# Going from Beginner to Intermediate to classical music



## HarukiMurakami (9 mo ago)

Hi all,

I'm a classical music listener for quite some time, but all I've done was listening to random albums. Although quite a few years have passed since my listening, I found myself often unable to tell which piece is conducted by whom, or even what the piece that's being played at the moment is (despite being quite familiar with it).

I was wondering if there's a way to go to the "intermediate level"? i.e. to know more composers, be familiar with more pieces, and learn more about the theory aspect of listing to classical music, such as their styles and backgrounds?

Thanks


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## 4chamberedklavier (12 mo ago)

Just continue whatever you've already been doing. If your goal is just to find good music, you shouldn't feel compelled to memorize pieces or conductor styles. Being a classical fan isn't a race or contest.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Subscribe to a classic music magazine such as Presto music mag , BBC Music mag etc there are quite a few if you do a search these will give you something to go on.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

HarukiMurakami said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm a classical music listener for quite some time, but all I've done was listening to random albums. Although quite a few years have passed since my listening, I found myself often unable to tell which piece is conducted by whom, or even what the piece that's being played at the moment is (despite being quite familiar with it).
> 
> ...


Harold Schonberg's book, _Lives of the Great Composers_ is a classic and known to most all CM listeners. Schonberg covers pretty much all the important composers and discusses somewhat their best-known works. That way you find out much about the composers themselves and the history of CM. It's also fun to find Schonberg making some strange assertions: one example is his regarding Sibelius as only a minor figure while simultaneously resurrecting Rachmaninoff from a similar charge in another guide; both composers I dearly love. Controversy over composers and over their works can be a trigger to finding out for oneself which music is important to you.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Listen to a lot of music any way you can that's easy -- YouTube, radio, Internet, etc. It won't take long to discover what you like and then you can work on hearing more of it. I agree read about music where and when you can. There are lots of books old and new that will help. I wouldn't take on too much until you start to discover your niche.

I wouldn't be too concerned with music theory or composition or similar ideas just yet; they can be as confusing as helpful. Try to expose yourself to music you hear about that you don't know and get to know what appeals to you. That is the easiest way to move ahead and broaden your understanding.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Browse through the forums and threads here, and see what others have recommended.

I have my own *Beginner's Guide*: A Beginner's Guide to Classical Music

*Chilham* has another, the *Journey*, which is arranged chronologically A journey through classical music from medieval to...

Here's yet another, which compiles lists of *Top Recommended Pieces by Talk Classical* member, evidently by genre: Compilation of the TC Top Recommended Lists

I'm partial to my own list, *The Beginner's Guide*. I've embedded videos of all of the works on my list, and most are videos of live performances, which I feel enhances the experience. Since you're interested in conductors, this may be what you're looking for. You can use any entry on the list as a springboard to explore other performances of the same work, other works by the same composer, or other subgenres as your muse leads you.

*Chilham*'s thread is nice as he ranks works in each successive chronological era of Classical Music by importance to the subgenre.

The third I just mentioned is nice as it's an interesting amalgamation of the various tastes of the *TC community*, which likely gives a rather diverse range of what we all find to be the "best" examples of which to listen.


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

I agree with everyone else who says that you should listen to as much music as possible. One thing that you can try and do is find pieces that you like and then find others that are similar (YouTube algorithms are generally good for this). If you like Scarlatti sonatas, for example, you might want to listen something by Cimarosa or if you like Mahler symphonies, then you could branch out to Richard Strauss tone poems, Sibelius symphonies, or Bruckner's symphonies and masses.

It's good to have a guide of some kind so that you know which recordings are worth getting and which ones aren't. I've always liked The Rough Guide to Classical Music. It is written by reputable critics and has good capsule reviews of various recordings that have come out over the years. It's not current by any means, but it is good for general information about composers and their most famous works.

If you would like book that lists a composer's main works and then delves into performers, styles, and other terms that one would encounter when listening, then I would suggest The Oxford Dictionary of Music (edited by Michael Kennedy). I find myself reaching for it all the time when I'm curious about a composer's other works.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

agoukass said:


> I agree with everyone else who says that you should listen to as much music as possible. One thing that you can try and do is find pieces that you like and then find others that are similar (YouTube algorithms are generally good for this). If you like Scarlatti sonatas, for example, you might want to listen something by Cimarosa or if you like Mahler symphonies, then you could branch out to Richard Strauss tone poems [...]


I'd qualify the advice to listen to "as much music as possible". One can get lost and confused and there are advantages in focussing on a few works or even a single work for a while. When I got into classical music as a teenager and in my early 20s I was forced to go rather slow because I had to buy, borrow or listen on the radio. One could easily spend many months to get some grip on e.g. the Mahler symphonies (or even only half of them) without needing to branch out to tone poems. There is no hard and fast advice about the best balance between getting more familiar with a limited number of pieces and branching out to new music. It will depend on the listener, the music in question and several other factors.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

I said this in another thread, but I recommend not worrying about conductors/orchestras/performers/etc. until you have a good grasp on a work and love it enough to to have much of it memorized and want to hear other approaches. There is more difficulty in classical music of remembering what music is which work given that most classical music doesn't have "titles" but "numbers" and our brains don't make as easy connections between sounds and numbers as sounds and titles. There's really no easy solution to this except hearing a piece enough times... and even then if I hear a snippet of a work I know really well I will often forget which symphony or string quartet (or whatever) it is even if I remember who it's from. This issue is compounded by the fact that classical music is such a vast genre that if you want a broad sampling it's going to be difficult to get really intimately familiar with a lot of works, and this is especially true if you have other artistic interests (as I do) and other music genres you enjoy listening to. There's really no easy solution other than to just listen more and keep at it. 

I would also echo what others have said about using certain guides (the "Most recommended pieces" guides on TalkClassical are great for checking out the most acclaimed works) and free resources, like YouTube, to explore various composers, eras, genres, styles, etc. to find what you like and then explore more in that direction. You may find you're more attracted to certain eras, composers, genres, etc. and can focus on them rather than flailing around with stuff you dislike. As for becoming more familiar with things like theory and history, there's no real way except to study and learn. I'm an inveterate reader of liner notes so much of my education in classical music has come from reading the booklets that come with CDs/DVDs etc. There are many great books out there too, of course, but they can sometimes be a bit overwhelming unless they're aimed at the novice. I wouldn't worry too much about music theory, per se, but learning about forms (sonata form, fugues, etc.) can be really helpful in being able to follow along with the "logic" of most classical music.


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

Kreisler jr said:


> I'd qualify the advice to listen to "as much music as possible". One can get lost and confused and there are advantages in focussing on a few works or even a single work for a while. When I got into classical music as a teenager and in my early 20s I was forced to go rather slow because I had to buy, borrow or listen on the radio. One could easily spend many months to get some grip on e.g. the Mahler symphonies (or even only half of them) without needing to branch out to tone poems. There is no hard and fast advice about the best balance between getting more familiar with a limited number of pieces and branching out to new music. It will depend on the listener, the music in question and several other factors.


Spending one time with one piece of music or one group of pieces happens to everyone. For example, I went through a period in my life when I only listened to Schnabel's recordings of the Beethoven sonatas. However, one of the problems with focusing on one work or one particular group of works is that one inevitably looses sight of the bigger pictures since no composer ever works in a vacuum. 

At the end of the day, I think that it comes down to a person's taste. Some people are much more omnivorous and will go through the works of one composer quickly and then move on to the next. Others will focus on one composer / performer / work for a long period of time and then move on to something else or branch out and then continue branching out until they come back to said work / composer / interpreter at some point in the future.

Yes, it does take a while to get a grip on certain works. However, one of the beauties of listening to a wide variety of music is that the listener can always come back to a work or composer they don't understand. For example, I didn't really care for Alban Berg. The only works I listened were Piano Sonata, Op. 1 and the violin concerto. Within the last two months, I have been listening to the Altenberg Lieder, the Lyric Suite, and various other works and finding that I like his music more and more. Sometimes, it's pointless to sit with something and try to get a grip on it. Moving on and coming back also has its benefits as does doing an intense study of a piece or pieces.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

agoukass said:


> Spending one time with one piece of music or one group of pieces happens to everyone. For example, I went through a period in my life when I only listened to Schnabel's recordings of the Beethoven sonatas. However, one of the problems with focusing on one work or one particular group of works is that one inevitably looses sight of the bigger pictures since no composer ever works in a vacuum.
> 
> At the end of the day, I think that it comes down to a person's taste. Some people are much more omnivorous and will go through the works of one composer quickly and then move on to the next. Others will focus on one composer / performer / work for a long period of time and then move on to something else or branch out and then continue branching out until they come back to said work / composer / interpreter at some point in the future.
> 
> Yes, it does take a while to get a grip on certain works. However, one of the beauties of listening to a wide variety of music is that the listener can always come back to a work or composer they don't understand. For example, I didn't really care for Alban Berg. The only works I listened were Piano Sonata, Op. 1 and the violin concerto. Within the last two months, I have been listening to the Altenberg Lieder, the Lyric Suite, and various other works and finding that I like his music more and more. Sometimes, it's pointless to sit with something and try to get a grip on it. Moving on and coming back also has its benefits as does doing an intense study of a piece or pieces.


I spent a couple months on Beethoven's late quartets after striking gold with the Grosse Fuge and the first movement of Op 127. It took even longer than that for me to appreciate Op 130.


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## HarukiMurakami (9 mo ago)

Many thanks for all of your enthusastic inputs! I'll check out the awesome resources you guys recommended as well as this awesome forum!


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