# Recommended first pieces?



## PolyphonicPlatypus

Relatively, I am new to classical music in general, as I only really started listening seriously a year ago.
I have only come across two or three pieces from ballet's, would anybody be ale to suggest some good pieces/composers/ballets to explore?


----------



## TxllxT

Welcome on TC: I think ballet music is a great entrance to classical music. I myself am hooked on Russian composers like Prokofiev & Tchaikovsky, but also Delibes - Lakmé or Adam - Giselle are wonderful for repeated listening. I'm a typical listener who hardly ever sits down to watch ballet on a big screen, but perhaps your taste is different. Happy New Year!


----------



## starthrower

Stravinsky- The Firebird; Petrushka
Prokofiev-Romeo and Juliet
Ravel-Ma mere l'oye; Daphnis et Chloe
Rimsky-Korsakov-Scheherazade
Szymanowski-Harnasie


----------



## Metairie Road

Without a doubt, for a 'first time' ballet, I would have to say -

Coppélia

I have escorted groups of high-schoolers, who told me they would rather die than listen to classical music, to performances of this ballet and watched then sit entranced throughout.

Nothing too complex or subtle, just lots of superb music and a simple story that even the youngest can understand.

Best wishes
Metairie Road


----------



## Becca

While they were not intended as ballets, Tchaikovsky's 4 Suites for Orchestra have been choreographed many times because they are almost as balletic as his big 3 ballets. Try the 4th Suite - _Mozartiana_ to begin with. Some ballet music which is perfect for dancing, is a bit less perfect for concert listening, but that tends to be a very personal opinion.


----------



## jegreenwood

Becca said:


> While they were not intended as ballets, Tchaikovsky's 4 Suites for Orchestra have been choreographed many times because they are almost as balletic as his big 3 ballets. Try the 4th Suite - _Mozartiana_ to begin with. Some ballet music which is perfect for dancing, is a bit less perfect for concert listening, but that tends to be a very personal opinion.


Another work not originally created for ballet, but serving as the basis for two dance masterpieces is Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream."


----------



## Pyotr

Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Mid-summers Night Dream, Giselle all have great music.


----------



## Strange Magic

Three ballets by Aaron Copland are excellent, both as the actual, danced ballets, but also as the suites of music extracted from them: _Biily the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring_. Very fresh and "American".


----------



## Lyricus

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring.


----------



## Pugg

This disc got me hooked up on ballet music :tiphat:

*Delibes and Chopin*: Ballet Music

*Chopin:Les Sylphides
Coppélia - Suite*

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Fricke


----------



## Art Rock

^
I still have that one from the late 80s.


----------



## Chordalrock

"Judith" by William Schuman:

https://play.spotify.com/track/5IC8Ygk63CSSoQZLDjJXXq

Bleak, often intricate, and would be interesting to see someone dance it, though honestly I don't see a difference between that ballet and his late symphonies, other than that they are called different things.

The sound world is polychordal and basically atonal, but the music doesn't strike me as terribly chromatic compared with something like late Schoenberg. I think it's a good gate-way drug to more avant-garde stuff. And I think Schuman has a sound of his own, qualifying him as great in my book.


----------



## Mal

I also find that full scores are not ideal for listening, but my main interest is orchestral music, so ballet fanatics might differ! That said, I find some ballet music to be essential listening. One approach, is to listen to extended highlights. Make sure to seek out good performances. Tchaikovsky:Sleeping Beauty conducted by Ermler, Royal opera House Covent Garden orchestra is a favourite of mine:


----------



## Mal

jegreenwood said:


> Another work not originally created for ballet, but serving as the basis for two dance masterpieces is Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream."


A great highlights disk of that, with his third symphony, is Maag conducting the LSO:









The third symphony is easy, beautiful, music which sits well beside the "ballet" music.


----------



## Becca

Mal said:


> A
> 
> The third symphony is easy, beautiful, music which sits well beside the "ballet" music.


...and which was used by George Balanchine for his 1952 ballet _Scotch Symphony_


----------



## dzc4627

Brahms 4 is great,


----------



## jegreenwood

Becca said:


> ...and which was used by George Balanchine for his 1952 ballet _Scotch Symphony_


Truly Balanchine could "see the music" like no one else. It's a shame so little of his work has been captured on video. I have the 1970's Dance in America programs of his work on DVD (one of which may be out of sync in whole or in part). I also have the much more recent Paris Opera Ballet video of Balanchine's "Jewels," which uses wonderful music by Faure, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky (although the dancing does not match the best I've seen at City Ballet).


----------



## geralmar

Offenbach/Rosenthal: Gaite Parisienne.

Ravel: Bolero.


----------



## kartikeys

Go random, see what appeals to you, and think over tea why it does.


----------



## Lyricus

[delete please]


----------



## Moriarty

_Swan Lake_ of Tchaikovsky.


----------



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

No matter how far away is Christmas and how many times I listen to The Nutcracker I never get bored.


----------



## Haydn70

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> No matter how far away is Christmas and how many times I listen to The Nutcracker I never get bored.


I was executive director of a small regional dance company for seven years. The last five of those years we did The Nutcracker. I came to really the work.


----------



## Larkenfield

Another recommendation for Stravinsky's _ Petrushka_, perhaps his most charming and delightful ballet:


----------



## Zhdanov

*H.S.Løvenskiold* - _La Sylphide_











https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sylphide


----------



## Josquin13

I'd suggest that you focus on the music that impresario Serge Diaghilev commissioned for his Ballet Russes, which was a Russian ballet company in residence in Paris (& Monte Carlo) at the early part of the 20th century. Diaghilev commissioned (or adapted) works from a number of the great composers of the day--such as Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.. It's a fascinating period in the history of music. I'd also recommend the three famous ballets of Pyotr Tchaikovsky--Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty, and Serge Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, to get started.

--Claude Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun:




LP recording (with crackles): 



--Claude Debussy, Jeux (this work may be a bit more challenging, but give the music a try, if you're open to it): 




--Maurice Ravel, Ma Mére L'Oye (Mother Goose): 



--Maurice Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé: 




--Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird (or L'oiseau de feu):



--Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (or Le Sacre du Printemps): 



--Igor Stravinsky, Petruschka (or Petrouchka): 




--Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade: 




--Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake: 








--Pyotr Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty: 




--Serge Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet: 









And one more from the Ballets Russes, if your game:

--Gabriel Pierne, Cydalise et la Chévre-pied: 




Finally, I'd also suggest watching George Balanchine's ballet that he choreographed to Robert Schumann's imaginative solo piano work, Davidsbundlertänze:






You may not like everything that you listen to above, but if you like some of it, that's a good start.


----------



## jegreenwood

Not sure who we're responding to, but if you want an introduction to abstract (non-story) ballet, I'd recommend Balanchine's Serenade to Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C.

Ratmansky's ballet set to the piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition would be another good choice.


----------



## MarkW

If, as it seems, ballet music i mostly what you're looking for, most of the foregoing is good. Please remember that a lot of full-length ballet scores are full of "filler" to get from number to number that frankly, isn't very interesting. Often suites and excerpts are a better way to go. Also until the "biggies" appeared in the late 19th c., a lot of ballet music was intentionally bland (and boring) so as not to upstage the dancers. If you find one of these, don't give up, but move on.


----------



## Marsilius

MarkW said:


> ...Also until the "biggies" appeared in the late 19th c., a lot of ballet music was intentionally bland (and boring) so as not to upstage the dancers. If you find one of these, don't give up, but move on.


Or, alternatively, explore it further by watching a performance _with dancers_ on video/YouTube or wherever.

When you do that you will see a strikingly different - and by no means necessarily inferior - art form that had developed to a very sophisticated level before the advent of Tchaikovsky. Its primary focus was very much on the choreography and dancers, rather than on the music. The latter, indeed, was, at the choreographer's demand (and fee!), _virtually deliberately composed_ to be self-effacing and primarily accommodating to, rather than challenging, the dancers and their abilities.

Good places to start might be _Esmeralda_, _The pharoah's daughter_, _Napoli_ or, at the summit of that era of ballet history, _La bayadère_ or _Don Quixote_.


----------



## Marsilius

Haydn70 said:


> I was executive director of a small regional dance company for seven years. The last five of those years we did The Nutcracker. I came to really the work.


"Love"? "Hate"? An interesting and maybe Freudian slip!


----------



## Rogerx

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Balanchine / NYC Ballet)


----------



## jegreenwood

Rogerx said:


> A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Balanchine / NYC Ballet)


Frederick Ashton's "The Dream" is great as well.






I've only seen it once - looking forward to more viewings.


----------



## pianozach

Plus-size Ballet


----------



## Rogerx

pianozach said:


> Plus-size Ballet


You are joking, right?


----------



## pianozach

Rogerx said:


> You are joking, right?


Yes. I'm joking.


----------



## adriesba

My first ballet I saw was Prokofiev's _Cinderella_. I'd probably recommend _The Nutcracker_ for a first. But you must eventually try _Le Sacre du Printemps_! Preferably in the original choreography.


----------



## adriesba

adriesba said:


> My first ballet I saw was Prokofiev's _Cinderella_. I'd probably recommend _The Nutcracker_ for a first. But you must eventually try _Le Sacre du Printemps_! Preferably in the original choreography.


Ugh... ! correction, the original Nijinsky choreography is the *ONLY *acceptable choreography for _Le Sacre du Printemps_! I just saw a little bit of some really disgusting alternative choreography on YouTube. Nope, nope, nope! I backed out fast! Very, VERY BAD and _gratuitous_! Please stick with Nijinsky, lest you want to rot your brain and scar your eyes! I could just vomit! You have been warned!


----------



## jegreenwood

If you're a Shakespeare fan, then in addition to R&J and Midsummer Night's Dream, try Christopher Wheeldon's "The Winter's Tale."


----------

