# Classical everyone knows of, but do not know:-)



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

*Classical everyone knows of, but does not know*

Catalyzed by Brotagonist's thread, "Classical music everyone just knows,"

*This thread is dedicated to naming those many well-known works (and their composers) which many of us have heard of, but never actually listened to.*

List pieces or composers you know of but have not gotten around to. 
I'm certain comments from advocates who know that music will follow, and strong advocacy urging any of us to get to those as yet unheard pieces is more than welcome.

There is a potential ocean here, whether it is Josquin, Guillaume de Machaut, or those Beethoven piano and 'cello sonatas many of his supposed fans -- still abiding and dwelling on the symphonies, concerti, etc. _just haven't gotten around to... yet._ This makes the thread a sort of confessional, i.e. a list of sins of omission 

To start the tide coming in, since my teens, I had read of a number of mid-20th century composers, their names always getting mere passing mention as "other fine composers of the period" in my music history texts, yet none of their music was played or required listening, and with all the other student business, I never got around to looking at a score or listening to them... just did within the last year or two, which is also nice, in that great music new to me is a real pleasurable find the older you get and the more rep you do know.

Vittorio Rieti (1898-1994) 
"His music is tonal and neoclassical with a melodic and elegant style."*

Serenade for violin concertante and small orchestra(1931)





Concerto for harpsichord and orchestra (1957)





Of course, there are a good handful more 

Your "I know of / have heard good - great things about but have never actually heard" pieces?

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Rieti


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

I've got one on order and look forward to its arrival in the next few days:

Liszt's _Années de pélerinage_

This was sparked by recommendations over on the thread http://www.talkclassical.com/34057-masterpieces-19th-century-solo.html

The performance I settled on is a recent, well-reviewed one by Bertrand Chamayou (on Naive).










In 20th century music, I've only heard two of Villa-Lobos' string quartets. So getting the complete cycle (is it 17?) is high on my wishlist. Last spring I bought Holmboe's amazing 20 string quartets, but I've never heard his symphonies, which I hear are often excellent. In a similar way, I enjoy Myaskovsky's string quartets, but have never heard his symphonies (and I see various TC contributors who listen regularly to them and cite various ones on the "Current Listening" thread). I have heard only about 1/2 of the symphonies of Haydn. The list could on and on. As much as I love what I have of Schumann's solo piano works, my estimate is that there may be a 1/3 of them that I've yet to hear (a collection of his complete piano works are high on my wishlist). This list goes on and on.

For all the many years of listening and of study, I still feel like a beginner -- which I believe is a good thing. Of course, the more I explore, the more I discover that I don't know. I have a (good) feeling that this thread is open up a whole batch of new ones.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

A few "big" or "famous" violin concerto in the repertoire. I haven't heard the concertos by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, or Beethoven


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Wagner's Ring Cycle (except for the Ride of the Valkyries watching Apocalypse Now)
The music of Lizst
Handel's The Messiah (except for the Hallelujah chorus)
Schubert's Fifth symphony gets a lot of press and I don't think I've ever heard it.
Mozart's 39 Symphony gets a lot of press and I don't think I've ever heard it.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

PetrB said:


> T*his thread is dedicated to naming those many well-known works (and their composers) which many of us have heard of, but never actually listened to.*


4'33"? I don't know anybody who's actually heard that.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> Handel's The Messiah (except for the Hallelujah chorus)


There are a few other bits that have become pretty well-known to people, such as 'And He shall feed his flock' or 'I know that my Redeemer liveth'.
:tiphat: Great thread & posts so far - lots of lovely suggestions!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

KenOC said:


> 4'33"? I don't know anybody who's actually heard that.


The stand-up after work hours cocktail party and the sort of banter which passes as humor at such events ended hours before I posted this thread. Sigh.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

PetrB said:


> The stand-up after work hours cocktail party and the sort of banter which passes as humor at such events ended hours before I posted this thread. Sigh.


Despite your denigration, my suggestion rather exactly met your specification for this thread. If not, the courtesy of an explanation may improve my posting in the future. Thanks!


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Many, I believe.
As a starting point I'm looking at the TC top recommended lists to pick up those I have never listen to.

Let's start from the operas:

22. Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin

24. Offenbach - Les Contes d'Hoffmann

37. Prokofiev - War and Peace

40. Handel - Ariodante

52. Massenet - Manon

54. Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust

56. Handel - Alcina

73. Dvořák - Rusalka

74. Saariaho - L'Amour de Loin

77. Donizetti - La Fille du Régiment

83. Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur

85. Puccini - La Rondine

88. Weber - Euryanthe

89. Rimsky-Korsakov - The Golden Cockerel

92. Massenet - Werther

93. Donizetti - Roberto Devereux

94. Bellini - I Capuleti e i Montecchi

97. Tchaikovsky - Pique Dame

98. Thomas - Mignon

104. Handel - Hercules

....just for the first 100 or so.

Interesting excercise.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

The symphonies I have never listen to:

59. Honegger - Symphony No. 3 "Liturgique"

60. Glière - Symphony No. 3 "Ilya Muromets"

72. Myaskovsky - Symphony No. 6

74. Bizet - Symphony in C

76. Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 7 "Sinfonia Antartica"

80. Bax - Symphony No. 1

84. Berwald - Symphony No. 3 "Singulière"

88. Alfvén - Symphony No. 4

94. Roussel - Symphony No. 3

96. Rautavaara - Symphony No. 8 "The Journey"

97. Suk - Asrael Symphony

98. Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 5

102. Brian - Symphony No. 1 "Gothic"

.... just for the first 100.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Several Strauss operas and tone poems that aren't _Zarathustra_, I have heard of but never heard. I think there are more pieces by other composers that I've heard but not listened to, though.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Despite your denigration, my suggestion rather exactly met your specification for this thread. If not, the courtesy of an explanation may improve my posting in the future. Thanks!


I thought most everyone understood that 4'33'' is entirely dependent upon a live performance in a hall with an attending audience to hear what this performance piece generates in the way of sound.

I have not yet 'heard' it either, so I apologize if I misread your post as yet the umpteenth billionth lame jape about 4'33.''

I can say I only thought whatever is mentioned should be accessible to people via a recording, and as far as 4'33'' goes, that would have to be a live recorded performance as performed in front of an audience, without digital editing to take any ambient sounds out


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

PetrB said:


> I thought most everyone understood that 4'33'' is entirely dependent upon a live performance in a hall with an attending audience to hear what this performance piece generates in the way of sound.


Exactly. 4'33" is about _sounds_, like any other piece that involves sounds. One may not like the way these sounds are organized, but that does not change the fact that sounds are occurring that the composer wants the audience to listen to. So anybody that has heard 4'33" _has_ heard it, just like any other piece. There is nothing else required to hear it other than listening to the _sounds_. So, yes count me among those who don't quite understand the logic behind the suggestion that no one has ever heard it. I'm guessing it was a joke. Don't mind me. I find most attempts at humor not funny anyway. I usually only find things humorous that just happen and happen to be funny. When people ~try~ to be funny it generally kills the vibe - for me. Most conscious attempts at humor come across to me as a way of attempting to mask insecurity.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

Cosmos said:


> A few "big" or "famous" violin concerto in the repertoire. I haven't heard the concertos by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, or Beethoven


I would explore these in exactly that order too. Get crackin'


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I've never heard a single, solitary work by Webern. Not on purpose at least. It's on my to do list but not the first page.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

senza sordino said:


> Wagner's Ring Cycle (except for the Ride of the Valkyries watching Apocalypse Now)
> The music of Lizst
> Handel's The Messiah (except for the Hallelujah chorus)
> Schubert's Fifth symphony gets a lot of press and I don't think I've ever heard it.
> Mozart's 39 Symphony gets a lot of press and I don't think I've ever heard it.


To quote scratchgolf - you need to get cracking too :lol:

There's heaps of wonderful music in here .... heaps of it


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

I have about 3000 CDs. I've *heard* them all. I've *listened* to them all.

I think I should *listen more closely* to almost all of them .... except the handful that I don't actually like

Logically, that might mean that I don't need to buy any more CDs for a few lifetimes, but ..... !


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

From the TC recommended work listst, the orchestral works I have never listened to:

6. Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis 
o... being number 6, but I'm pretty sure I have never heard it, unless I have and I don't know. Definitely I should improve my knowledge of Vaughan Williams)

42. Dvořák - Serenade for Strings

74. Ives - Three Places in New England

81. Bax - Tintagel

85. Sibelius - Pohjola's Daughter

87. Pärt - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten

89. Barber - Second Essay for Orchestra

90. Rebel - Les Élémens

92. Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber

96. Bizet - L'Arlésienne

97. Villa-Lobos - Uirapuru

100. Vaughan Williams - Job: A Masque for Dancing

105. Holst - St. Paul's Suite

.......Just for the first 100 or so

As I said before, it's a really good exercise! Now I am more aware from where I can start filling my gaps.
Thanks PetrB for this thread
:clap:

More to come...


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

scratchgolf said:


> I've never heard a single, solitary work by Webern. Not on purpose at least. It's on my to do list but not the first page.


I've listened to the DG and Sony 'complete' sets a few times ... but I haven't even begun to get 'into' them and I think it will take a lot of ploughing until the seeds are sown in my ears. I look forward to the harvest that I anticipate will occur later on


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

scratchgolf said:


> I've never heard a single, solitary work by Webern. Not on purpose at least. It's on my to do list but not the first page.


You _are_ aware that many of them _have a very brief running time?_ :tiphat:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

GioCar said:


> From the TC recommended work listst, the orchestral works I have never listened to:
> 
> Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
> Dvořák - Serenade for Strings
> ...


Your list, I presume? The only thing I would switch out there, especially if you have heard no other Hindemith, is the Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber. I'd suggest instead the Suite called, _Symphony, Mathis der Maler._

I bet nearly any member here could think of an ocean, or small sea, of music they know of, perhaps even own a recording of, which they have not yet.... It maybe takes some discipline, or a raised curiosity level, to tear yourself away from old friends in order to maybe meet some new ones. Ironically, we all know of pieces which any number of people and sources have recommended to us, and for one reason or another, have not (yet) followed through!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> I have about 3000 CDs. I've *heard* them all. I've *listened* to them all.
> 
> I think I should *listen more closely* to almost all of them .... except the handful that I don't actually like
> 
> Logically, that might mean that I don't need to buy any more CDs for a few lifetimes, but ..... !


I could have written this! My thoughts exactly!


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

PetrB said:


> You _are_ aware that many of them _have a very brief running time?_ :tiphat:


I instantly realized I lied. I once clicked on a link here to a Webern piano piece. I'd compare my initial response to the 2nd VS to a 10 year old sneaking a sip from his father's wine. Instant "blech" face. Little does that 10 year old know in 30 years he'll be sitting around in an open robe and boxer shorts, sipping boxed wine on a Tuesday morning.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Not trying to be a snob, but I have heard a lot of what I see posted on TC from lists and discussions. That's what one gets from 57 years of devotion.
What I haven't listened to is most Renaissance music and very contemporary music. 
Boulez will be my next project. Pray for me.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I did find something. About 70 Domenico Scarlatti sonatas, principally because I do not possess them.
However, I can imagine how they sound.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Your list, I presume? The only thing I would switch out there, especially if you have heard no other Hindemith, is the Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber. I'd suggest instead the Suite called, _Symphony, Mathis der Maler....._


Thank you for your recommendation. It's just *one* of my lists...
In order to have a starting point where to pick up the works I have never listened to, I just took the _TC Top Classical Recommended Lists_ and deleted the works I know.
I have done this for _Operas_, _Symphonies_ and _Orchestral Works_. I'll do it for the other Lists. 
It's an effective way to know where I have "to fill the gaps"....

Actually I am familiar with Hindemith's Mathis der Mahler.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

hpowders said:


> I could have written this! My thoughts exactly!


Good. 
Pleased to report that the thought-detection system appears to work .... now ready to roll out in a wider trial


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

There are many famous works I've heard of but yet to hear or purchase - I suppose the crux is whether I'm actually keen to have some of them or not! For example, I've never heard more than one of The Four Seasons, but as I have about five discs of some of Vivaldi's other concerti I don't really consider getting it a priority. 

That said, one illustrious instrumental work I am keen on getting is Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux: I wasn't particularly taken with his ubiquitous birdsong output at first but I have grown to like it, and this is the principal keyboard work of Messiaen's that I haven't have investigated.

Other than that, there a number of notable operas which I'd like but still haven't got around to getting but I'm using the slowly slowly catchy monkey approach there...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

tdc said:


> Exactly. 4'33" is about _sounds_, like any other piece that involves sounds. One may not like the way these sounds are organized, but that does not change the fact that sounds are occurring that the composer wants the audience to listen to. So anybody that has heard 4'33" _has_ heard it, just like any other piece. There is nothing else required to hear it other than listening to the _sounds_. So, yes count me among those who don't quite understand the logic behind the suggestion that no one has ever heard it. I'm guessing it was a joke. Don't mind me. I find most attempts at humor not funny anyway. I usually only find things humorous that just happen and happen to be funny. When people ~try~ to be funny it generally kills the vibe - for me. Most conscious attempts at humor come across to me as a way of attempting to mask insecurity.


Since all the jokes about 4'33'' take up a full galaxy and all are equally worn so thin that they are several hefty measures under the thickness of the finest rolled strudel dough, by comparison, Henny Youngman's antique / ancient, "Take my wife. Please!" is fresh as a daisy.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

Beethoven's 9th besides that one little theme.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

GioCar said:


> Thank you for your recommendation. It's just *one* of my lists...
> In order to have a starting point where to pick up the works I have never listened to, I just took the _TC Top Classical Recommended Lists_ and deleted the works I know.
> I have done this for _Operas_, _Symphonies_ and _Orchestral Works_. I'll do it for the other Lists.
> It's an effective way to know where I have "to fill the gaps"....
> ...


Of all the lists to choose from there is I suppose a handiness to using the one already on this site ;-)


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Of all the lists to choose from there is I suppose a handiness to using the one already on this site ;-)


I suppose there is. There might be even more to it than that.

As I've so often begged, if you know of a better list, please, please, please let me know!


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Of the things that an educated listener _should _know (as opposed to Berwald symphonies or the complete Telemann), I have surprisingly never heard the St. Matthew Passion, nor Pierrot Lunaire. (I'm sure I've heard bits of the Schoenberg, and know in my mind's ear how it must go -- but I've never had occasion to hear it in concert, nor the inclination to put it on and listen all the way through.)


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

GGluek said:


> Of the things that an educated listener _should _know (as opposed to Berwald symphonies or the complete Telemann), I have surprisingly never heard the St. Matthew Passion, nor Pierrot Lunaire. (I'm sure I've heard bits of the Schoenberg, and know in my mind's ear how it must go -- but I've never had occasion to hear it in concert, nor the inclination to put it on and listen all the way through.)


I have an opinion about _Pierrot Lunaire_, and you deserve the same opportunity everyone else has to disregard it.

I've heard _Pierrot Lunaire_ many times, and I think for a long time I was either startled by "Sprechstimme" that it was just impossible to appreciate the _music_, or I thought the Sprechstimme itself was the main point so I spent a lot of effort focusing on that rather than allowing myself to have a more romantic-emotional experience of the music. And I feel that a lot of people do something like that.

In my own infinite wisdom (tremble lest ye disagree), I think that's a mistake. The music itself is really beautiful; once the Sprechstimme is no longer a thing to note, the "singing" is a beautiful part of beautiful music. At heart it's a really romantic work, albeit a disappointed romanticism.


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Actually, inspired by this thread - I'm just listening to Schubert's String Quartet No.14 in D Minor D.810 'Death and the Maiden' - for the first time. 
Not quite sure how this piece passed me by, what with being a cellist and having played countless other quartets.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Beethoven's 9th besides that one little theme.


_What?_ Ouch - I've just spluttered hot tea all over myself!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

MagneticGhost said:


> Actually, inspired by this thread - I'm just listening to Schubert's String Quartet No.14 in D Minor D.810 'Death and the Maiden' - *for the first time*.
> Not quite sure how this piece passed me by, what with being a cellist and having played countless other quartets.


Oh blast! There goes the remainder of my hot tea :lol:


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Turning to the thread topic, the things I know of but have not gotten around to...

I feel that I should confess first that I don't think I _know_ any music at all. I can still find surprises (for me) listening to the most popular movements of Vivaldi's _Four Seasons_, Beethoven's fifth symphony, Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, or just about anything else. When I listen to a work like... say... Corelli's op. 6 or Martinů's _Epic of Gilgamesh_... which I couldn't have heard more than a dozen times, it is basically a surprise throughout, even if I experience some feeling of recognition as I hear the music.

Well, so that being said, the OP's intention seems not to be bout stuff that I don't "know" but stuff that is on my "to do" list that I haven't heard at all.

I actually have such a list (somewhat prioritized but not with precision), and at the top of it are:

- Bruckner's Symphony #6 
- Prokofiev's symphonies (except 1 & 5, which I've heard) 
- Haydn's first 20 or so symphonies (I'm properly embarrassed to admit this of course) 
- Wolf's Italian songbook 
- Prokofiev's _Cinderella_ 
- Rosetti's Requiem for Mozart 
- Poulenc's Gloria 
- most of Martinů's symphonies, and his piano concertos 
- Liszt's Dante symphony 
- Lieberson's Rilke Songs 
- Delius' Mass of Life

There are dozens of Renaissance composers I've only heard of and want to explore... folks like the Huelgas Ensemble, the Brabant Ensemble, Cinquecento... they can't put out a CD without me feeling a pain at not having heard it already. It is merely a matter of brute economic reality that I haven't bought everything they've ever made... yet....


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

MagneticGhost said:


> Actually, inspired by this thread - I'm just listening to Schubert's String Quartet No.14 in D Minor D.810 'Death and the Maiden' - for the first time.
> Not quite sure how this piece passed me by, what with being a cellist and having played countless other quartets.


Awesome! 2nd movement is just......wow!










I love both these versions.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

Headphone Hermit said:


> _What?_ Ouch - I've just spluttered hot tea all over myself!


_Everyone_ knows the Ode To Joy. Most of those people probably think that about half of the last movement _is_ the entirety of Beethoven's 9th. Remember...we're talking about the masses here. I'm not wrong. The same masses that hear the name "Puccini" and go "Whoccini?"


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

A number of string quartets, piano sonatas, and symphonies by Haydn
Much romantic-era chamber music (I've heard most of the most famous pieces, though)
Much Italian opera
Mozart's early operas
Shostakovich's operas
Nono's Prometeo
The entirety of Messiaen's Catalog d'Oiseaux (as much as I do enjoy his birdsong-inspired pieces)


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Tchaikovsky's symphonies, Chopin ballades and preludes, Liszt Piano Sonata, Rachmaninov symphonies, Schubert half of the sonatas and early string quartets and first 2 symphonies, Sibelius symphonies 4, 5, 6 and 7, Shostakovich most symphonies and string quartets, Wagner and Verdi everything.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Good.
> Pleased to report that the thought-detection system appears to work .... now ready to roll out in a wider trial


You seem to be my British mirror image.

Curious, any frozen family members in your freezer? If so, how many?


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> A number of string quartets, piano sonatas, and symphonies by Haydn
> Much romantic-era chamber music (I've heard most of the most famous pieces, though)
> Much Italian opera
> 
> The entirety of Messiaen's Catalog d'Oiseaux (as much as I do enjoy his birdsong-inspired pieces)


Oh no! Illusions are shattered! Wah!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> _Everyone_ knows the Ode To Joy. Most of those people probably think that about half of the last movement _is_ the entirety of Beethoven's 9th. Remember...we're talking about the masses here. I'm not wrong. The same masses that hear the name "Puccini" and go "Whoccini?"


yes, but .... MagneticGhost isn't representative of the 'masses' is he/she? After all, there are over 2000 posts to his/her name on TC


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

hpowders said:


> You seem to be my British mirror image.
> 
> Curious, any frozen family members in your freezer? If so, how many?


I think they've all been eaten .... although there is a suspicious-looking bolognese sauce on the middle shelf :lol:


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

I see now what Sir Thomas Beecham had in mind when he made the famous quip that if he had his way, everyone would listen to 15 minutes of Mozart a day .... with an extension that they would then move on to cover the rest of the repertoire. Of course, in his day, there was very much less recorded music than today, but the principle was an admirable one


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Headphone Hermit said:


> I have about 3000 CDs. I've *heard* them all. I've *listened* to them all.
> 
> I think I should *listen more closely* to almost all of them .... except the handful that I don't actually like
> 
> Logically, that might mean that I don't need to buy any more CDs for a few lifetimes, but ..... !


3000 sounds like a lot, but it's _only_ 3000. The Brilliant Mozart box alone is 170 disks; that's one composer, and over 1/20th of the way to 3000. There are Haydn, Beethoven, Bach, Liszt boxes nearly as big. If you go through the major composers, you'll be to 3000 by the time you get to the likes of Scarlatti and Telemann.

I've loaded 131 days of music (probably about 3000 disks) onto my computer, and I haven't yet touched my Brilliant Mozart or Brahms boxes. In the course of not yet buying a lot of other CDs, I found out that amazon.com wish lists don't let you add more than 2500 items.

Even if you're one of those guys that is able to say, "I already have a recording of Mozart's 21st piano concerto and I don't need another one," at 3000 disks you're still just scratching the surface of the tradition.

So there's bound to be some fairly major stuff that you haven't heard! Henze? Taneyev? Kodály? Gubaidulina? Reger? Rubinstein? Willaert? Lassus? Aho? Steffani? Gluck?


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

science said:


> So there's bound to be some fairly major stuff that you haven't heard! Henze? Aho? Steffani?


of course ... hence the 'but .....!' that my post finished with


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

There is much to which I must confess ignorance, starting with
Shostakovich 
Prokofiev 
Wagner
Liszt
Virtually their whole output other than the odd work.
In my defence their day will come and I will rectify this


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Haydn man said:


> There is much to which I must confess ignorance, starting with
> Shostakovich
> Prokofiev
> Wagner
> ...


just nod when you're ready - I'll crank up the volume and open the windows - the sound will be audible down the M6


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

MagneticGhost said:


> Actually, inspired by this thread - I'm just listening to Schubert's String Quartet No.14 in D Minor D.810 'Death and the Maiden' - for the first time.
> Not quite sure how this piece passed me by, what with being a cellist and having played countless other quartets.


This had me chuckling. It seems that so often, the instrumental major is 'the last to know' about some famous piece for their instrument, either a part or solo rep -- precisely because they are so damned busy with all the other study / performance which gets done, there is not that 'after work time' to settle in, pop a CD of that quartet on the player, open the score, and get to know it.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I still need to get to know Bruckner's and Mahler's symphonies. Their styles have so far seemed a bit 'cumbersome' to me, but I'm not 'writing them off', I did notice that I did enjoy things about their music. I remember listening to Bruckner's 3rd symphony and being quite impressed.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"arcaneholocaust ~ Beethoven's 9th besides that one little theme."



Headphone Hermit said:


> _What?_ Ouch - I've just spluttered hot tea all over myself!


That is exactly what this thread is for. _Anyone should realize how much Beethoven there is,_ and that not having heard the full-length 9th symphony is a very commonplace event. If others on this site were as honest, I think we'd find a lot of that kind of thing among the members, i.e. "I've only heard a bit of / one movement of X."


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I've heard very frequent mentions of the composer Richard Nanes (especially in threads concerning "atonality" and "modern music"), but to this day I have never listened through the entirety of any of his works.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Mendelssohn's first symphony. Someone on another classical music board said that it(possibly the last movement?) was very repetitive and tedious--but amazing for his age--and I readily believed it. I think I may get around to listening to it one of these days.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I wouldn't say it's repetitive and tedious. I think it's a solid symphony and given his age, it's a great achievement.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

PetrB said:


> That is exactly what this thread is for. _Anyone should realize how much Beethoven there is,_ and that not having heard the full-length 9th symphony is a very commonplace event.


I am guilty of this, very much in the context in which you put it -- there is just so much Beethoven, and so it's just been a case of _haven't gotten around to the 9th just yet_. *

* in a proper manner I should add, it's not like I'm oblivious to it. ;-)


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Most 19th century music


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

trazom said:


> Mendelssohn's first symphony. Someone on another classical music board said that it(possibly the last movement?) was very repetitive and tedious


My advice re: absolutely any work would be, you should take the time to decide for yourself.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Blancrocher said:


> I've heard very frequent mentions of the composer Richard Nanes (especially in threads concerning "atonality" and "modern music"), but to this day I have never listened through the entirety of any of his works.


You're not missing a thing... but I feel the same about, a.o. -- Bax, Chausson, Franck, Rubbra, Vagn Holmboe, etc. -- so you may need to independently check out the glories of Mr. Nanes' music for yourself


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

A glaring omission is any and all of the Italian operas by the big name composers like Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and all the rest of them  That's how much I know of opera  Even of German opera, I have only heard Wagner, Berg, Schoenberg. French? Russian? Other? Nothing to speak of, although I know the names of many opera composers (more if you said them, than if I had to list them  ).

Add to that, most sacred music: Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Bach's Cantatas and all the rest of it


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Much romantic-era chamber music (I've heard most of the most famous pieces, though)
> The entirety of Messiaen's Catalog d'Oiseaux (as much as I do enjoy his birdsong-inspired pieces)


I think these are two of the most astonishing revelations on this thread so far  I just thought you knew EVERYTHING, Mahlerian


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

brotagonist said:


> I think these are two of the most astonishing revelations on this thread so far  I just thought you knew EVERYTHING, Mahlerian


It is near to impossible for any one person to know everything, 
even if that everything is "just all of western classical music." :lol:


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

'Concert overture' is a sub-genera I rarely even bother to pay attention to. It seems to be 'lesser thing' almost by definition, I've only listened to Mendelssohn's, Brahms' and perhaps one or two by a 19th century Dutch composer, I'm not impressed.

Meyerbeer? I haven't even managed to listen half of Les Huguenots. Haven't listened to Schumann's Genoveva, Beethoven's Fidelio and Saariaho L'amour de loin and many other operas bore me to death (and I give them a considerable time to get interesting, but it never happens).

There's a lot of the neoclassical I haven't tried, mainly because my 'neoclassical' is Grieg's Holberg Suite (many think of it as a light piece, I've cried to it), Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto... which after all are more nostalgic than 'neoclassical'. I have a sensitivity towards the (idealized) 18th century so I find it very difficult not to interfere with most of the 'neoclassical' (seems to me the 'neoclassical spirit' just took one or two elements of the Classical period and hyperbolized them, having little to do with the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment which is more akin to the spirit of the modernists), so I can't musically judge such music properly.

Art-song? generally not my thing.

I am very aware almost all of this is just unjustified prejudice from my part.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I think most non-classical folks have heard the Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner even though they wouldn't have the slightest idea who composed it and why.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

hpowders said:


> I think most non-classical folks have heard the Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner even though they wouldn't have the slightest idea who composed it and why.


@hpowders; your message box is full to capacity!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

PetrB said:


> @hpowders; your message box is full to capacity!


A measure of my extreme popularity????

Ha! Ha! Okay, thanks. I will now get rid of some of those love letters.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

I haven't ever listened to Messiaen's _Turangalila_, and of Beethoven's Piano Concertos, I've only heard his 5th. I've only heard one piece by Respighi (can't remember which), which I noticed to occasionally have eerie resemblances with some of Rimsky-Korsakov's music. Ives, Webern, Varèse... I think I'm also missing out on quite a lot of Brahms (especially his symphonies).

Oh, and of course, I haven't listened to almost any operas (besides the overtures).


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

KenOC said:


> 4'33"? I don't know anybody who's actually heard that.


You've caged PetrB's thread in post 5 Ken. Good work!


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Off the top of my head, here are some well-known composers that I have not gotten around to. I haven't heard a single work from these guys. Mendelssohn, Ravel, *Prokofiev*, Rachmaninoff, *R.Strauss*, and Handel.

Considering their complete oeuvres, I've heard very few works by *Wagner*, *Debussy*, Liszt, Schumann, Bach, *Schoenberg*, *Stravinsky*, Sibelius, Shostakovich, *Bartok*, *Berlioz*, Saint-Saens, Chopin, and plenty of modern era composers.

I'm not in the biggest rush to hear some of the above-mentioned composers, I'm too busy enjoying the music I've been listening to currently. The ones in bold, however, I can't wait to hear more of their music.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

The big famous oratorios are a big blind spot for me. I'm aware of the Messiah, Creation, Seasons, Elijah and Dream of Gerontius but haven't ever sat down to listen to them. Art song is bit of a wilderness for me - little knowledge of Schubert adn Schumann songs although I enjoy Debussy and Ravel. I've found Liszt's orchestral music unappealing and haven't ever really listened to it. There's a lot of 19th Century/Romantic music in all genres in fact that hasn't pulled me in - I don't know Dvorak's chamber music at all, for instance although I'm quite familiar with Brahms. I'm also not au fait with the work of a lot of "romantic" symphonists from the early to mid C20. That includes the tone poems etc of Sibelius.

Some other areas I know little about include Prokofiev's piano and chamber music, Shostakovich quartets, bel canto, Beethoven quartets, minimalism, electro-acoustic music (although I'm improving on this one), classical era music that isn't Mozart, Baroque music that isn't Bach, Rameau or Scarlatti, the Renaissance, and so on

Basically, I know a tiny little bit about classical music


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2014)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Off the top of my head, here are some well-known composers that I have not gotten around to. I haven't heard a single work from these guys. Mendelssohn, Ravel, *Prokofiev*, Rachmaninoff, *R.Strauss*, and Handel.
> 
> Considering their complete oeuvres, I've heard very few works by *Wagner*, *Debussy*, Liszt, Schumann, Bach, *Schoenberg*, *Stravinsky*, Sibelius, Shostakovich, *Bartok*, *Berlioz*, Saint-Saens, Chopin, and plenty of modern era composers.
> 
> I'm not in the biggest rush to hear some of the above-mentioned composers, I'm too busy enjoying the music I've been listening to currently. The ones in bold, however, I can't wait to hear more of their music.


I've only been listening to classical for a year more than you but damn...I envy you. You have some wild times ahead. I do too, of course, but damn!


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I've only been listening to classical for a year more than you but damn...I envy you. You have some wild times ahead. I do too, of course, but damn!


I know it, man. It's definitely exciting, but with just life in general, music takes a backseat so often it seems like it'll take forever to get to all of them. Work, family, other hobbies, other stuff, etc... It'll happen, though.

The long list of composers I've yet to explore also has to do with my listening habits. I cannot in a serious way move on to a new composer until I've at least somewhat heard a decent amount of the composer that I'm currently listening to. For instance, when I discovered Mahler, I heard more than half of his symphonies before I even thought about listening to someone else.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Wood said:


> You've caged PetrB's thread in post 5 Ken. Good work!


A worthy groaner. What musician does not at least a little love a pun?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I've only been listening to classical for a year more than you but damn...I envy you. You have some wild times ahead. I do too, of course, but damn!


I don't know if it is envy, but when I read that someone has not heard Turangalila, or maybe nothing by Messiaen at all, or _only_ the fifth of Beethoven's piano concerti, etc. I do think 'ooooh, major thrills coming up,' but also would love to be a fly on the wall to watch that listener's reaction, because my guess is for much of this 'I haven't yet heard stuff,' it will be difficult for the listeners to feel in any way indifferent.

The 'failing' of not having gotten to this piece, that composer, is also another testimony proof about how immense the ocean of classical music from over the ages there is... maybe better put, there is enough it is both oceans and the mountains.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

PetrB said:


> I don't know if it is envy, but when I read that someone has not heard Turangalila, or maybe nothing by Messiaen at all, or _only_ the fifth of Beethoven's piano concerti, etc. I do think 'ooooh, major thrills coming up,' but also would love to be a fly on the wall to watch that listener's reaction, because my guess is for much of this 'I haven't yet heard stuff,' it will be difficult for the listeners to feel in any way indifferent.


Not sure I catch exactly what you're trying to get across here, could you elaborate a bit? The last sentence, mainly.

Edit: Never mind, it's been cleared up.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Not sure I catch exactly what you're trying to get across here, could you elaborate a bit? The last sentence, mainly.


He's excited for them because they're most likely about hear something that will really move them. I think.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

trazom said:


> He's excited for them because they're most likely about hear something that will really move them. I think.


That's what I thought, he was agreeing with arcaneholocaust. I thought he perhaps was slightly differing with him in his agreement, I read it wrong.

Thanks for the clear up.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

PetrB said:


> The 'failing' of not having gotten to this piece, that composer, is also another testimony proof about how immense the ocean of classical music from over the ages there is... maybe better put, there is enough it is both oceans and the mountains.


This is right on the money. I've said it plenty of times on this forum. There is staggeringly intimidating amount of great music out there. We almost have to resign ourselves to the fact that we just won't hear all of it. "I'm quite confident of this statement. Pure and simple".


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Last summer (2013) I finally got around to playing Humperdinck's _Hänsel und Gretel_ which had been lingering on my shelves for nearly a decade. I wanted to kick myself upon playing it because I immediately fell in love with the work... so much so that I played it 3 times through... back to back... then rushed out to purchase 3 more recordings of the work.

Around the same time I set about filling in the huge gaps in my collection of Stravinsky's music. I had immediately loved the _Rite of Spring, Petruschka_, and the _Firebird_ and never understood how anyone could find these works shocking or difficult. Stravinsky's later music? I liked what I heard... or rather I admired it... but didn't really love it... so I set off to rectify that. With time I came to recognize that in some ways Stravinsky was quite like my beloved Mozart... witty, clever, elegant, playful, rarely wearing his heart on his sleeve... but certainly not emotionless.

Last Winter it was Dvorak who I came to recognize as woefully under-appreciated by me... and under represented within my collection. I have still not wholly heard all the chamber works by him that I wish to know... and I'm embarrassed to admit that I still do not have a copy of his opera, _Rusalka_, although I did hear it performed on the radio in performance from the Met.

Most recently I set about picking up the music of Leoš Janáček. I heard his opera, _The Cunning Little Vixen_ on the radio... again from the Met... and I was blown away. I wanted to kick myself as my work schedule made it impossible to see this work performed live here in town. I have since picked up and listened to _Jenufa, From the House of the Dead_, and _The Excursions of Mr. Broucek_ and been equally enthralled.

But with this exploration of Janacek I must admit to my greatest lapse... and that certainly is the operas of Verdi. La Traviata was the first opera ever seen by me... in the classic Zeffirelli film. Theresa Stratas still IS _Violetta_... and the opera remains one of my favorites. And _Aida! Aida_ was the first opera that I ever saw in person in live performance. And from that moment on I was reborn as an opera aficionado... a fanatic. But for whatever reason I ended up collecting a greater percentage of the overall oeuvres of other Italian opera composers from Vivaldi to Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Puccini. And I became a sworn acolyte of Gluck and Mozart's operas... a sworn Wagnerian and Straussian. I may even have more recordings of operettas and operas by Offenbach or Johan Strauss II than I do of Verdi.

Somehow Verdi got lost in the mix. Yes, I have _La Traviata_... several recordings... and _Aida_... and _MacBeth, Un ballo maschera_ and _Otello_... but that's it! No! I just checked I actually own a copy of _Falstaff, Simon Boccanegra, and Il trovatore_... but I've yet to listen to them... and still no _Rigoletto, Nabucco, Attila, Jerusalem_... and I may actually own more recordings of Wagner's _Ring_ than operas by Verdi (deservedly so?)

Yet I have three or four recordings of Verdi's _Requiem_!

Accckk!!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Not sure I catch exactly what you're trying to get across here, could you elaborate a bit? The last sentence, mainly.
> 
> Edit: Never mind, it's been cleared up.


Yep, simply vicarious excitement for those who have not heard a work, or even any music by a particular composer, and for whom the experience will be 'new.'

The older you get, and the more music you are familiar with, those occasions become less frequent (though there is, even then, more to explore.)


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

PetrB said:


> Yep, simply vicarious excitement for those who have not heard a work, or even any music by a particular composer, and for whom the experience will be 'new.'
> 
> The older you get, and the more music you are familiar with, those occasions become less frequent (though there is, even then, more to explore.)


Now that makes me wonder if some listeners who get REALLY old and forget pieces they've heard, get to experience that thrill of discovering a piece all over again.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Sticking mainly to really big name must listens, and off the top of my head:

Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 
_All _opera with the exception of the complete Ring Cycle, Fidelio, and L'Orfeo 
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Whomever wrote A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Britten? Barber? One of the "B" guys.

Now I have to consult my catalog

Boccherini - whatever quartet or quintet his famous minuet is excerpted from. It's a little hard to find.
Brahms - Symphony No. 5, even harder to find. (Just wanted to see if ya'll are awake.) 
Haydn - most of his quartets with the exception of about four from the middle 40s in numbering.
Mozart - quartets
Schubert - Wintersomethingorother
Scriabin - piano music. I'm more familiar with his orchestral works. 
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 1 I've heard the opening bit and thought it borderline corny, though I love Vaughan Williams.

And of course about four and half billion lesser known works. I'm sure I'm leaving something big out.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Last summer (2013) I finally got around to playing Humperdinck's _Hänsel und Gretel_ which had been lingering on my shelves for nearly a decade. I wanted to kick myself upon playing it because I immediately fell in love with the work... so much so that I played it 3 times through... back to back... then rushed out to purchase 3 more recordings of the work.
> 
> Around the same time I set about filling in the huge gaps in my collection of Stravinsky's music. I had immediately loved the _Rite of Spring, Petruschka_, and the _Firebird_ and never understood how anyone could find these works shocking or difficult. Stravinsky's later music? I liked what I heard... or rather I admired it... but didn't really love it... so I set off to rectify that. With time I came to recognize that in some ways Stravinsky was quite like my beloved Mozart... witty, clever, elegant, playful, rarely wearing his heart on his sleeve... but certainly not emotionless.
> 
> ...


Thanks for such a great post! (even if your contribution directly fits my intent, lol.) I was loathe to single you out as 'that guy with hundreds as of yet unopened CD's in his collection,' but as always, you are directly honest and you write so well.

There is just too damned much really great music! Somewhere in my youth, while devouring mainly anything remotely modern, I picked up _Hansel und Gretel,_ on some odd impulse more than a real reason [(it must have been the 1971 recording with
Kurt Eichhorn; Munich Radio Orchestra, Anna Moffo, Helen Donath, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Christa Ludwig] and can somewhat imagine how charmed / taken with it you were when you when you put it on, and that first hearing!

*Anyone who has ever 'had trouble' with opera would do well to pay particular attention to 'how you got into opera,' including the specific naming of that most remarkable  La Traviata as filmed by Zefferelli, and attending a live performance!*

... and that "Accckk!!" -- though certainly a very First World accckk, is a rather delicious one, idn't it?


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I can't speak for "many of us", but I've never heard these:

Beethoven: _Archduke Trio_, many quartets
Bach: _The Goldberg Variations_, _The Art of the Fugue_

I heard Beethoven's _Kreutzer Sonata_ for the first time only a month or so ago, and was surprised by how much I liked it.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> I know it, man. It's definitely exciting, but with just life in general, music takes a backseat so often it seems like it'll take forever to get to all of them. Work, family, other hobbies, other stuff, etc... It'll happen, though.
> 
> The long list of composers I've yet to explore also has to do with my listening habits. I cannot in a serious way move on to a new composer until I've at least somewhat heard a decent amount of the composer that I'm currently listening to. For instance, when I discovered Mahler, I heard more than half of his symphonies before I even thought about listening to someone else.


Cancel your subscription to cable TV, and maybe, just maybe, throw the damned device out. It is just amazing what time you'll find for all sorts of things


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

PetrB said:


> Cancel your subscription to cable TV, and maybe, just maybe, throw the damned device out. It is just amazing what time you'll find for all sorts of things


That's just it, though. I _very __rarely _watch TV. I watch movies because that is one of my hobbies, I love Italian film. Especially old Italian neorealism, my collection of Italian cinema is almost bigger than my classical music CD collection.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> That's just it, though. I _very __rarely _watch TV. I watch movies because that is one of my hobbies, I love Italian film. Especially old Italian neorealism, my collection of Italian cinema is almost bigger than my classical music CD collection.


Wow, that's wonderful. I really wish I could drop in occasionally and take in a good film with you. I'd bring drinks!


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> That's just it, though. I _very __rarely _watch TV. I watch movies because that is one of my hobbies, I love Italian film. Especially old Italian neorealism, my collection of Italian cinema is almost bigger than my classical music CD collection.


Do you watch them in Italian?


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

GioCar said:


> Do you watch them in Italian?


Definitely! Senza sottotitoli.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

trazom said:


> Now that makes me wonder if some listeners who get REALLY old and forget pieces they've heard, get to experience that thrill of discovering a piece all over again.


LOl, unless there is some serious and tragic loss of brain function due to accident or some condition like Parkinson's disease, I'm afraid not.

Real familiarity with a piece of music and then a long time where it has been forgotten is a bit like having learned to ride a bicycle, having ridden one for a while and then for a very long time, not: getting back on years later it all pretty much comes back in a flash.

Sure, the person newly recalling a piece of music long ago forgotten might thrill a bit more freshly to 'that bit where,' a particular passage, etc. but overall, it _all_ comes back at once.

I've found this is near identical with a work you've composed. Once far in the back of the mind, enough to be considered forgotten, all it takes is a bit more than a nanosecond upon first hearing it again (or that first glance at the score.) There is a fantastic very very brief moment where you almost have the sensation of being an listener to whom the piece is completely new, but in the next split-second, what you've made yourself comes fully back, and in even less of an instant than when you hear the work of another you've forgotten about.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Definitely! Senza sottotitoli.


 :clapaisà!

Which is also a amazing film by Roberto Rossellini as you know


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I just thought of a few more: I've never heard Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, or St. Mark's (?) Passion, or St. Luke's (?) Passion, or any other Passions he may have written. I love many other Bach works (but just J.S.).

Others have written in this thread about the joy of hearing a piece for the first time, and the loss one feels when that is no longer possible. I had the great fortune to hear Dvorak's Symphony #8 (for free!) for the first time live at UW-Madison, performed by a good orchestra. I'd never heard it before, and I loved it. I especially loved the sputtering sounds of the horns in the last movement!


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Alan Hovhaness gets mentioned every now and again. I haven't seriously looked into any of his works, I've got the impression that they are cheese and unelaborated. I think I remember listening to something that was a carbon copy of 'The Swan of Tuonela'.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

I'd like to include famous pieces I used to know, but have utterly forgotten and would probably not recognize when listening to a clip/sample of it: Schumann and Brahms's symphonies. I just bought a CD of Schumann's symphonies but there's still the matter of going up, getting it, putting it in the CD player and listening to all of it. I love his piano and cello concertos, but I'm worried about how I'll respond to the symphonies and I feel I should wait longer to build up the anticipation.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I am told there was music written "before" Wagner, but I still cannot get my head around that concept enough to grasp such abstractions as a "Haydn", "Mozart", or "Vivaldi" and what such things could entail. It is like asking what occurred "before" the Big Bang, or time - itself.


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## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

I'm going to say it - _CHAMBER MUSIC_.

A genre I've long known but neglected completely (because it didn't _sound _right.)

Rubinstein and Yo-Yo Ma will help me. Among new likes are: Schumann's Piano Quintet, Dvorak's Second Piano Quartet and Brahms' First and Third Piano Quartets.

While I'm at it... Any Classical works recommended? Romantic and Modern works tend to be a little ambiguous to me. Classical works have that loveliness and playfulness. Even baroque....

Haydn?


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

^I hadn't heard a lot of chamber music until this past year or so. I'd definitely recommend Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio and Brahms' Piano Trios. I just recently listened to Schumann's chamber for the first time. I still have yet to listen to any of Haydn's String Quartets.

For me, it's mainly opera. There are a number of operas that I know of, but have yet to listen to. The only Wagner I've listened to in its entirely is _Tannhauser_ and the opera that bears my namesake  _Lohengrin_ is on to my to-listen list.

Additionally, I still have yet to listen to _The Barber of Seville_ in its entirety, although I have heard much of it from a highlights CD.

I have not heard many of Beethoven's piano sonatas, and I have not listened to any of Mozart's violin concertos in full. So I have some work to do


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