# Classical Music Recommendations?



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

Hi everyone.
Though I have listened to LOTS of classical music, I would love hearing even more. I would like all of you to respond. Even better, tell me what recordings of each piece you prefer.
I'll tell you a little bit about myself to help you:
I play violin. But I also love music for the piano, harp, cello, and oboe.
I like all eras of classical music, but Romantic is my favorite.
I haven't really listened to 12-tone music. In fact, the only 12-tone piece I've heard is Stravinsky's "The Owl and the Pussycat".
My "top five" composers are Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky (in no particular order.)

So send in the recommendations!


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Some random recommendations off the top of my head:
Schubert's Fantasy for violin and piano in C major
Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for Harp, String Quartet, Flute and Clarinet
Debussy's Cello Sonata
Milhaud's Les reves de Jacob
Bonus: Dutilleux's Les Citations (an unusual work I discovered recently, not sure what I think of it but it has an oboe so there you go)
About 12-tone music, my way in was Berg's Violin Concerto. Have not heard much more than that yet but there's lots of praise for Schoenberg's Piano Concerto too, the bits I heard sound quite "accessible".


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Start with Carlos Kleiber's recording of Beethoven's Symphony 5 and 7 on DG label. That is enough for a good start .


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites
Helen Callus, *viola*

Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G Major
Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Phillips

Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade
Kirill Kondrashin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos
Kyung Wha Chung
Charles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra

:tiphat:


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

You might like Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony, if you haven't listened to it yet. The second movement opens with a big oboe solo. Also the Franck Symphony in D minor.

I'd also recommend Rimsky-Korsakov's _Capriccio Espagnol_, Sibelius' _Violin Concerto_, and Prokofiev's _Classical Symphony_.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

These are just a few of the more iconic ones...
*Beethoven*
Symphonies 3, 5, 6, 9
all the piano sonatas
Piano Concerto 5
*Mozart*
Symphonies 39, 40, 41
Piano concerto 21
Operas: Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte, the Magic Flute
Requiem in D Minor
Flute and Harp concerto
*Bach*
Mass in B Minor
Orchestral Suite 3
Brandenburg Concerti
Well-Tempered Clavier
Art of Fugue
A Musical Offering
*Handel*
Messiah
*Haydn*
Trumpet Concerto
lots of symphonies to choose from
The Creation
The Seasons
*Schubert*
Symphonies 8 and 9
Piano quintet, "The Trout"
Songs - Gretchen am Spinnrade, Erlkonig, Die Forelle
Song cycles - Winterreise
*Brahms*
Symphony 1
String Sextet
*Dvorak*
Symphony 9
Serenade
"American" quartet
*Debussy*
La Mer
Prelude l'apres-midi d'un faune
*Strauss, Richard*
Also Sprach Zarathustra
*Strauss, Johann II*
"On the Beautiful Blue Danube" waltz
*Elgar*
Cello Concerto
"Enigma" variationsrg
Violin Concerto
*Schoenberg*
Transfigured Night
Three Piano Pieces
*Britten*
Peter Grimes
A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
*Stravinsky*
The Rite of Spring
Petrushka
The Firebird
Symphony of Psalms
*Vaughan Williams*
Symphonies 1, 5 and 9
Fantasias: Tallis and Greensleeves

This is _by no means_ exhaustive, but a good start nonetheless.


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

I'll leave out the five composers you mentioned. Other than them, these would mostly be my personal top picks, from my so far rather limited experience as a listener.

Dufay: Credo of "Missa L'homme arme" (Oxford Camerata or Hilliard Ensemble - they're quite different and I wouldn't want to be without either)

Dufay: Ecclesia militantis (Huelgas Ensemble)

Bach: BWV 1053, 2nd movement (Tepp, although I'm not too familiar with the competition - but I do prefer the original oboe version and this is one)

Bach: BWV 543 Prelude and Fugue in A minor (Biggs)

Bach: Ich ruf zu dir Herr (piano transcription played by Queffelec)

Bach: BWV 546 Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Guardiani - on youtube only; other good ones are Preston and Stefanski - avoid the rest)

Bach: the duetto chorale from cantata BWV 36 (Suzuki, vol 47; amazing recording)

Bach: harpsichord concerto in D minor BWV 1052 (Robert Hill is a good one)

Bach: Christ unser Herr zum Jordan Kam BWV 684 (Rubsam; wonderful interpretation; there are two pieces by Bach that have this exact same title, just the BWV number is different, this one is the longer piece)

Marais: Folies d'Espagne, from book II of viol pieces (Savall is OK)

Cesar Franck: prelude op. 18, piano transcription (I'm not too familiar with different recordings but the one on youtube by MaestroCanale is great; I've heard at least one other great one but I can't remember by whom)

Sibelius: Swan of Tuonela (Karajan)

Vivaldi: Cello Sonata in E Minor, mov III, RV 40 (Bylsma - no, really, this is by far the best version I've heard)

Elgar: Cello concerto in E minor, first movement (du Pre & Barenboim, 1970; super awesome playing by du Pre)

Antoine Forqueray: La Couperin (Il Giardino Armonico - on youtube, otherwise only on DVD; another top version by far)

Schubert: Piano trio no 2 in E flat major (mostly for the second movement, which is also featured in Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon"; the first movement isn't bad either)

Chopin: the Farewell Waltz, op 69 no 1

Robert Schumann: Fantasy in C (mostly for the first movement)

Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana (I haven't heard recordings of this nor the Fantasy that would be particularly outstanding compared with others of the same works)

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, 1st movement (Harnoncourt)

Brahms: Piano quartet no 3 in C minor, Andante

Wagner: Act I Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

Wagner: Act I Overture from Parsifal

Wagner: Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde (Margaret Price)

Victoria: Requiem / Missa De profunctis 1605, Libera me (he composed two, this is from the later mass from 1605; I prefer the recording by Westminster Cathedral Choir)

Shostakovich: Violin concerto no 1, 1st movement (Hahn is a good modern recording)

Gombert: Je prens congie (Huelgas Ensemble)

Bartok: Adagio from Music for strings, percussion and celesta (I prefer the recording by Karajan that was used in Kubrick's "The Shining"; many others swear by Reiner)

Arthur Honegger: Symphony no 2, second movement "Adagio mesto" (I really like the Karajan - it has just the right mood - but I haven't listened to others)

Roger Sessions: Symphony no 7, slow movement (more dead-flowers music; for relatively accessible polyphonic 12-tone music it's hard to beat Sessions; not particularly passionate stuff but if you like post-apocalyptic landscapes this goes nicely with them; also perfect background music for nightly contemplation of stars; Sessions was one of the big modernists but not much to choose from in terms of available recordings)

William Schuman: Symphony no 10 (Schuman is nice if you like atonal, desolate non-12-tone music; not as great in my mind as the Bartok or the Honegger but I'm still a newbie when it comes to this sort of music; there are two recordings of this symphony on CD and reportedly they are both excellent)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring Suite, Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic.

Poignant and tender, in its most heartfelt performance. An American masterpiece.


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2015)

Mozart, K364
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yuri Bashmet, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Valery Gergiev - Kirov Orchestra


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