Nov 22, 2011)

Some of these recommendations are just plain strange. If you are starting out, you should first survey the landscape of Western classical music ... NOT restrict your listening to some niche style or single composer or even single period of music.


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2013)

I have come to think that it's the situation that is strange.

I have come to think that that is probably the root cause of the disagreement between science and myself. The clue is in what science last said to me, "I thank all the gods that you weren't the first person I talked to about classical music." If science had talked to me, in person, we would conversed. He would have said what he heard. I would have said something about that and about similar things. We would, maybe, have listened to some pieces on my stereo. We would, maybe, have gone to a store together. We would, in short, have talked about particular things.

The OP asks, what is some good classical music...? Well, all of it. Any and all. 

It's difficult to have a decent conversation online. Especially if things are on such a general level. We can ask questions of the original poster, and we might get some answers, too. But usually these threads end up just being post after post of someone's favorites or what someone started with themselves. Interesting, if you're interested in those someones. But scanty on information or knowledge about music.

And, ultimately, overwhelming. Evagreen has apparently been overwhelmed, too. I haven't seen a post from her (or him) in quite awhile. Not entirely our fault. Not entirely his (or her) fault. But inherent in the situation. Online is not the same as real life, and we have experienced an illustration of that. In real life, you have people talking to each other, reacting in real time, asking questions. You have body language and tone of voice. You have lightning quick reactions and reversals and revisions, all in real time. It's completely different. There would be, I suspect, little or no of the list-making activity that the leisure of writing encourages.

Everything in real life is warm and physical and quick.

Everything online is cold and virtual and slow.

If you are a classical newbie and no one around you in the real world knows anything about classical music, it might seem like these forums are a great place to find out what you're searching for.

May be. But it's perilous. Know the perils.


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## augustine (Mar 27, 2013)

All of this is well and good but it still doesn't help to answer the OP's question. Where do people start? I don't think it's necessarily bad to hear about a person's favorite piece of music or a work/composer that challenged them to dive in deeper. These sorts of suggestions have helped me in the past and I think that a small sampling of people’s favorite works would be of great help. But there does need to be some limit.

I agree that it would be wonderful if we all worked in some academic setting in which musical conversation could flow back and forth freely and organically. But the reality is (at least for me, and I'd suspect for many others on this forum) that we are surrounded by people that do not listen to or have the slightest interest in classical music. For many of us, there’s nowhere else to go for these sort of exchanges. But if someone is expressing interest, a bit of enthusiasm from others can go a long way to encouraging them.


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2013)

augustine said:


> All of this is well and good but it still doesn't help to answer the OP's question.


Um, part of what you're referring to as "well and good" makes the claim that the question is impossibly broad. And part is that an online forum is the wrong place to ask questions like that. So no, it does not help to answer the OP's question. It's not trying to do that.



augustine said:


> Where do people start?


Anywhere. Have you read the responses so far. They are all over the map. And the number of different suggestions has been, in the words of one of our fellows, "overwhelming."



augustine said:


> I don't think it's necessarily bad to hear about a person's favorite piece of music or a work/composer that challenged them to dive in deeper.


I agree. So I'm not sure why you're saying this.



augustine said:


> These sorts of suggestions have helped me in the past and I think that a small sampling of people's favorite works would be of great help. But there does need to be some limit.


Yes, hence the suggestion to do this in the real world rather than online. With a friend or two. Talking. To people you can see and hear as they're talking. People you know.



augustine said:


> I agree that it would be wonderful if we all worked in some academic setting in which musical conversation could flow back and forth freely and organically. But the reality is (at least for me, and I'd suspect for many others on this forum) that we are surrounded by people that do not listen to or have the slightest interest in classical music.


Academic setting? Say what? (You've lost me there.)

When I was growing up, I was surrounded by people who did not listen to or have the slightest interest in classical music. I had an enormous desire for it, though. So I listened to the radio, spent hours every week in the record room of the Sacramento downtown library, and spent whatever money I could squeeze out of my parents to spend in record stores. (In one of these, I found the first person in my life other than myself who knew about and was interested in classical music. I wish I could have spent more money there, just in gratitude for his guidance.)



augustine said:


> But if someone is expressing interest, a bit of enthusiasm from others can go a long way to encouraging them.


Instead of which, we've simply intimidated him with interminable lists of people he's never heard of and likely feels he'll never have the time to listen to.

That's why I came to the conclusion I just articulated, which is that this type of thing is best done with real people, if there are any, and on your own. If you're hooked, you _will_ do it on your own. No question. If you're not hooked (i.e., merely intrigued), then I doubt that interminable lists of someone else's favorites will do the trick, quite.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

In this day and age with everything at our fingertips, why ask where to start? Go to a streaming site, a classical radio station webcast, the library, etc. And do your own exploring.


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2013)

And then tell us about your explorations.

There will be many of us who will be keen to hear about them. And keen to share our own.

It's true, you know.


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I would encourage you to listen to a classical radio station or even Pandora's classical music (which is pretty good). That way you don't have to buy CD's or pay for ITunes all the time, and if you find a good station, the programmers will play a good variety of music. I constantly recommend the classical service of vpr.net in this forum. In my view, their only real flaw is that they play no avant-garde music (such as the Second Viennese School, Ligeti, Penderecki, if they are considered avant-garde, I'm not sure), but if you are a newcomer to classical music, such music might not be the best place to start anyway.


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## Joseph Diaz (Jul 2, 2014)

One good one is Vivaldi the four seasons, Beethoven symphonies 5 and 9, and also Mozart's symphonies 38-41.


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## Amusicman (Jul 3, 2014)

Beethoven 5 and 9, Wagner Tannhauser Overture, Copland Appalachian Spring


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

evagreen said:


> Hi guys,
> I've never really listened to classical music before but I heard some the other day and I realized I'd like to start. What are some good composers or compositions I could download? Nothing too crazy, just something for a newbie to this all.


Nice easy question. Start with the undisputed masters of classical: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven.


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## Forkisking (Jul 3, 2014)

Mozart's Requiem got me hooked but there are a lot of other great stuff such as:

Verdi- Messa da Requiem
Copland- Four Dances IV:Hoedown
Richter- *Recomposed*:Vivaldi's Four Seasons 
Stravinsky- Symphony of Psalms
Bach- Magnificat in D
Britten- Rejoice in the Lambq


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

^^^Are you trying to hook him or watch him flee? For somebody new???


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Violin, piano, guitar, clarinet, flute etc concerti. Just listen to the remarkable musicianship of the soloists. 

Sometimes the skill of a musician is lost in the big orchestra, but with a concerto, it's on display for all the hear, admire and critique. 

And all of those notes often from memory, 30 minutes or more of memorized notes.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

evagreen said:


> Hi guys,
> I've never really listened to classical music before but I heard some the other day and I realized I'd like to start. What are some good composers or compositions I could download? Nothing too crazy, just something for a newbie to this all.


"Crazy" is relative to your listening experience and habits 
I recommend trying any music from all the historic eras: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic -- including Modern era music (1890 - 1975) and Contemporary classical (1975 - the present) and then follow your nose and ears when any of that pushes your buttons!


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## Adagietto (Jun 11, 2012)

I'd start off with Symphonic/Tone poems, which would be an easy transition for those with a familiarity with film scores. The first piece I ever loved was Richard Strauss' "Don Juan".


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Good advice starting with Richard Strauss Don Juan. Unconventional beginning, but I think it'll work  as for "usual" stuff sure Beethoven 3, 5, 6, Mozart 40, 41, Schubert 8. I wouldn't suggest starting from Renaissance or Baroque, it can be complicated at the beginning. it's better to start with Bach "well tempered Clavier", Toccata and Fugue d minor, Passacaglia c minor. well, that's first what comes to my mind.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I would suggest pieces that seem, in my case anyway, to have penetrated quickly into the pleasure centers of the brain, so that one experiences early on the sheer pleasure--perhaps of a purely "sensual" nature, to be sure--that classical music can provide. This then permits the slow further expansion of one's interests as the years roll by.... So:

Orff: Carmina Burana. Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No.2. The Walter/Wendy Carlos version of Bach: BB No.4. Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnol; Bolero. Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture. Respighi: Pines, Fountains, Festivals, Church Windows. This list could go on, but you get the drift.


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## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Bach Bwv 1041 ( second movement is quite depressive)
Bach Bwv 1042 ( second movement is quite depressive)
Bach Bwv 1043 ( 3rd movement is the best one of bwv bwv 1043)
Bach Bwv 1067
Bach Bwv 1034
Bach Bwv Air
Bach bwv 639 (quite deprressive)
Bach Adagio
Bach Bwv 244 13/22 ( it is depressive)
Mozart Requiem ( second movement is quite depressive)
Beethoven Moonlight Sonata ( 1st movement and 3rd movement are very good)
Adagio in G minor ( quite deprressive)
Chopin nocture no 20 ( quite depressive)
Lizzst Love Dream
Mozart Piano concerto no 21
Mozart Pıano concerto no 24
Mozart 25th symphony
Mozart 40th symphony


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## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

Mahler is a must.
Try the 2nd symphony as it has the drama of Mahler, And it is relatively easy to listen to.
When you are an expert, Try the 9th, But I warn you-It is not for beginners!


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

After reviewing the other replies, I find I agree most with Adagietto's advice: tone poems, and I would add overtures, dances, other short and highly melodic pieces--Borodin, Khachaturian, Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise, even d'Indy: Symphony on a French Mountain Air. To set up someone brand-new to classical music with Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, for instance, is almost to doom the effort to failure, IMO. Perhaps others have actually been brought to their appreciation by such means, and I would enjoy their stories, but I speak of my own path forward as beginning with short pieces by the Russians and the other nationalist composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then leading into longer works by those same composers, then into the Germans and their Central European heirs and allies, and also back in time to Bach and Vivaldi, etc. As remarkable, as marvelous a work as is the Eroica, for example, I cannot visualize someone becoming thus enthralled by classical music, having been exposed to it as a first introduction.


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## Nevohteeb (May 5, 2010)

hello Evagreen: You cannot go wrong with the big B. Beethoven. There is nothing more beautiful, than his piano trio in B-flat, called the 'Archduke'. There are only three instruments. Piano, violin, and cello. It is chockablock with delightful melodies, and driving rhythm. He wrote 6 complete piano trios for piano cello and violin, and one for piano, clarinet and cello, but go for the most loved one first, and then, the others.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Nevohteeb said:


> hello Evagreen: You cannot go wrong with the big B. Beethoven. There is nothing more beautiful, than his piano trio in B-flat, called the 'Archduke'. There are only three instruments. Piano, violin, and cello. It is chockablock with delightful melodies, and driving rhythm. He wrote 6 complete piano trios for piano cello and violin, and one for piano, clarinet and cello, but go for the most loved one first, and then, the others.


A perfect work, I agree. Before or after binging on it (whichever one prefers), it might be fun to look at an introductory workshop on the piece by Bruce Adolphe, a well-known teacher and popularizer of classical music.






The clip is about an hour long, and there are many more like it for those interested.


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## taylor16 (Sep 17, 2015)

The first minute of Mahler's 2nd and/or 6th symphony should just about do it for you...


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