# What piece(s) got you into classical music?



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

Tell us what piece(s) got you to love classical music.
I'll start.
There are two pieces that got me into classical music.
The first is the aria "La donna e mobile" from the Verdi opera "Rigoletto". I heard it on "Elmo's World" when I was two years old.
The second is "On The Beautiful Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss Jr. This piece is more colloquially known as "The Blue Danube Waltz", for all the classical music newbies out there. I first heard it on the TV show "Little Einsteins" when I was three. 
And it all took off from there.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Schubert's Unfinished symphony. Still one of my favourites.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Beethoven's symphonies, Brahms' 4th and some of his miniatures, and the Kodály cello sonata all helped light theb holy fire.


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## BaronAlstromer (Apr 13, 2013)

A record called Musik från frihetstiden which collects a few swedish symphonies from the mid-18th century.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

When I was a child my dad had some classical albums lying around the house:

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Oscar Levant
Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony with Antal Dorati
Beethoven Emperor Concerto with Rudolf Serkin
Lalo Symphonie Espagnole with Jascha Heifetz
Franck Symphony in D minor with Pierre Monteux
Grieg Peer Gynt Suites with "I forgot".

I got hooked playing them myself on an old cheap Victrola. These were all mono LPs.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

It would have been a 78 of Enrico Caruso singing 'M'appari'. I think several generations of opera lovers (though probably not my generation or subsequent ones!) got started with that disc. Around the same time (1990 ish) on one of those 'nostalgia' type programmes on BBC Radio 2, I heard John McCormack sing 'The Blind Ploughman'. To this day I still consider that the worst song ever written- thank goodness that sort of religiose schmaltz has fallen from favour!- but I was bowled over by the charisma of the singer. When I found a tape of his Irish song recordings in the local library I pounced on it, and when- also courtesy of the library- I found and tape recorded the CD 'lieder and art song' I was absolutely ready for it! I thought his recordings of Handel's 'Come, my Beloved' and 'Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me' were the most sublime things I had ever heard, and they still are among my very favourites. 

So for me it's always been 'the singer,not the song'- and the singers of the distant past, with their individuality and larger than life star quality, touched me in a way that contemporary singers never did. The heinous Three Tenors with their vulgarity and insincerity, so popular at that time, were palpably the descendants of Caruso, but his greatness had no echo in them, any more than the Elvis impersonator down the local pub has anything meaningful in common with Elvis Presley. 

OK, rant over. Now this thread will probably be inundated with people saying that their introduction to opera was a large handkerchief-waving gentleman singing Nessun Dorma. Each to their own!


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2014)

Rachmaninoff's _Prelude in c#._

On the 78 set called _Sparky's Magic Piano._


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I picked up 3 box sets at bargain basement prices through a catalog. They were of the music of J.S. Bach, handel, and Vivaldi. These were my first personal purchases of classical music. The Bach set was of the Brandenburg Concertos. The Handel included the Water Music, Royal Fireworks, and the Organ Concertos. The Vivaldi set included the Four Seasons and Concertos for Mandolin. These are the works that first drew me into the work of Classical music.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Staples of the romantic repertoire, and Debussy's famous orchestral works. Also classical guitar, which I played as a teenager. Eliot Fisk is from my hometown, and my mom took me to see him perform when I was 16 years old. It's hard to believe Fisk has been at it for over 35 years.


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

I actually don't remember. My mother loved classical music and I grew up with it from my earliest years. (My step-father loved jazz, so I heard a lot of that also, and still love both.)

Two pieces that impressed me very early on were: Bach's first partita for harpsichord, which my mom and I heard on the classical music station (this was long before public radio) while driving in the car. We got home and stayed in the car to hear it through and find out what it was. It was for both of us our first introduction to Bach. And Bach's Cantata 140, which a family friend gave us, and was our first introduction to choral music.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

My very first interest was Pachelbel's Canon (yeah, sue me, I dare ya), but what really started a serious interest was finding one of those "Top 100 classical works" videos. Many pieces were popular but others not so much. I wasn't aware of the big variety of the music. The video also had an excerpt of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony in B minor. I was intrigued, and decided to hear the whole thing. It wasn't long, half an hour, so I wasn't daunted. I loved it, so I decided to look into this Schubert, and also his idol Beethoven. It wasn't long until I was in love with Romanticism. Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and 20th century soon followed. I still haven't explored many great composers, but that feeling, that I still have so much to discover, so many composers, and that it will never stop thanks to contemporary composers who appear every day (I'm still discovering the XXI century) fascinates, keeps me interested and hungry for more.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I've been a music fan my since my early teenage years, but my interest in classical took off while I was in college. I took a music appreciation course as an elective and was exposed to classical music in a methodical way for the first time.

A few of the works _immediately_ grabbed my attention:
- Brahms: Second Symphony (Bruno Walter, Columbia SO)
- Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (Bernstein, NYPO)
- Liszt: Les Preludes (Bernstein, NYPO)
- Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (Boulez, NYPO)

A few years later, while in grad school, I was re-exploring the music appreciation course recordings and I suddenly "heard" Ives' _Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut_ from "Three Place in New England." (It was the famous performance by Ormandy & Philadelphia.)

"Three Places" was the work that really blew my mind and sent me scurrying to the library to learn more about Ives and his music. So Ives was easily the biggest catalyst for drawing me deeply into classical music and prompting me to become an addict!

Incidentally, all of these recordings are still among my all-time favorites. Says something about "imprinting," no?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

^^^
I didn't get into Ives until years later. I have to thank Frank Zappa for getting me into the 20th century repertoire. That's where I heard Stravinsky's Royal March, and Bartok's 3rd piano concerto.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

starthrower said:


> ^^^
> I didn't get into Ives until years later. I have to thank Frank Zappa for getting me into the 20th century repertoire. That's where I heard Stravinsky's Royal March, and Bartok's 3rd piano concerto.


Funny: Zappa is someone that I _still_ need to explore. All I've heard is "Hot Rats" and that's it.

...sorry to take the thread off topic!


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade*

Rimsky-Korsakov _Scheherazade_. My parents had a recording of it that I listened over and over again when I was like six or seven.

Also check out the following thread which has many interesting entries: http://www.talkclassical.com/24291-your-first-piece-classical.html


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

JACE said:


> Funny: Zappa is someone that I _still_ need to explore. All I've heard is "Hot Rats" and that's it.
> 
> ...sorry to take the thread off topic!


There are a few Zappa threads here. I have about 60 albums.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Records that my father had in his collection were my first exposure. I can remember one of Capriccio Italien that I liked and also one of Beethoven's First and Schubert's Unfinished. From there I started listening on my own.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

One of my earliest favorites was the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto. I also liked some of the bon-bons and "hits" stuff (Bolero, Pachelbel's Canon, Rossini's overtures). This was around my late teens/early 20s.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

This is a fun topic that periodically recurs  I always enjoy reading how others got into classical music 

I started out with Karlheinz Stockhausen's Opus 1970: Stockhoven Beethausen. If a piece could be described as a 'soundtrack to one's life', then this was mine in my late teens to early twenties. It opened doors to everything I listen to now.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Chopin's etudes, Ballades, "Bach"'s Toccata and Fugue bwv 565, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody 2, Rachmaninov's Second piano concerto, and some movements from the "Big" Beethoven symphonies.

The Chopin and Liszt, I found out from a file we had on our computer that was Chopin's Etude op 25 no 12 "the ocean" that I fell in love with because of its drama and was impressed by the technique [since then, I don't hold it in such high esteem; I was easily impressed by theatrics back then]. I then looked up music by other composers I knew had written for piano, found some music by Rachmaninov and Liszt

Then I looked up some music I already knew about, the ones by Bach and Beethoven. And those were the seeds that eventually grew to the complex and crazy music tastes I have today

This all happened when I was 13


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

There were a fair few, I'm sure, but the one that probably lured me in the most, was *Mendelssohn's E minor violin concerto.*

It was courtesy of, the quite obscure, Philharmonica Symphony Orchestra, Igor Ivanenko and violinist, Vadim Storozhuk.

(part of a 16CD set called "Forever Classics"  )


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

da song dat realy got me into clasical was sweet brown's "ain't nobody got time fo' dat". First time i heard dat joint, i new dat all i be listenin' to be clasical. fo' real.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Tchaikowsky Piano concerto 1 with Julius Katchen


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## Dave Whitmore (Oct 3, 2014)

I'm a very recent convert to classical. I've liked the 2nd movement of Dvorak's 9th for years without knowing what it was thanks to a television ad in England that used that piece of music. I was browsing YouTube one night and saw a link to a video of "popular classical music" and out of curiousity, I watched it. First I realized I knew them all, second I couldn't get over how beautiful the music was. So I watched a couple of similar videos. Then I wondered if I was missing out on something so I picked a dfferent composer each night for a week and listened to all I could find on YouTube. By the end of that week I knew I was hooked on classical. I still use YouTube to discover new music and new composers. I know I'll be listening to this wonderful music for the rest of my life.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

I think it was Beethoven's C-sharp minor piano sonata, Op. 27 #2, that forced me to investigate the genre further. Sure, I had heard the first movement before, but to hear the complete thing was a different matter entirely. The presto agitato was _unbelievable_, I couldn't comprehend what I was hearing. What wonderful music it was and still is!

We have to remember that some pieces that have become jaded for some of us might still shake the foundations of someone's perception of music.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

At around 10 years old I got hooked on the Shostakovich symphonies, Nielsen symphonies and the 9th symphony of Vaughan-Williams.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

When I was in high school, and just beginning to learn theory and composition, I heard Bernstein's recording of Billy the Kid and Rodeo. That got me interested in Copland's Populist music.

Around the same time, I heard Ravel's Bolero, La Valse and Ma Mere l'Oye all on the same 33 1/3 vinyl disc.... His orchestration dazzled me then, and it still dazzles me today.....


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

Dave Whitmore:
I still discover TONS of classical music on YouTube. Today, for example, I discovered the amazing "Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in E-flat major" by Reinhold Gliere. Look it up.


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

Skilmarilion:
Ah, Mendelssohn's violin concerto. I discovered it, like the Blue Danube Waltz, on Little Einsteins when I was three. I loved it (the concerto) then, and I love it even more now. I'm glad that you love it too.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I would have to say that what got me into classical, was not classical.

I am a long time fan of avant-garde progressive music (Thinking Plague, Henry Cow, Universe Zero, etc), which is influenced by 20th century and avant-garde classical composers to a great extent. It did not take me long to start to explore some of the composers that these bands took as their influences.

Once I started to explore classical, I'd have to say that "The Rite Of Spring" was my 'gateway' piece, shortly followed by Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta".

These led to Carter, Webern, Schwantner, Tower, Krenek, Penderecki, Ligeti, etc.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Despite hearing classical music fairly frequently as a child it was Zappa who introduced me properly to modern and contemporary repertoire during my teenage years, from which I eventually worked my way to previous eras. I was already a Zappa devotee in my early teens, reading interviews from old magazines, some no longer around, some trucking along at reduced readership, hawking online subscriptions to sites probably no one should read. Through them I heard about all sorts of things, not just Varèse, Webern, Stravinsky, and Bartók, but Lachenmann, Boulez, Stockhausen, Carter, Takemitsu, and others too.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Crudblud said:


> Despite hearing classical music fairly frequently as a child it was Zappa who introduced me properly to modern and contemporary repertoire during my teenage years, from which I eventually worked my way to previous eras. I was already a Zappa devotee in my early teens, reading interviews from old magazines, some no longer around, some trucking along at reduced readership, hawking online subscriptions to sites probably no one should read. Through them I heard about all sorts of things, not just Varèse, Webern, Stravinsky, and Bartók, but Lachenmann, Boulez, Stockhausen, Carter, Takemitsu, and others too.


I love how Nicolas Slonimsky is a direct link between Ives and Zappa.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I don't think any one piece or even several pieces got me into music. I think it was largely the fact that I was learning the piano at the time.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My father is famous for giving me two things:

1. His vinyl classical LPs

2. His belt (usually on Sundays)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I had a little golden record, 45 rpm, of the story of Cinderella, with music from Prokofiev's ballet. I was very small and found the sounds fascinating. My grandmother played (badly) Suppe's _Poet and Peasant_ overture on her old upright, along with "50 great piano pieces you love to play, in simplified arrangements." I liked the soundtracks of Warner brothers cartoons. I inherited a little stack of 78 rpms with singers like Caruso and Galli-Curci. When I became aware of rock and roll I was already spoiled and had no use for it. I basically missed out on everything from Elvis to Nirvana, and since then I have no idea what I've missed out on. Don't tell me.


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

Homer and Beethoven, whom I found and absorbed immediately one "day" in my childhood by just picking them up, out of the blue, showed me that what I thought I was, was not... ever since, I have been finding more of "myself".


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I suppose several of the better-known Beethoven works could lay claim to starting my interest in orchestral music.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

My first five pieces of classical music.

Mozart's 40th - 



 (I put this video in my "Watch Later" list and listened to it daily!)

Mozart's Requiem - 




Beethoven's 9th - 




Schubert's 9th - Josef Krips/LSO

Brahms' 1st -


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## echmain (Jan 18, 2013)

These two:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

It was about 35 years ago when I first got into classical music. It started with Beethoven's symphonies 3, 5, 6, and 9; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture; and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in orchestrated form. Before the orchestrated Pictures at an Exhibition I was listening to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's version.


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## soundoftritones (Dec 24, 2014)

For me, it would probably have to be J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 80 first ~ "Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott" - Martin Luther would be proud *-* The second one is Handel's "Un Pensiero Nemico Di Pace" (Cecilia Bartoli's interpretation chills me to the bones every time I listen to it; her voice is so clear and light, and her articulation is just amazing.) I forget when I first heard these, but different interpretations of these masterpieces always keep my love for Classical music strong (as corny as that may sound)!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

No "piece" got me into classical music, books did. Textbooks which had information about the history of classical music, a few scores and a book or two on music theory which I found on a shelf at home sparked my interest and I began to learn more about composers and listen to their compositions.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Haydn's Symphony No.100 "Military"


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

My parents had classical music on the 'Stereo-gram' most weekends. Light Classical and operetta mostly. The earliest piece that sticks in my mind was Sibelius's Finlandia on the Decca's The world of your hundred best tunes lp. Also they had the Music For You by Eric Robinson Readers Digest Box set. Lots of light classics that gave me an early taste of classical music!


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

When I was very young (in primary school - aged about 7), when we all went into the school hall for assembly, there used to be a gramophone playing music while the classes entered and it was always a classical piece. One of those pieces really grabbed me but it wasn't until I was about 12 that I discovered it to be part of the second movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade".
When I was about 10 or 11, there was a TV program called "Manhunt" which used the opening of Beethoven's 5th as it's theme - the piece became the first classical record I ever bought.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

There were a goodly number of pieces, mostly early to high romantic orchestral literature, that initially drew me to classical music. The work that, once heard, cemented my passion for it is beyond doubt *Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique*. It impressed me so much that I went out and bought a copy of David Cairns' English translation of Berlioz Memoirs, back before I learned to enjoy reading for pleasure. Though I don't hold Berlioz in the high esteem I once did I still consider the Fantastique and select other pieces masterworks. Berlioz' championing of Beethoven in the Memoirs and other writings led me to appreciate and eventually love the latter's music, which I initially did not much understand or enjoy. I own a great deal of gratitude to Berlioz for that.


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2014)

I've had Bartok's string quartets (on cassette!!!) festering away for years.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Not as much the piece (which I have come to love as an adult) but Kathleen Ferrier's deep sultry voice on LPs my granddad had, Das Lied von der Erde with Pratzak and Walter on Decca and Kindertotenlieder with Walter on Columbia, I still fall in love every time I hear that voice!

/ptr


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Bach's 3rd Brandenburg Concerto.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Mozart's 27th piano concerto. I think it's because I saw it performed live, though. Quite a few have trouble with it because it's not as fully orchestrated or grandiose as some of the earlier concertos. It's like they expect Mozart to go out with a big bang in his last piano concerto as he did with the symphonies; but instead, it's Mozart at his most subtle and intimate.


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## composira (Sep 17, 2014)

The piece that truly got me interested was Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto. I had just started piano lessons (my mother had insisted) and the piano teacher decided to take me on a little field trip. 

I never looked at the piano—or any other instrument—the same way again.


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## Guest (Dec 25, 2014)

Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring." I was getting bored with rock music back in the late 70s, and a friend recommended that work. I couldn't imagine how a composer created so many separate musical lines, and of course the pounding rhythms were immediately appealing. I then went on to explore classical music, and my life has not been the same since!


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## Dasein (Dec 14, 2014)

Around six months ago I came across a classical music thread on a general music forum, seeing a chart made for 'beginners' I selected a few pieces and began listening. When I came across Schubert's 15th String Quartet I was enraptured. I had no idea music could be so dynamic, capricious even, and the melodies.. oh my god the melodies.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

So many pieces as a kid I heard... what drove me to classical music were

1) complete Beethoven piano sonatas on Vox label of Alfred Brendel on cassettes
and
2) Ravel's Bolero.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Copland's Appalachian Spring, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Corelli's Concerti Grossi. The first CD I ever bought was Bernstein's NYPO performance of Mozart's 40th and 41st symphony about two and a half years ago -- the finale of the latter may well be the piece of music I've heard most in my life.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

albertfallickwang said:


> So many pieces as a kid I heard... what drove me to classical music were
> 
> 1) complete Beethoven piano sonatas on Vox label of Alfred Brendel on cassettes
> and
> 2) Ravel's Bolero.


Lots of people have been citing Bolero. I suppose I am an oddity in that I first heard it at the beginning of the year.


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

ToneDeaf&Senile:
I've only heard the second movement "Un bal", and I love it!! One of my classical music goals is to listen to the whole symphony by the time winter break is over. I think I'll really enjoy it!


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Lots of people have been citing Bolero. I suppose I am an oddity in that I first heard it at the beginning of the year.


I suppose I'm the oddity in that I hate it like the devil.


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## Guest (Dec 27, 2014)

ahammel said:


> I suppose I'm the oddity in that I hate it like the devil.


You are not alone.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I think the theme of _Bolero_ is superb and extremely tasteful, but structurally the piece is very boring. I think it was more or less meant as a musical joke - Ravel didn't consider it a serious piece - he didn't even consider it music. I consider it Ravel's weakest piece (and I think he would agree). I think its hilarious it has turned out to be arguably his most popular work.

Watching a performance of a Bach piece on classical guitar years ago was what converted me. I don't even remember the exact piece, and it was performed by an amateur, but it was enough for me to know there was something there I was very interested in. I started looking into the music more and was instantly hooked - I had been playing rock music for years and had grown tired of most of it so the time was right.


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## GhenghisKhan (Dec 25, 2014)

I don`t remember the names honestly but then again most of my past today seem like a bit of a blur. There was not one single piece or composer that made me switch to classical, just a really gradual acceptance that I actually enjoyed classical, in spite of my every efforts to **** off my parents. 

But the ones I do remember: 
Mozart`s Moonlight Sonata. Fur Elise (because my dad told me he would get me a Playstation if I played it successfully). Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Tchaikovsky`s 1812 overture. Debussy`s Claire de Lune. 

I`ve heard many more in my youth as my father was a classical aficionado, I just never made the conscious effort before now to remember their names.


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

For me it was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, and 1812 Overture, Schubert's 8th Symphony, and Beethoven's 5th Symphony. They were Lps in my father's collection (which consisted mostly of pop). They sustained me for quite a few years until I heard Offenbach's Gaité Parisienne and a few of Chopin's piano works. Then the floodgates opened.


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

GhenghisKhan said:


> I don`t remember the names honestly but then again most of my past today seem like a bit of a blur. There was not one single piece or composer that made me switch to classical, just a really gradual acceptance that I actually enjoyed classical, in spite of my every efforts to **** off my parents.
> 
> But the ones I do remember:
> *Beethoven's* Moonlight Sonata. Fur Elise (because my dad told me he would get me a Playstation if I played it successfully). Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Tchaikovsky`s 1812 overture. Debussy`s Claire de Lune.
> ...


Sorry about that. My inner classical music nerd kicked in.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Oscar Levant

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 with Rudolf Serkin

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 with Antal Dorati

Franck Symphony in D minor with Pierre Monteux

All vinyl LPs.


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## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

As a kiddie it was Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf.

Later it was Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (with Ravel's orchestration) and Night on Bald Mountain.

Also, when i learned to play "Ode to Joy" on the piano (my lesson book called it "Bells are Ringing"). 

Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta and Concerto for Orchestra, heard as a teenager, took my interest to a new level.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

^^^^Yes! Yes!! I forgot about Peter and the Wolf!! Also, my folks bought me a set of 78's called "Rusty in Orchestraville" that taught me about all the musical instruments. Also they got me Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Early introductions
Schubert Unfinished
Beethoven 8
Dvorak - New World


First absolute loves to point of obsession
Rachmaninov Piano Concertos 2+3


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## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

I never heard of "Rusty in Orchestraville" but the name brings a 

The first version of _Peter _i knew as a child featured narration by none other than Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan).


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

aajj said:


> I never heard of "Rusty in Orchestraville" but the name brings a
> 
> The first version of _Peter _i knew as a child featured narration by none other than Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan).


It was designed for kids. A boy visits "Orchestraville" and meets all the instruments. It had me fascinated.


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## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

I love that premise. I envy Rusty!


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Hard to say because I grew up with classical music in the background all the time, but the first piece that made me take an active interest may have been the first "grown up" piece I learned on the piano - Haydn's Sonata No. 34 in E minor. There's nothing all that special about the piece but I still like it a lot.


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