The Classical Music Thread

[Son_of_Atropos]

Share your favorite classical music pieces.


Faure plays Pavane op. 50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUsGh2xYYQg


Edvard Grieg's "Solveig's Song"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii2Adi2iFRM

Serenade NO. 13 Mozart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLqOY8pHJ2w


Grieg, In the Hall of the Mountain King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI

Swan Lake: Tchaikovsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ea90L91eZk

Camille Saint Saens: Danse Macabre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM


Camille Saint Saens: The Swan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b44-5M4e9nI

Prelude de La Nuit: Ravel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqBKPaWI5zA

A Mid Summer Night's Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUm1HU29TfI

Beethoven's Pastoral, From Fantasia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icC2EfEHCHs

Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, From Fantasia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1z12_Ps-gk

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, From Fantasia I think Tchaikovsky wrote this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8At8zfh_o3E

[JasonCT]

I was a performance major in college (Piano & Organ) and I love classical music!

Too many great composers to list!

[Sefton]

I don't have any links, but here are the pieces that I listen to most:

J.S.Bach "St.Matthew Passion" (the Hungarian Festival Choir/Hungarian State Symphony. Geza Oberfrank, conductor. Also The English Baroque Soloists and The Monteverdi Choir. John Eliot Gardiner, conductor), "St.John Passion" (Wandsworth School Boys' Choir, English Chamber Orchestra. Benjamin Britten, conductor), "Mass in B" (The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Robert Shaw, conductor), and any of his cantatas (well, anything by Bach in general. My favorite composer of all).

Beethoven's 9th symphony as conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler in Berlin, 1942. Even with digital remastering the sound is a bit dodgy because of the age. Also, be prepared for coughing from the audience-usually at the most inopportune moments. Even with these problems this is an amazingly powerful and rich performance and one of my favorite recordings. For a more contemporary version check out the Claudio Abbado version. Very nice.

These are the classical CDs getting the most play in my home and car lately (when I'm not listening to American Classical: Miles, Rollins, Brubeck or Armstrong, that is!).

[Son_of_Atropos]

Just curious, where did you come across Beethoven's Ninth? Old Record?

[Sefton]

It's a CD from Archipel Desert Island Collection dated 2004. They have several recordings of the 9th conducted by Furtwangler listed including ones as late as 1952. I ordered it from Amazon.

I was in Japan recently and spent a lot of time searching for Classical music. There was one shop in Tokyo that was all Classical. On the counter they were selling very detailed figures of Furtwangler standing as if conducting. About 1 1/2' tall and costing around $500. (I didn't buy it. I had to save my yen for the music. Rather neat to have one though!)

[Herr Hitman]

Bedrich Smetana- Vysebrad

[JennyLou]

I'm mainly a fan of the mid- to late Romantic era classical music:
Here is a sample of what I've been listening to lately

Arban's The Carnival of Venice
Debussey's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition
Tchaikovsky- Symphony No. 4

My favorite classical performer today is thr trumpet virtuoso from Russian- Sergei Nakaiakov. I especially love is recording of Falla's La Vida Breve: Spanish Dance

[bobalooba]

I like all Tchaikovsky pieces because the 1812 overture is what piqued my interest in classical music. I'm not horribly learned on classical music but I like all of Tchaikovsky music because whether or not you like it you can feel the passion behind it.

[JennyLou]

I like all Tchaikovsky pieces because the 1812 overture is what piqued my interest in classical music. I'm not horribly learned on classical music but I like all of Tchaikovsky music because whether or not you like it you can feel the passion behind it.

I agree. His music is beautiful and can stir many emotions in the listener.

["Skeet" McD]

I think poor RVW, like most English composers outside of Britain, is under-valued currently, and--in so far as he is performed outside of Anglican churches--it tends to be the later stuff. His song output is difficult in recordings, as there are almost NO good performances, as far as I'm concerned. But there's some beautiful music there: the two early song-cycles, in particular.

I'm particularly fond of his first symphony A SEA SYMPHONY and the spectacular choral fantasy TOWARD THE UNKNOWN REGION, both based on words by Walt Whitman. A section of it in a not terribly bad performance is HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S8U60YQ2Zc

RVW does credit to Walt's words...and that's a difficult task.

Gerald Finzi is another, much less well-known Britisher who languishes undeservedly, IMHO.

"Skeet"