Somebody suggest something for me to listen to :wacky: This stuff is great.

what kind of stuff are you liking most? Which composers?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGQDmdDGgk]YouTube- Mozart Klarinetten Konzert Kv.622-2, Karl Bohm, Prinz[/ame]

 

very beautiful!

what kind of stuff are you liking most? Which composers?

 

Like all of them.

 

I'm thinking I like the Baroque sort of stuff the best right now, though. Very different from music you hear today.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOTQ9TVkG98]YouTube- Penderecki: "The Dream of Jacob"[/ame]

 

:thumbsup:

^ got that from jonny, eh? :)

some of my favourites:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-4J5j74VPw]YouTube- BOLERO-RAVEL[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zuCPYxnqH4]YouTube- Die Moldau (Smetana)[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xYjz9T4U64]YouTube- Ode an die Freude[/ame]

best part of Beethoven's 9th:heart:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbBh1CJDOmo]YouTube- Georg Friedrich Händel Feuerwerksmusik Ouvertüre[/ame]

I love this so much:bigcry:

 

I guess there will be more that comes to my mind....:cheesy:

double post

Baroque, eh?

 

Check out Rameau. He was awesome. For something wacky check out Bob James' versions...

 

You can't go wrong with Vivaldi, especially the Four Seasons. I love a lot of his work.

Handel's stuff is mind blowing if you ever get the chance to hear it well done live.

 

And of course, there's the master, Bach. His organ music is something special. His big orchestral stuff is great too.

 

Classical era-

 

I'm not the biggest fan of the era myself, but of course there's Beethoven. His 6th Symphony is a classic (That was the one in Fantasia, right?). There's one movement of his 7th symphony that gives me chills every time I hear it. It's so dark compared to most classical-era music. (According to grooveshark it's the second movement). It's one of my absolute favorite classical (in the broad sense) pieces.

 

Mozart you can't go wrong with the Magic Flute.

 

Romantic era-

 

now we're talking.

 

Gustav Holst - The Planet Suite Just listen. It's all around awesome. Mars and Jupiter are the classics from it, but my favorite is Saturn- it's terrifying, listening to time slip away into the darkness like that. And (is it Neptune or Uranus? Neptune, I think) where the mad wizard is dancing around.

 

Smetna's Moldau - Mentioned already, but it's my #1 favorite 'classical' piece. I love it so much. The rest of the suite is great too. It's so beautiful.

 

Respighi - The Pines of Rome - Beautiful work. Great for studying to.

 

Chopin and Rachmaninov- don't know anything specific to recommend, I usually just listen to them in phases.

 

 

 

 

Well that ought to help get you started, huh? Have you studied any of the eras/styles or are you just enjoying what you hear as you go along?

Well, I've studied them a little bit... I mean I'm writing a paper about musical references in a book, so I had to make sure I knew a little about classical music, and I started listening to some of it... zomg amazing. :stunned: I know some of these already. Like Bach's cello suites, they're really good, and some stuff by Mozart, and I've liked Camille Saint-Saens for a while now. The Planet Suite that you mentioned sounds really interesting, I'll give it a listen later, I've got to go fairly soon.

The big thing to realize about the different eras is that each one has been built on a different aspect of music.

 

Medieval music was built around simple melodies, often with very little accompaniment.

 

Baroque started meshing several of those melodies together in layers which is what gives it such a big, rich sound. That's called counterpoint Over time the melodies became more and more complex until we ended up with the brief, completely over-the-top era known as Rococo.

 

The Classical era started when people got sick of the layers and wanted to base music around a single, very embellished melody line with everything else supporting it.

 

As the melodies became more complex and frilly people began to think that they should have a point, a story to explain them. That is where the Romantic era began. Music started sounding less like formal pieces and more like soundtracks.

 

The more abstract pieces became thanks to Romanticism, the more people in the early 20th century became fixated on the idea of throwing out all the rules and seeing what they came up with. Atonality became the rule of the day, and structure was often thrown out the window. This is referred to as the modern era. (We're in the post-modern era).

 

The problem was, most normal people couldn't handle modern era music. It often wasn't very pleasant to listen to. At the same time, since the freeing of the slaves after the American civil war African and folk music styles were blending into to popular consciousness in waves, first in Ragtime, then Jazz and swing, and finally in the Blues. These styles were formed on the basis of chords and rhythms rather than melody.

 

The blues gave birth to rock, modern day music became all about chords, and the rest as they say is history...

 

...Until now, where even chords are fading and music is more and more frequently being formed entirely around rhythms. (see rap).

 

 

 

And that is why all the different types of music sound different in a nutshell.

:surprised: That's interesting.

 

I feel like a music noob now :disappointed:

:surprised: That's interesting.

 

I feel like a music noob now :disappointed:

Don't. I had to study this stuff for school once.

 

But it all really does explain why music is the way it is.

 

For instance music is going to have to change again sooner rather than later- people have just plain run out of chord combinations. What's next? We'll see.

 

But people's brains are usually trained to listen to a certain part of music and think that that one part is music. That's why rock was the devil's music. It worked on the basis of chords and to some extent rhythm- which was heresy to a brain trained on melody. The Grammy awards were actually set up by melody-based musicians like Frank Sinatra to show the rock and rollers what "real" music was.

 

Every era change went through the same thing. It was a reaction to what the last era had become, but worked on a new basis and so "wasn't music" in the eyes of preceding generation. It was particularly nasty at the end of the Baroque era. I think people might have even been jailed for it. Rameau was banned for a time.

 

Look at what's happening now- all the old rock types are pointing and saying that rap isn't music. It doesn't have melody. Ironic, eh?

I'll second the recommendations for Vivaldi and Handel- absolutely beautiful.

 

Some great specific symphonies- Beethoven's Symphony no. 5 "Fate"

Dvorak's "New World" Symphony- No. 9, I believe

Tchaichovsky also had some beautiful symphonies- apart from the Nutcracker- there's Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty.

 

I personally love music composed for piano, so I love a lot of Chopin, Lizst, and Rachmaninoff, too. A great kind of sampler of those three composers, plus some Beethoven and Vivaldi thrown in, is the soundtrack to the movie Shine. The movie itself is excellent, and I love the soundtrack. :)

 

and thanks, Space Cadet, for the music lesson. I love the music, but know very little about the eras and what differentiates them! :)

suggestions

 

Debussy's suite bergamamasque (with clair de lune) and his preludes are just beautiful.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiIVA7tQIDo]YouTube- Suite Bergamasque - Prélude (Debussy)[/ame]

 

 

Chopin's Nocturnes, suffocation prelude and etudes

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToAVagPfWUU&feature=related]YouTube- Ashkenazy plays Chopin Nocturne No.20 in C sharp Minor (1830)[/ame]

 

 

Beethoven's sonata's no. 8 and 14 (each movement is amazing), and of course his 5th symphony.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5PTHMOFujY]YouTube- Beethoven-Piano Sonata no 8'Pathetique'op 13 (Freddy Kempf)[/ame]

 

 

Bach's brandenburg concerto is a must, also check out his organ fugues.

 

Vivaldi's four seasons of course, as you see I'm only mentioning hit singles.

 

I adore Rachmaninoff's 'bells of moscow' prelude

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSO6dfTgVOY&feature=PlayList&p=AC1B0019E2CC9CCC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=43]YouTube- Ashkenazy plays Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp Minor op.3 no.2[/ame]

 

 

I also adore eric satie's gymopedies because they're based on my favorite chords.

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU]YouTube- Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbI-B-hffbM]YouTube- Postcards from far away - Coldplay [NEW ALBUM PROSPEKT'S MARCH 2008][/ame]

 

:wink3:

OMG I totally forgot about the Peer Gynt music by Edvard Grieg:heart:

(romantic era btw....)

OMG I totally forgot about the Peer Gynt music by Edvard Grieg:heart:

(romantic era btw....)

Ah, me too. :embarassed:

 

When I was really little my dad used to put on "In the Hall of the Giant King" from that and chase us around the house pretending to be the giant. It was fun. :D

suggestions

 

Debussy's suite bergamamasque (with clair de lune) and his preludes are just beautiful.

 

 

 

Oh, yes! I'll admit that I don't know a whole lot about classical music, but Debussy is by far one of my favorite composers. :)

yes, its cliche, but:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY]YouTube- Yo-Yo Ma plays the prelude from Bach´s Cello Suite No. 1[/ame]

 

SRSLY.

this is one of my favorites

 

Debussy-Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

 

[ame=

]

[/ame]

I'll take a gander at Debussy, but I re-discovered Gershwin recently, and now it's one of my all-time favorites: - Rhapsody in Blue:[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhj9W9CoNfQ]YouTube - Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue - Part 2[/ame]

suggestions

 

Debussy's suite bergamamasque (with clair de lune) and his preludes are just beautiful.

 

 

 

Chopin's Nocturnes, suffocation prelude and etudes

YouTube- Ashkenazy plays Chopin Nocturne No.20 in C sharp Minor (1830)

 

 

Beethoven's sonata's no. 8 and 14 (each movement is amazing), and of course his 5th symphony.

YouTube- Beethoven-Piano Sonata no 8'Pathetique'op 13 (Freddy Kempf)

 

 

Bach's brandenburg concerto is a must, also check out his organ fugues.

 

Vivaldi's four seasons of course, as you see I'm only mentioning hit singles.

 

I adore Rachmaninoff's 'bells of moscow' prelude

 

 

YouTube- Ashkenazy plays Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp Minor op.3 no.2

 

 

I also adore eric satie's gymopedies because they're based on my favorite chords.

 

 

 

Your suggestions are very good. Specially the Gymnopédie No. 1 which I never heard before and I really like it. :nice:

 

btw, I really really like Beethoven... maybe this is a good recomendation too, his Piano Concerto N° 5

It just takes me to other place...

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSeg69d3CQ8]YouTube- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73[/ame]

 

Oh and Liszt...

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6hdDOFtW64]YouTube- Liszt Liebestraum[/ame]

 

Hope you like them noonsun. :nice:

YouTube- Postcards from far away - Coldplay [NEW ALBUM PROSPEKT'S MARCH 2008][/url]

 

:wink3:

 

no.

 

 

The rest are yummy though :wacky:

yes, its cliche, but:

YouTube- Yo-Yo Ma plays the prelude from Bach´s Cello Suite No. 1

 

SRSLY.

 

Darcy-

this may be ubiquitous, but it's never cliche. LOVE IT.