# Favorite type of classical music?



## Whistlerguy (May 26, 2010)

What is your favorite type of classical music and why?

I mean some people like pieces for solo instruments, some like concertos, some like operas or symphonies, etc.

What is your favorite type of classical music?

For me, the favorite is symphony, on the second place I would put concertos, then solo pieces (sonatas, for example), after that I would put religious music such as mass, passion, oratorio, etc, then art songs (lieder) then opera and operetta (I am not a very big fan of opera).

Maybe I omitted something.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Probably as follows:

Symphonies
Concertos
Other orchestral music (including symphonic poems, music for string orchestra etc.)
Choral music
Piano music
Organ music

Chamber music ranks quite lowly for me (except percussion solo/ensemble music). I much prefer the sound of a full string orchestra than solo/quartet strings. It's much more full-bodied. But that's just me.


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

It depends on my mood really. Statistically, I probably listen to more orchestral music than chamber music, even though I love chamber music very much. Though I like general orchestral music, symphonies are not necessarily at the top of my list, but rather *symphonic poems, ballet suites, etc.* Even though Bach is my favourite composer, I am very fond of music concentrated around 1890-1920 (and music extending from that): Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Ravel-- that sort of thing-- composers who didn't necessarily always compose symphonies (though RVW wrote nine wonderful ones). *Symphonies *I enjoy as well, but probably because I tend to be drawn to this particular period of classical music, symphonies don't figure into it as much.

Following general orchestral music, I prefer *chamber music*, especially with strings, and particularly *string quartets*. Aside from simply enjoying the sonority of four strings playing together, I like the economy of the string quartet, of trying to say as much as possible with as little as possible. And perhaps the less instruments, the better! I treasure Bach's _Cello Suites_ more than ANY other piece of classical music-- and one reason is because of this amazing economy.

*Solo piano music *I think ranks next, though I sometimes really have to be in the mood for it. Sometimes I can fall in love with the sonority of the instrument, but it can also be harder for me to concentrate on. The piano is, to my ears, has a somewhat monochromatic sound (to use a photographic analogy). Following this would be *chamber music with piano*.

*Choral music* (almost always larger scale works with orchestra, sacred or secular).

Beyond this point, things drop off rapidly for me and my negative prejudices begin to show: concertos, organ music, art song, opera are things I generally don't care for (which is not to say there aren't a few exceptions to these, and some of those pieces I love very much). *Concertos *generally turn me off and I've never quite been able to understand why. Its a terrible generalisation, but I don't really like "showy" music and seems like virtuosity for virtuosity's sake only. I (generally) agree with Stravinsky about the *pipe organ*: a "monster that never breathes" LOL -- I am just not easily drawn to the sonority of the organ. There are some *art songs *I absolutely adore, but they are few and far between. There is only one *opera *I have ever enjoyed (Debussy's _Pelleas_). I've just not been able to fully appreciate opera and its conventions. Though I have enjoyed some other vocal dramatic works in the past (Stravinsky's _Persephone_ and _Oedipus_, though these are not quite "operas").


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

My order:

Orchestral Music (Absolute and Programmatic), add Ballet music too
Piano Solo Music
Concertos (mostly piano)
Choral Music

It's almost the same as maestro267's list, just in different order. And the same goes for my disinclination for chamber music. I'm just more into large groups of instruments, and many simultaneous notes.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Apart from opera, I like everything basically equally. When I go to a cd shop, or find out about what's going on live in Sydney, I have problems narrowing myself down to things (my budget is small).

I like the different genres for different reasons. It is amazing how different the colours of one instrument can be (eg. solo piano or organ), in the hands of different composers (& interpreters too, of course). I like the drama and "bigness" of symphonies, and the interplay of the soloist and the orchestra in concertos. It's much like a dialogue. & I have also developed a great love for chamber music (especially string quartets, sonatas & piano trios), as well as choral (from grand masses & requiems to smaller, more intimate a capella works). As for opera, given the right one, I can love them too. Berg's _Wozzeck_ is my favourite, but I only listen to my recording irregularly, because of the high octane intensity of that work. I'm also familiar with some of Beethoven, Berlioz, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner's works. But I prefer them in bite-size chunks (the highlights), especially in the case of Wagner. As for lieder, I'm just beginning to get into them - I am familiar with some of the French and German repertoire.

In the future, I would really like to attend an opera, ballet or lieder recital live, because I have never gone to one. & the last time I went to solo piano or ogan recitals was in the early '90's, so I want to get back into that as well. Too many options, not enough money (or time - often these things are on at the same time on the weekend, & I can't go to both, so have to choose one. We are really spoilt for choice here in Sydney, so many fine musicians and ensembles)...


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

I think, overall, my listening is pretty balanced between Orchestral (mostly Concertos recently), Chamber and Instrumental (Solo Piano) music - I do enjoy Vocal music/Opera too but I dont make much time for it at the moment.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I believe we had a similar thread not too long ago... but I'll play again. My favorite music tends to be vocal... probably choral above all else (requiems, masses, oratorios, cantatas, etc), followed by opera and orchestral songs lieder (ie. Strauss' _Four Last Songs_ or Mahler's _Das Lied von der Erde_) followed by songs/lieder/chanson/melodies, etc...

After this I would probably turn to symphonic music, followed by solo instrumental such as Beethoven's piano sonatas, or Bach's Well Tempered Clavier or Cello Suites.

After this concertos... and probably last on my roster would be chamber music. Although I greatly love some chamber works and have a decent collection of the key quartets, trios, quintets, etc... by favored composers, they simply appeal to me least... and are probably what I play the least of.

So....

1. Vocal/Choral
2. Opera
3. Vocal/Symphonic song
4. Vocal/Song/Lieder/Chanson/Melodie
5. Symphonic
6. Solo Instrumental
7. Concertos
8. Chamber Music


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Now Andre... it really seems we've got to break your aversion to opera. No wonder you struggle with Wagner and Richard Strauss. If I can listen to Stockhausen, you can listen to _Der Rosenkavalier_.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Well, maybe if I saw some opera live here in Sydney, that would perhaps convert me? But the prices are way too high, even for D reserve seats. I even thought of seeing Bernstein's _West Side Story _which will be done by a superb ensemble here at the casino, but again, prices are prohibitive.

I have a friend who is more into opera, and we listen to some of his cd's on a weekly basis. We recently got through Wagner's _ Tannhauser _(Domingo was in the cast, with the Philharmonia conducted by Sinopoli). I quite enjoyed that, but I wouldn't necessarily own it. I'm looking forward to hearing some of his other Wagner operas, as well as Verdi & Puccini.

As I said, I'm more into C20th opera in the "modern" vein, but I'm also interested in maybe getting something by Monteverdi, because I have quite enjoyed his madrigals & vespers. But opera for me is on the "back-burner," much like chamber is for you...


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My tastes have changed. I used to like only large orchestral works, finding solo piano boring and most chamber works too screechy squawky for my ears.

Now I love almost all of it, so it would be easier to list what I_ don't _like. There are still a few things that will have me reaching for the skip button:

1. Solo violins. I still have a little trouble with these, so I often don't reach for a violin concerto as entertainment. I still hate that awful vibrato and the higher notes are like fingernails on chalkboard. The weird thing is, I can listen to an electric guitar wailing away trying to peel your skin off all day long with no adverse reaction. I just hate screechy violins. Cellos, violas, even viols, are just fine. Put violins in a large ensemble and they become heavenly. I've never quite understood this effect.

2. Solo vocal. Similar to solo violins, but less pronounced. This varies from individual to individual, but I usually won't sit still for a warbling vibrato infested solo voice performance, the exception being wordless soprano which can sound very compelling, like a theremin. So, you won't find any songs or opera in my classical collection, but I do enjoy cantatas, oratorios, requiems, and the like.

3. Wind ensembles. I'm sorry to say I can't often get excited about a wind quartet or whatever. They make great solo instruments in the context of a sonata or concerto, but put three or four together and you get a big boring lo-fi speak-n-spell kind of sound. Again, I'm not sure why this is.

4. Piano four hands, or two pianos. Often altogether too cluttered or muddy sounding for me.

Almost everything else is great!


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

Weston said:


> 4. Piano four hands, or two pianos. Often altogether too cluttered or muddy sounding for me.


I generally find this true for me as well. Probably the only exception for me is Stravinsky's two piano reduction of _the Rite_.

Weston, for solo violin, you might want to give this a try: Rachel Podger's recording of Bach's _Violin Sonatas and Partitas_. Its a lovely performance (though I do still prefer John Holloway over her) and she uses little vibrato, excellent intonation and has a warm inviting tone to it. I'd suggest, just to check it out, just to listen to the first two movements of the first sonata.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Now _that's _how a violin should sound. I want her to perform all the chamber music in my collection. Thanks for the link. It looks like she has quite a large repertoire and is involved in at least one chamber group called Florilegium. Maybe it's time for me to pay more attention to the performers rather than just the composers.


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## wolf (May 16, 2009)

I like all sorts of music, all chambermusic works, operas, symphonies, concertos, piano solo, church music. Some are better than others, but Mozarts stringquartet K465 is better than Lohengrin which is better than the Waldstein which is better than Chopins 2nd piano concerto, which is better than Mozarts piano soloK331, which is better than his 17th symphony, which is better than anything of Delius, whatever the instruments.

I can not understand this question at all. Have the instruments anything to do with the movement in the music? A genial concerto surely is always above a boring symphony?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I can not understand this question at all. Have the instruments anything to do with the movement in the music? A genial concerto surely is always above a boring symphony?

Yes, there is good and bad music in every genre, but there are other differences between genre as well and individuals develop preferences. There are quite a few who dislike opera... or classical vocal music in general. Others prefer the variety of sound "colors" possible in orchestral music as opposed to music for solo instruments or chamber music. The forms themselves often evolve with regard to the genre. The "give and take"... the dialog between the instruments in a string quartet is often quite different than that which exists in a symphony or even a piano or violin concerto. And then we have the fact that almost any of us probably has preferences for given instruments. Some cannot stand the sound of the harpsichord and prefer the piano... even for works of Bach. Others love the clarinet or the cello or the trumpet. How is a preference for given genre different than a preference for the music of certain eras? I listen to more music from the Baroque, Romanticism, Post-Romanticism, Modernism, and even Contemporary than I do to music of the Classical Era... yet this does not mean I underestimate or do not love the music of Mozart, Haydn, and others.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

I love baroque music now because the period is so fascinating and full of mysteries. I am totally addicted to harpsichord.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Nowadays I find the music is lacking if there is no human voice - so
Opera
Choral
Getting into lieder

Then wind concertos - love the sonority of the oboe

After that probably symphonies, concertos and piano sonatas. 

I hear enough violin played live in my house (with varying results) and on the kids' Suzuki CDs to last me a lifetime. I do try to find other recordings of the pieces because often the Suzuki playing is uncongenial to my ears, expecially the baroque pieces like Handel sonatas.

Chamber comes last on my list.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

I'm an accompanist, so my first love is vocal and choral music. 
After that, symphonic and orchestral and concerti.
Then good chamber music (generally with piano).
And last--and LEAST--piano solo music.

Tom


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## gmubandgeek (Jun 8, 2010)

My favorite type of classical music is the symphony, but more specifically the menuet and trio of a symphony. I wish a present day symphonist would incorporate one in their work.


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## The Student (Jul 4, 2010)

I am also listening to a lot of the baroque period. That, the classical, and the romantic eras are what I am mostly listening to.


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## wolf (May 16, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Yes, there is good and bad music in every genre, but there are other differences between genre as well and individuals develop preferences. There are quite a few who dislike opera...




I know it's different nowadys. 30 years ago all the great conductors would have laughed at the notion that one of them "couldn't stand opera", shrinked their noses at concertos etc. I know that today it's different. And that has nothing to do with our brains "being more developed". On the contrary, they are damagad, almost all of them. You can hardly find anyone today, that even for a million dollars, could learn the whole of the St. Johns Gospel, and half the St Matthew Gospel in a week, along with your ordinary homework. That was required of my great-grandmother and all her classmates as a matter of fact...

Up to the mid80s, every years overall intellectual standard in the universities, was tried in a test, and every year beat the year before. 1984 it stopped, getting worse and worse, nowadays no university in Europe - and I'd say it's the same in US - has those tests anymore. If they have, they wouldn't dare to show them. I know this, as a fact.

Classical music records have sold less and less and less since the 1970's, in percentage of other records and CDs. As late as 1985, there were several stores in my home town, selling ONLY classical. Of course, all of them are gone.

It's a useless disscusion. I can't very well say what I truly believe. It would be useless, so I pretend that the love for classical music is as deep as it was 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. And then I post a thing like this, knowing very well what kind of answer I'll get. I'm sorry.

Perhaps you should look at this...http://www.talkclassical.com/1459-classical-music-present-time.html

I am not trying to sound acidic. I honestly regret that I wrote that.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Classical music records have sold less and less and less since the 1970's, *in percentage* of other records and CDs.

Perhaps this is true in terms of percentages... but only because the purchase of music increased exponentially. Not too many decades ago it would have been rare for someone to have a hundred of more LPs... let alone thousands... now we find those (myself included) whose collections (in discs or digital downloads) rival small libraries to be not all that uncommon.

As late as 1985, there were several stores in my home town, selling ONLY classical. Of course, all of them are gone.

Most of music stores selling any form of music are gone... or are comically atrophied... largely as a result of the far greater access to music through downloads and through online marketers such as Amazon. When I first began to explore classical music seriously... not all that long ago... some things were virtually impossible to find: German lieder, French songs, Baroque music beyond Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi, Medieval music, etc... Now the access to music is incredible and one would suspect from the success of marketers such as Amazon... from increased publication of magazines and books on the subject... that the actual amount... the sheer dollar value... of classical music being sold today has never been greater.

It's a useless disscusion. I can't very well say what I truly believe. It would be useless, so I pretend that the love for classical music is as deep as it was 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. And then I post a thing like this, knowing very well what kind of answer I'll get. I'm sorry.

Perhaps you should look at this...Classical Music in the Present Time

I am not trying to sound acidic. I honestly regret that I wrote that.

The love of "classical music" like that for fine art, literature, the theater, etc... will always be a small... and perhaps "elite"... audience compared to the popular arts supported by the mass marketing juggernaut. I suspect that there was more of an effort by the media early last century to champion the "high arts". How many children initially came upon examples of classical music in Disney films, on The Little Rascals TV series, on Bugs Bunny cartoons, etc... The media no longer makes any pretense toward a responsibility of educating or even just offering alternatives. Educational theorists are headed down the same road, pushing toward engaging the child's interest rather than introducing him or her to something that he or she might not hear at home. But I don't know that the audience for classical music is really declining. I personally share an art studio with three other artists... all of whom are quite passionate about classical music... although all have their likes and dislike (one can't stand opera... another has trouble with anything more "modern" than Mahler... and even he's pushing things).


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## MatsumaruDX (Dec 26, 2010)

Hmm, I like music from the Romantic Era, like Chopin..

Since I played and like to hear piano music, then my order is:
Piano solo
Orcestral


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## Sarabande (Nov 26, 2010)

Symphonies are my favorite and then probably string quartets


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Hard to say, since I generally order my preferences in terms of composer, not genre.

- Overall.. piano music is probably no. 1, since I've been playing classical piano music and listening to it my whole life. 
- Symphony and concerto are tied for second place. Symphonies are much more in-depth, but concerti are more fun to listen to in general
- Art song is no. 3. I love listening to Schubert and Schumann songs especially.. I have also accompanied for singers quite a lot.
- Opera no. 4. I'm most familiar with Wagner, Mozart, and Verdi, but I plenty more listening to do in my horizon.
- Chamber music is no. 5.. I generally don't listen to it in my free time. It's more fun just to play with others than to listen I think.
- Not a big fan of choral music.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I listen to more instumental than vocal music within this area, it might be to subconsciously balance the popular music I hear (most of which is vocal).


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

Opera
Choral
Oratorio/cantata
Song


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Whistlerguy said:


> What is your favorite type of classical music and why?


The String Quartet.

No other form of classical music is as pure or as dialogue focussed as the string quartet genre with four string instruments in intimate conversation with one another.

A solo instrument risks becoming a virtuoso piece; a symphony - too drowning. The chamber form of music hits that balance beautifully and within that balance.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Head_case said:


> The String Quartet.


:trp: the holy Große Fuge playing in background :trp:


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

My taste has changed a little over the last years. For instance, I used to listen to a lot of church music, but almost never chamber music. Now I almost never listen to church music (mostly because I find the explicit religiosity of it off-putting), but have been listening to quite a bit of chamber music. 

It's difficult to find that one favorite genre, but I'm leaning towards concertos, especially piano concertos.


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## MatsumaruDX (Dec 26, 2010)

Norse said:


> My taste has changed a little over the last years. For instance, I used to listen to a lot of church music, but almost never chamber music. Now I almost never listen to church music (mostly because I find the explicit religiosity of it off-putting), but have been listening to quite a bit of chamber music.
> 
> It's difficult to find that one favorite genre, but I'm leaning towards concertos, especially piano concertos.


hmm, I like piano concerto too, expecially from Chopin and Rachmaninnof


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