# Help discovering music =D



## WuTheFWasThat (Sep 3, 2009)

I've been listening to classical for a year-ish, years after quitting piano (after a decade of it) and never really liking the music. So yeah, I wan't recommendations! I've been seeing a ton of composers' and pieces' names being thrown around on this site, and I honestly am not willing to spend all the time sifting through everything. I definitely want to broaden my music collection and listening experiences though. I want just one or a few representative works of many different styles/composers; not that much depth. In particular, iTunes albums recommendations would be awesome, since I don't want to spend too much money... 

I know my taste isn't perfectly refined; there's music that I don't like but think I just haven't learned to appreciate. Right now, I seem to like Romantic music, Russians, and symphonic stuff. I haven't gotten to the point where I care about specific recordings much. I really don't care for stuff with human voice. I want to get over that though, since it seems like a kinda stupid bias. 
Here's a random selection of stuff I've heard/own and dislike/like to give you an idea (disclaimer - not necessarily with a lot of listening having been done). I grouped stuff however my head felt like. Semi-chronological:

Pre-baroque stuff I've heard like I either don't like or don't care much for. Bach's Art of Fugue is great. His piano inventions that I once played are cool. I dislike a lot of his other stuff though... especially his religious sounding stuff (and things with singing heh). I don't see why Toccata and Fugue in D minor is so great, although i kinda dislike organ generally. random question by the way: I love the idea of fugues but why with toccatas? Handel - I really have no clue. Halleluia chorus from messiah is very irritating though 

Vivaldi's 12th violin concerto is decent. Mozart - most of his stuff seems boring. but I like symphony 40 mvmt 1, and symphony 41 mvmt 4 though. Haydn I really haven't heard any of, but he seems boringish like Mozart. 95th symphony seems alright. 

Beethoven - 3rd, 5th, and 6th symphonies are nice. Some other things I've heard or played didn't seem that great. Haven't figured out why he or mozart is a composing god, to be honest, unless it's mostly novelty/influence/progidy-ness. (I know little music history.) Brahms's symphonies seem pretty good. I really like the 3rd movement of the 3rd symphony. Dvorak's New World Symphony and Cello Concerto 1st movement are also pretty good. 

Chopin doesn't impress me much, although I remember he was my favorite to play in like 8th grade, and he can be nice to listen to occasionally. (Godowsky's version of the minute waltz is cool and makes me laugh though ). Liszt - kinda like chopin, but I like him more. mephisto waltz is sweet. I like Dohnanyi's rhapsody for piano and Scriabin's piano concerto. I also like Grieg's piano concerto, and Mendelssohn's first. Saint Saens' piano concertos are alright too. And I like his Danse Macabre

Rachmaninoff - one of my favorites. I really like the 2nd concerto, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and the Symphonic Dances, especially the non allegro. Tchaikovsky is another favorite, with 1812, nutcracker suite, symphonies 4-6. 6th symphony is special. I like Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, khachaturian's adagio from spartacus, Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody, the Blue Danube Waltz

I like the Andante of Copland's Clarinet Concerto. Really like Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice. Pomp and Circumstance and rhapsody in blue - very good. night on a bald mountain is good. firebird suite too. (i'm sure you all noticed the fantasia theme here)
Prokofiev's another favorite... really like 1st symphony, 3rd piano concerto 3rd movement. I'm a fan of shostakovich... 2nd piano concerto, 5th (especially 4th mvmt) and 10th symphony

Some mahler symphonies just seem real long and a bit weird. I like the Adagietto from the 5th though, and the 3rd movement of the 1st. Wagner - well I haven't likened to opera, but the tristan and isolde prelude is good. Debussy I'm pretty neutral on so far. I like Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe suite 2 and piano concerto first movement. 

Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta doesn't seem horrible, but I don't understand its appeal. Haven't listened enough, but Rite of Spring seems kinda cool. I like the rhythm-ness and the dissonances don't kill me, unlike Schoenberg. Ive heard stuff from pierrot lunaire and it hurts my ears. Doesn't help that there's singing.

Sorry that was way too long.
Thanks to anyone who read this/replies to this!
Oh, any music that really fits my current taste, I'd be glad to know as well!


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

don't try to listen to all music the same way. it isn't meant to exist like that. if one listens to pre-baroque looking for the same 'impact' that 'bald mountain' generates, it's the listener's problem rather than the music's.

why not visit a local library a few times if the have a recording section? perhaps some youtube searches will be great for you to try.

as you progress, you musical interests will become more varied.

dj


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## Very Senior Member (Jul 16, 2009)

WuTheFWasThat said:


> I've been listening to classical for a year-ish, years after quitting piano (after a decade of it) and never really liking the music. So yeah, I wan't recommendations! I've been seeing a ton of composers' and pieces' names being thrown around on this site, and I honestly am not willing to spend all the time sifting through everything.


This had me in stitches. You wan't (sic) recommendations because you aren't prepared to spend time sifting through everything!!! Why not try some of it, in that case? There are plenty of individual composer threads. Asking people to spoon feed you is unlikely to be very productive.


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## Fergus (Aug 25, 2009)

WuTheFWasThat said:


> I want just one or a few representative works of many different styles/composers; not that much depth. In particular, iTunes albums recommendations would be awesome, since I don't want to spend too much money...


If you don't want to spend too much money, try emusic or Audio Lunchbox. They are both considerably more affordable than iTunes, and although they have a smaller selection, both are well-stocked with classical albums. Now onto the recommendations:

Haydn: Symphonies 6-8. This group of symphonies normally appears together, and hearing it is what kicked off my current interest in Haydn.

Holst: The Planets. This orchestral suite of seven pieces musically expresses astrological characteristics of the planets in our solar system besides our own.

Debussy: La Mer. Orchestral impressionism at its best.
Children's Corner. Six beautiful piano pieces.


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## WuTheFWasThat (Sep 3, 2009)

david johnson said:


> don't try to listen to all music the same way. it isn't meant to exist like that. if one listens to pre-baroque looking for the same 'impact' that 'bald mountain' generates, it's the listener's problem rather than the music's.
> 
> why not visit a local library a few times if the have a recording section? perhaps some youtube searches will be great for you to try.
> 
> ...


I don't think I approach different music the same way. At least, I appreciate different music I like for different reasons. But there are some things that I just haven't found reasons to like. You're right that I probably don't listen to pre-baroque the right way. I almost never go to the public library... It never even occured to me that there would be lots of music to borrow/sample. I should definitely take a field trip on some weekend. And yup, Youtube is pretty much how I discover stuff.



Very Senior Member said:


> This had me in stitches. You wan't (sic) recommendations because you aren't prepared to spend time sifting through everything!!! Why not try some of it, in that case? There are plenty of individual composer threads. Asking people to spoon feed you is unlikely to be very productive.


I'm sorry this bothers you so much... but I'm very busy during the school year (which starts next week), and my free time is spent salvaging exercise and hanging out haha. During the year, I listened to classical mostly in bed right before I went to sleep, or some occasional youtube link chasing (although this usually ended up in lots of wasted time, and thus lost sleep). Maybe you're right that wanting to be spoon-fed won't be too productive, though. I'm just hoping it'll save me time, since maybe someone on the forums had similar tastes to me at one point and had music to suggest off the bat. I'm probably being kinda impatient though, since dj seems to imply that it takes some time before your interests to become more varied



Fergus said:


> If you don't want to spend too much money, try emusic or Audio Lunchbox. They are both considerably more affordable than iTunes, and although they have a smaller selection, both are well-stocked with classical albums. Now onto the recommendations:
> 
> Haydn: Symphonies 6-8. This group of symphonies normally appears together, and hearing it is what kicked off my current interest in Haydn.
> 
> ...


Sweet! I've heard one of the Planets movements before. I don't think it made a huge impression, but I knew it was a well-regarded piece, and I had made note to myself to listen to it all sometime. Heh, Golliwogg's Cakewalk was a kinda funny piece. I think I actually have the sheet music somewhere, from long ago... I'm listening to La Mer on youtube right now. I like it. It's kinda like the first time I listened to Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite. Also, I've bookmarked those websites. Thanks!


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Instead of giving you individual recommendations, which for me, takes way too long. I'm going to give you a list of my favorite composers. With this list, given your current tastes, print the list off and once you've explored everything there is to explore with each of them, then check them off. Good luck to you in your journey.

Here's a list of some of my favorite composers:

Ravel
Debussy
Vaughan Williams
Bartok
Bruckner
Mahler
Brahms
Berlioz
Stravinsky
Delius
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Barber
Langgaard
Mendelssohn
Poulenc
Saint-Saens
Copland
Dvorak
Smetana
Suk
Bax
Finzi
Sibelius
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scriabin
Nielsen
Beethoven
Strauss, R.
Liszt
Rachmaninov
Holst
Gershwin
McKay, George Frederick
Hindemith
Elgar
Tchaikovsky
Balakirev
Britten
Grieg
Stanford
Walton
Glazunov
Roussel
Janacek
Howells
Parry
Rubbra
Diamond
Novak
Still, William Grant
Zemlinsky
Alwyn
Myaskovsky
Korngold
Arnold
Ireland, John
Hovhaness


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