I love music and have recently been turn on to classical. I am looking for some new listening material but dont know where to begin. Perhaps yahoo answers members could suggest some of there favorites... I enjoy the really dark, tumultuous, angry, tragic stuff There isn't a lot of "beginner" classical that is dark and intense, but I am guessing that even though you are a newcomer to classical...you probably have the ear to handle some of the meatier pieces...but if you want to start with something famous, there is always Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (listen to the entire set please...not the just the popular "Oh Fortuna"...the work was meant to be listened to in its entirety - not only for crap use in commercials and films)
But anyway....here are some pieces I think you will enjoy...
The Mozart, Brahms, and Faure Requiems...
here are excerpts from them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl-wRbJoW...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg7sU5B_i...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US9U4aXCf...
Chopin - Polonaise-Fantasie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjgJTos0d...
Chopin - Sonata No. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL_I1z5OH...
If you are really adventurous (and bad-a** in my opinion) you will try listening to some of these...your ears will most likely be surprised but give it a chance....it is not meant to be understood the first time and this type of music takes a certain amt of open-mindedness (which sadly is lost by some classical music listeners)...
the music of Gyorgy Ligeti -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZTaiDHqs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l09Pc45G0... (yes...the subject of this opera is a little risque...but its utterly genius...think of people singing opera...while doing a lesbian scene...at the brink of the apocolypse...)
Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
another difficult listen (and difficult video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dx0TN0I_... His 2nd violin concerto is also very good.
Lutoslawski - Paganini Variations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J856VKllt...
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (Sacrificial Dance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOMt-MiI0...
If you haven't already heard this one...it's very famous and a must!
I hope this gets you started! Cesar Franck Symphony in D
Wagner - Preludes from operas (and just the preludes)
Tchaikovsky - Sixth Symphony
Mozart - 25th Symphony
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto no 2 Tschaikovsky's symphonies, Moussorgsky, Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) from the Verdi "Requiem".
Sibelius' moving "Finlandia," which became the Finnish National Anthem, but could once only be played underground.
Sandi
PS. Start with the Russian composers and Beethoven. Lots of angst there.
Enjoy! Try Stravinski's Rite of Spring You like the same kind of stuff I do! Try these:
Beethoven's 9th Symphony...and the 5th of course.
Beethoven's "Coriolan Overture".
Holst's "The Planets".
Mahler's 6th Symphony
Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde" ("The Song of the Earth")
Respighi's "The Pines of Rome".
Zemlinsky's "Lyrische Symphonie" ("Lyric Symphony")
Schoenberg's "Gurrelieder"
Wagner wrote operas that reflect those kinds of feelings, though they're very long for a beginnger to try a whole opera, so let me suggest some excerpts:
"Siegfried's Funeral Music" (from "Gotterdammerung")
"The Ride of the Valkyries" (from "Die Walkure")
Prelude to "Tristan und Isolde"
...sometimes this last one comes with the "Liebestod" or "Love-death", too--that's the end of the opera and is also very good.
Richard Strauss also wrote some great tragic, angry music, in operas like "Salome", "Elektra", and "Die Frau ohne Schatten" ("The Woman Without a Shadow"). This stuff's pretty heavy going for a beginner, but if you like the stuff above, give it a try. | 