# How To Best Learn About Classical Music



## DoctorZhivago

Until several months ago, I hadn't really heard much classical music at all, (Vivaldi, Purcell and Grieg being the exceptions). Around this time, one of my roommates showed me a rap song which I now know had a fragment of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto 1st Movement in the introduction. Naturally, I ended up listening to the entire concerto and fell in love with it. Since then, I have listened to some Beethoven, Wagner, Paganini, Bizet, and Dvorak. I have really come to love many of these pieces more than any other music I have heard before. 

I think Tchaikovsky is still my favorite, but really love some of Wagner's works as well. What do you all think is the best way to explore and learn about Classical music? Should I merely youtube different composers, or is there a better more systematic/meaningful way to go about learning? 

Additionally, does anyone have any suggestions for specific composers? Like my taste in paintings, I am finding that the Romantic Composers most appeal to me (Wagner and Tchaikovsky are from that movement, right?:lol

Thanks for everyone's help and I am excited to be a part of this forum!


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## mmsbls

Welcome to Talk Classical (TC). There are several resources here that might help. The sticky notes have useful information on a number of topics. Under Classical Music Discussion there is a thread, Music Books - A Quick Reference (http://www.talkclassical.com/2150-music-books-quick-reference.html). This thread lists many classical music books. The first section lists general books that could be useful.

There are sticky threads which include the TC lists of various classical works. Under the Music and Repertoire / Orchestral Music section there are 2 sticky thread lists: The TC Top 100 Most Recommended Keyboard Concerti and the The TC 150 Most Recommended Symphonies. Those lists might help you explore some great (as determined by several TC people who participated in creating those lists) works.

I don't know what would work best for you, but I can tell you what I did when I was roughly in your situation. I bought the Goulding book which is listed in the music books sticky thread. That book lists the author's selection of the top 50 composers and their top 1000 works. I simply went through that book and tried to sample those works as much as possible.

If you have lots of money, you can buy recordings, but perhaps a better way is to listen to youtube selections (it's amazing how much is on youtube). There are some music libraries online (Naxos.com has a very large sample), and you can join and have access to a large number of works.

I have found that the works the "experts" like tend to be the works I (and others here) like as well. In a relatively short time I was able to listen to a significant number of works from the great composers. I was just overwhelmed with how much beautiful music there was. It's a wonderful journey. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


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## superhorn

Welcome to Talkclassical ! The best way is just to listen-period ! There are so many ways
you can.If you live in a town where there's a symphony orchestra,opera company etc, get tickets .Contact the group's websites for inforamtion on this. If you don't, listen to CDs, 
listen to performances on the internet, or catch PBS telecasts of classical performances.
Get classical DVDs. In classical , it's often necessary to give any given work repeated hearings before you get it .This has happened to me so many times. Don't automatically decide you don't like something based on just one hearing.
There are quite a few good books for classical newbies,such as Classical music 101 by Fred Plotkin, or The Essential Canon of Classical Music by David Dubal, or waht to listen for in music by the late Aaron Copland. Wikipedia is a good place for reliable quick information on any classical composer or work. 
It's like being the proverbial kid in a candy store- there's so much classical music and information about it easily available to you.
The books by Plotkin,Dubal and Copland are easily available fro amazon.com etc.
A great place to order classical CDs and DVDs is arkivmusic.com, which has a humongous selection of classical CDs and DVDs available of countless works by countless composers. You can look up any CD or DVD alphabetically by composer or performer and choose from the categories composer,conductor, instrumentalists and orchestras etc. There's whole separate section for opera, too. There's a link to the classical CD review website classicstoday.com where you can get recommendations for recordings . 
You can also hear many of the CDs at arkiv.com. If you're looking for budget CDs, the best record label is Naxos, and you can check their website.
Other top classical record labels are Decca , EMI, R.C.A., Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos,Hyperion , CPO , and Supraphon. You can check all their websites.


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## Llyranor

A year ago, I didn't really listen to classical at all. Now, I own hundreds of CD's. A deadly drug, classical is!

My method of expansion was to look up which pieces were being played at local concerts (by the way, attending a live concert is a world difference versus listening to a CD - highly highly recommended), listen to samples on youtube (there is tons of content). I would then gauge which composers I liked (for example, in loving Sibelius' violin concerto, I went and explored his symphonies as well), or which types of words I liked (I love concertos, so I'd go and listen to the well-known ones first, and then branch out from there), or look up other words by a certain performer (for example, I love Szeryng's violin playing, so I've picked up some CD's he's made involving some pretty obscure compositions). There's just so many ways, and you can't really go wrong as long as you keep listening.


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## Weston

You Tube is a great way to explore. Wikipedia's section on classical music is really all you need to know about the different time periods and composers to help you make informed decisions about what to listen to next. I think there's even a list of composers from the romantic period.

If you like Wagner, you can't go wrong with Bruckner. His symphonies are epic!


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## emiellucifuge

I second mmsbls, one of the lists is linked in my signature.

Other than that, try reading up about classical music history. Get a book that doesnt go into the technical stuff, and find all the works mentioned on youtube.


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## TxllxT

My way of getting more and more at home inside Classical Music was to visit the public library. When I happened to like one work of a certain composer I just borrowed another work of him (mostly it is a 'him') and so on. In the past (I don't know much about the present situation anymore) Dutch librarians made a kind of pre-selection of good recordings (they have limited funds), so this helped a lot. When you start wrongly with a no-good-interpretation, this catastrophical burdening will take a lot of time to get out of your ears. So be careful to listen always to the best interpretation possible!


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## DoctorZhivago

Thank you everyone for the advice so far! I just stumbled upon Alkan and have been enjoying him very much, although I think I will need to listen to more of Bruckner now. 

I will be working this summer in Jersey City right across from NYC, so will hopefully be able to go to some concerts right across the river. Do they tend to be costly?


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## samurai

DoctorZhivago said:


> Thank you everyone for the advice so far! I just stumbled upon Alkan and have been enjoying him very much, although I think I will need to listen to more of Bruckner now.
> 
> I will be working this summer in Jersey City right across from NYC, so will hopefully be able to go to some concerts right across the river. Do they tend to be costly?


Unfortunately, as everything else in the city these days, the answer is most definitely YES. However, sometimes there are free concerts in some of the parks in the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, so you might do well in checking the Village Voice for these upcoming events. Good luck and let me know if that works--maybe I'll join you at some of them.


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## Xaltotun

I'll have to recommend Spotify again - best program for listening to classical music IMHO. Also, read Wikipedia, read books, Google stuff up, read old talkclassical threads... I think these are self-evident. I am also someone who loves Romantic music best, including Wagner and Tchaikovsky, so I'll list some of the usual warhorses for you:

Beethoven (try symphonies 3, 5, 7), Schubert (symphonies 8 and 9), Brahms (piano concertos 1 and 2, double concerto, symphonies 1 and 3), Schumann (violin concerto, symphony 1), Berlioz (symphonie fantastique, harold en italie), Saint-Saëns (symphony 3), Bruckner (symphonies 4, 5, 7, 8), Sibelius (symphonies 1, 2, 4, 5, violin concerto, lemminkäinen suite, nightride and sunrise), Rachmaninov (piano concertos 1 and 2, symphonies 1 and 2), Richard Strauss (also sprach zarathustra, ein heldenleben), Mahler (symphony 2), Rimsky-Korsakov (scheherazade, symphony 2), Mussorgsky (pictures at an exhibition orchestrated by Ravel), Borodin (symphony 2), Dvorak (symphony 9), Smetana (ma vlast) etc.

There's a lot of stuff to be heard... take your time! Broaden your knowledge on these guys too, I just listed some of their more obvious works as examples. Also, check out some classical era music like Mozart and Haydn, without whom Romantic music could not exist, as well as some later impressionist/expressionist/modern stuffs that could not exist had it not been for Romantic music (Debussy, Ravel, Nielsen, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky...)


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## science

Try to find out about university orchestras. I'd guess that Princeton and Columbia both have good enough orchestras and wouldn't cost too much.


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## Vaneyes

DoctorZhivago said:


> Thank you everyone for the advice so far! I just stumbled upon Alkan and have been enjoying him very much, although I think I will need to listen to more of Bruckner now.
> 
> I will be working this summer in Jersey City right across from NYC, so will hopefully be able to go to some concerts right across the river. Do they tend to be costly?


You're on a fast learning curve with the likes of Alkan and Bruckner. I think my beginning preferences were Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Faure. What superhorn says--listen, listen, listen. Make notes, too. Remember, a short sharp pencil is better than a long long memory. Good luck, have fun, enjoy.


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## Pieck

As an obsessive guy I can tell you how I started out. I started by copying all of my mother's orchestral works to my computer, and than I found Brahms.. explored all of his chamber and orchestral works, bought Bernstein 60 CD box set, got to this forum and started to read threads for recommendations.
If you like Ronaticism, explore deeper. If you like orchestral, explore symphonies, maybe concerti and so on.
You have great list the TC members made for exactly people who wants to know more.
And most inportant: listen to music, that's the best tip I can give you. I listen 6 hours a day and I'm sad I cant more.
Oh, and I choose a work, listen to it once a day until I either enjoy it or dont get it, and move on (of course there are several works a day) and I'll get back to it when the mood strikes me (obsessive). Dont get me wrong, I do listen to works I already know, but I cant sleep if I'm not learning new works.


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## science

I'd also say, let some of your purchases be total shots in the dark. If you're at a store with used CDs or a bargain pile or barrel or corner or whatever, just dig through it and get whatever intrigues you. Composers and works you've never heard of, don't know how to pronounce, etc.


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## Barnicool

I know a great website where you can learn all about classical music ie theory of music (5 grades), history, the orchestra, composers etc. You can study a short mini-course and then take a quiz to see how much you remember. Also there are loads of videos and audio just to enjoy. One-2-Five music online


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## CaptainAzure

DoctorZhivago said:


> Until several months ago, I hadn't really heard much classical music at all, (Vivaldi, Purcell and Grieg being the exceptions). Around this time, one of my roommates showed me a rap song which I now know had a fragment of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto 1st Movement in the introduction. Naturally, I ended up listening to the entire concerto and fell in love with it. Since then, I have listened to some Beethoven, Wagner, Paganini, Bizet, and Dvorak. I have really come to love many of these pieces more than any other music I have heard before.
> 
> I think Tchaikovsky is still my favorite, but really love some of Wagner's works as well. What do you all think is the best way to explore and learn about Classical music? Should I merely youtube different composers, or is there a better more systematic/meaningful way to go about learning?
> 
> Additionally, does anyone have any suggestions for specific composers? Like my taste in paintings, I am finding that the Romantic Composers most appeal to me (Wagner and Tchaikovsky are from that movement, right?:lol
> 
> Thanks for everyone's help and I am excited to be a part of this forum!


You have to ask me what to listen to, and I will tell you.


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## kv466

Gosh, nowaways it's so easy to become aquainted with not only classical but any type of new music one wants to learns by simply using the internet...with sites such as youtube or pandora you can hear more than most people forty years ago could have heard in their lifetime.


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## Meaghan

Judging by what you've enjoyed so far, I think there is a very good chance you would like Mahler, and you should definitely check him out if you haven't already. His first symphony is an easy place to start (it was the one that got me hooked on Mahler), but since you seem to like other late romantic stuff, you might do fine starting with any of them.


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## Ralfy

Also, some textbooks, like those by Kamien, can be helpful, esp. if they come with CDs containing sample works. I think several of them can be found for low prices in used book stores.


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## hemidemisemiquaver

Llyranor said:


> attending a live concert is a world difference versus listening to a CD - highly highly recommended


Indeed. No matter how attentive to detail you are, listening to a piece in headphones colossally differs from what you hear in a concert hall or cathedral. It's location acoustics, and lots of other things. For example, I thought that I know how pipe organ sounds, but after it took shape of synthesizers I'm always tinkering with I was astounded. (If it were a blind test, and somebody asked me about what do I hear, I would never mention organ!) Thus, concerts are enourmously enriching in terms of learning more about the nature of things.


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## Mal

DoctorZhivago said:


> I think Tchaikovsky is still my favorite, but really love some of Wagner's works as well...


By that do you mean you love the entire ring cycle or a few "bleeding chunks" like "Ride of the Valkyries"?


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## dsphipps100

I am going to recommend a book that, when I was a teenager just getting to know classical music, absolutely changed my life:








http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Great-Composers-Harold-Schonberg/dp/0393038572

It's "The Lives of the Great Composers" by Harold C. Schonberg (yes, that is the correct spelling), one of the most prominent music critics for the New York Times. You can get copies off of Amazon for as little as $5.

Schonberg covers, pretty much, the whole of classical music history in one volume, generally giving one chapter to each of the most prominent composers. (Some lesser composers he lumps together into group chapters.) So what you get isn't a highly detailed, exhaustive biography by any means, but by the time you finish, you'll have a good, basic grasp of who each of history's greatest composers were, what kind of person they were, what motivated them to write the music they did, and the influences in their lives that shaped them as composers. In short, you'll be able to listen to their music and understand the _person_ who is behind that music.

For me, that changed _everything_ as I was struggling to learn the vast, huge repertoire that is classical music. It brings out the humanity that is behind all that music.

Schonberg's writing style, while highly intelligent and well-informed, is also straight-forward, down-to-earth, and very easy to read. It's as if he's sitting in a chair next to you and having a pleasant conversion with you. He knows he's not addressing an audience of Ivy-League music history professors, but rather, the paying, work-a-day audience who's sitting in the seats at the Local Philharmonic Orchestra and who simply wants to better understand what they're listening to.

When I was in college, I majored in music, and in all of my music history classes, I had a much easier time of it than my fellow students, and I guarantee you it was because I had devoured this book so thoroughly during my high school years, which gave me an overall perspective on the class subject before the semester even began that my fellow students were woefully lacking. (They were especially displeased at the way that I blew the curve on all the exams.







)

So if you would like to get a good, solid grasp on the overall arch of classical music history and also to get a basic understanding of the people behind the music that you're listening to, I cannot think of a better investment than this book. It is probably the best, single resource that I have ever used in my entire life to educate myself about classical music. And at as little as $5 off of Amazon, it's an absolute steal.









PS There are two minor caveats I should mention about this book: In every copy that I've seen (it might have changed in more recent editions, but I don't know), Mahler was one of the composers who gets lumped into a chapter with other composers. (The composers he's grouped with are Bruckner and Max Reger.) So, some of you who are died-in-the-wool Mahlerians (like me) might be offended by that. We just have to keep in mind that, when Schonberg (the author) started his career in the mid-20th Century, Mahler's place in the repertoire wasn't nearly as prominent as it is today. If you want a really exhaustive biography of Mahler, then you can certainly turn to Henry Louis a la Grange, but in the meantime, I just wanted to warn the Mahler aficionados before you get this book and then have your fur stand on end when you discover that Mahler doesn't have a chapter all to himself.

The other caveat is that Schonberg takes a rather dim view of atonal music. (So here comes the requisite joke, Schonberg doesn't like Schoenberg!







) And since this book is written in a highly conversational style, as I mentioned earlier, his opinion on that issue is very much out in the open. (I personally have to agree with him, I can't stand atonal music myself, so I was actually nodding in agreement with him, but some of you might feel differently - so I figured I better give you fair warning.)

Happy reading.


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## Strange Magic

I agree completely with the endorsement of Schonberg's book. Despite a few lapses of judgment (Why, even I have those), Schonberg does a very fine job. He ends the book well, discussing the extremely diverse and confused state "classical" music finds itself in, in today's world.


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## Guest

In addition to "The Lives of the Great Composers," you should also check out the courses by Professor Robert Greenberg with the Teach Company, available on Audible also. 
For example:
http://www.audible.com/pd/Arts-Ente...f=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1452983029&sr=1-1

I have learned a lot from these courses and he's also very entertaining.

Also listen to a LOT of music and attend concerts as well, as others pointed out.


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## Bevo

Tchaikovsky was who also got me started into Classical music. I just had to discover composers and music on my own. Other than the melancholy moods of his pieces, I think it was also the excellent lyrical melodies he wrote. That then got me hooked on to Mozart, and if you like Mozart then try Haydn and Clementi. (My favorite era is the Classical Era). As far as the Romantic Era goes, the closest thing I have found is Saint-Saens. I particularly love his 3rd symphony! Very Tchaikovskyian!! Also check out a work title Ma Vlast. And if you have an Amazon prime account, search for composers/pieces and filter "prime" music only. Free recordings to see if you like the piece and want to buy it. Just remember that interpretations vary!!! Best of luck!!


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## dsphipps100

Bevo said:


> Tchaikovsky was who also got me started into Classical music. I just had to discover composers and music on my own. Other than the melancholy moods of his pieces, I think it was also the excellent lyrical melodies he wrote.


If you like Tchaikovsky, then there's a good chance you would also enjoy Rachmaninoff. His 2nd Piano Concerto and/or the Variations on a Theme of Paganini would be good starting places with him.









Bevo said:


> As far as the Romantic Era goes, the closest thing I have found is Saint-Saens. I particularly love his 3rd symphony! Very Tchaikovskyian!!


You should also listen to Saint-Saens' 2nd Piano Concerto, his tone poem, "Danse Macabre", and his "Carnival of the Animals", all of which are quite popular and could probably be found on YouTube or other online sources without too much difficulty.


Bevo said:


> Also check out a work title Ma Vlast.


Ma Vlast is by a Bohemian composer named Bedrich Smetana. "Ma Vlast" means "My Fatherland" or "My Homeland", and is a suite of tone poems depicting various features of Bohemia. The most popular, by far, is "The Moldau" (also known as "Vltava"). The Szell-Cleveland recording of that piece is especially excellent.

In addition, if you like the music of Smetana, there is a good chance that you would also enjoy the music of Antonin Dvorak, who was also Bohemian like Smetana. Dvorak has a rather large number of compositions that are quite popular and could be easily found. Probably his most popular composition is his Symphony # 9, the famous "New World" Symphony. His 7th and 8th Symphonies are also quite popular, as is his "Carnival Overture" and his "Slavonic Dances". His Cello Concerto, written at about the same time as the "New World" Symphony, is one of the most highly regarded cello concerti in the repertoire.

I suspect all of that should probably keep you busy for a good while. Happy listening.


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## Pesaro

"The best way is just to listen-period !"

I agree. Listen first, then read. For example, if you read all about sonata-allegro form and then try to figure it out, you will probably get quite confused. Listen until you get tired and then later read about the music, it will make a lot more sense. Just my opinion.


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