Classical music!

It is great to find some kindred spirits on this forum! My husband is even more sensitive to it than I am. His complaints have sometimes brought results, and other times we have had to leave a restaurant because they refuse to turn it down. My youngest son once managed a tiny used book store, comic books, etc. The clients started complaining because it was too quiet! So he brought down his CD player and put on the classics. He thought if he had to listen to music all day it might as well be something HE enjoyed. Luckily, our favorite restaurant plays very good music and it is not loud. Another thing about these doctors clinics. It is mostly old folks in there like me. Why do they think we old folks are enjoying that junk? And we are in there because we do not feel well, right? Silence would be preferable.

>Yes, yes, yes. Turn down the 'music' in malls, stores, restaurants and anywhere else. Why does it have to be so loud. better yet, turn it off entirely. The most beautiful sound is silence. I have nothing against the hard of hearing, but why am I being punished because my hearing is normal?
>I too have been insuilted by being told by managers when I complain that they have no control over it. (And then they immediately turn the volume up, thus proving that they do have total control over it!)
>In addition, I want the freedom to listen to what I want to listen to, not something that is being forced upon me against my will. I want the freedom to listen to what I'm thinking about in my own head and the music I have in my mind.
>I want to be able to carry on a civilized conversation with my friend standing or sitting next to me.

"The amount of noise a person creates or can bear undisturbed is in inverse proportion to the quality of his intellect."
– Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860

"The ability to exercise rights is necessarily limited by the rights of others."
– Beverly McLachlan, b.1943, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Let's see:

* Listen to live concerts - on to do list
* Listen to selected overtures by the greats - on to do list
* Never, ever, listen to classical as a background buzz - 😳
* Play an instrument - check (I can play the guitar 😏 - sort of 😕 )
* Audiobooks on iTunes - interesting on to do list

Some good advices and links here. I just want to say that were it not for
me listening to classical in the background while working I don't think
I'd have ever opened my eyes to this. It's only because I suddenly
realised that I knew several pieces quite well that I also sat back in my
chair and started really listening. I wouldn't presume to argue against
you all, that classical must be fully absorbed and understood before it
can be truly appreciated, but don't underestimate the POWA' of
background buzz. As some of you keep suggesting: the wretched noise
of modern popular music, forced upon you in public has your moods
tripping the darker side of sanity. Though I realise that you wouldn't
think of that as background music, but perhaps more like a hideous
violation of your auditory faculties, is it hard to believe that the exact
opposite has happened to me after listening to SR classical (a Swedish
radio station, by the way) in the background?

Well, this is a good thread for me. Thank you, all. And don't be shy with
suggestions from your own preferences.

🙂

Originally posted by Jigtie
Let's see:

* Listen to live concerts - on to do list
* Listen to selected overtures by the greats - on to do list
* Never, ever, listen to classical as a background buzz - 😳
* Play an instrument - check (I can play the guitar 😏 - sort of 😕 )
* Audiobooks on iTunes - interesting on to do list

Some good advices and links here. I ...[text shortened]... e. Thank you, all. And don't be shy with
suggestions from your own preferences.

🙂

Oh, I'd say DO listen to classical music as background buzz, just listen to it in other ways, too. You've maybe found how music can help to relax or anchor your concentration while you do something else, etc., and there's nothing wrong with that.

Originally posted by Jigtie
Let's see:

* Listen to live concerts - on to do list
* Listen to selected overtures by the greats - on to do list
* Never, ever, listen to classical as a background buzz - 😳
* Play an instrument - check (I can play the guitar 😏 - sort of 😕 )
* Audiobooks on iTunes - interesting on to do list

Some good advices and links here. I ...[text shortened]... e. Thank you, all. And don't be shy with
suggestions from your own preferences.

🙂

Did you check out the live video performances I linked here?

Originally posted by sonhouse
Did you check out the live video performances I linked here?

I'm sorry, I've only had time to listen to the first three links so far. I
must say, Concierto De Aranjuez is quite something. I especially enjoyed
the part from 3:34 through 4:47, and the strings that follow. Has me
wanting to jump of joy every time I hear it.

😀

You can bet I'll listen to them all, so a big thanks for posting them. I
wouldn't even have known what to search on to find this music. Do post
more if you got them.

😉

Originally posted by Jigtie
I'm sorry, I've only had time to listen to the first three links so far. I
must say, Concierto De Aranjuez is quite something. I especially enjoyed
the part from 3:34 through 4:47, and the strings that follow. Has me
wanting to jump of joy every time I hear it.

😀

You can bet I'll listen to them all, so a big thanks for posting them. I
wouldn't even have known what to search on to find this music. Do post
more if you got them.

😉

Well you can even find some of my drivel on myspace, I compose simple kind of folk melodies on stringed instruments, if you like you can hear 4 of my pieces at myspace.com/donjenningsguitar
all one word. Check out the top friends too, there are some incredible genius types there, like Vienna Teng and a whole lot more. I have about 800 musician friends there including my daughter Heather who has the HDJ project.

Try f.i. the second movement from the Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23 K 488 (I think) in A major (movement is in F sharp minor). I have amongst others a recording of Horowitz playing it and to my opinion it is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written.
While you're on it, try Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Or the first Brahms violin sonata. Chopin's Ballades. List can go on and on.
Attilathehorn: Recced your first post.

I think (take it with a grain of salt) that the string quartet is the best medium for classical music. All of the major composers have done something for string quartet. It's very expressive and a little more accessible to new listeners.

Have you listened to a violin concerto yet?

try Bruch's No. 1 in G minor -- just do a search and find any version you like. Listen especially closely to the 2nd movement.

Have you tried a Requiem Mass? Try Faure's. Or Faure's Pelleas and Melisande.

You like Ravel? Try Alborado del Gracioso; listen to Daphnis & Chloe, the complete ballet with chorus -- Pierre Monteux's old old version still is available and still is great to hear.

If I could figure out how to make a text file out of what I've got in Windows media center, I'd do it and send it along to you. I've about 15 gigs of classical music just ripped from my own CDs -- but I do think the others here have it just right.

Best to go listen to it live. Have a couple of glasses of wine, and let the sound take you away ...

Originally posted by Scriabin
try Bruch's No. 1 in G minor

Beautiful beautiful beautiful!

>As for violin concertos, listen to the Beethoven and Brahms ones, and also perhaps the Sibelius.
>vocal music: Listen to Schubert songs, especially his song cycle, Die Schone Mullerin.
>Perhaps opera is a bit much at this point, but you have to love Mozart's Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, and Marriage of Figaro.
>Watch the movie, Amadeus.
>Beethoven wrote 9 tremendous symphonies and Brahms wrote 4.
>To show you how wonderful just a couple of minutes of music can be, listen to Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. It's enthralling. He wrote it in just one afternoon.
>Of course to me, life wouldn't be worthwhile without Mozart and Bach.

Listeners to Washington DC's only all-classical music public radio station this year selected the following pieces as the top 90 classical music selections from the past 400 years. Makes for a good intro to the basic orchestral repertoire. Haven't found a list for chamber music yet, but I tend to prefer it to most of what is listed here simply because the following pieces are so familiar.

1. Dvorak: Symphony #9 “From the New World”
2. Beethoven: Symphony #9 “Choral”
3. Beethoven: Symphony #7
4. Beethoven: Symphony #6 “Pastoral”
5. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2
6. Beethoven: Symphony #5
7. Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5 “Emperor”
8. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
9. Saint-Saens: Symphony #3 “Organ”
10. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
11. Smetana: The Moldau
12. Mozart: Symphony #41 “Jupiter”
13. Grieg: Piano Concerto
14. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto #1
15. Beethoven: Violin Concerto
16. Rachmaninoff: Symphony #2
17. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
18. Beethoven: Symphony #3 “Eroica”
19. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
20. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #5
21. Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
22. Bach: Double Violin Concerto (BWV 1043)
23. Beethoven: Triple Concerto
24. Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
25. Pachelbel: Canon
26. Dvorak: Cello Concerto
27. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #3
28. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
29. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565)
30. Mendelssohn: Symphony #4 “Italian”
31. Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
32. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
33. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
34. Brahms: Symphony #1
35. Beethoven: Piano Sonata #14 “Moonlight”
36. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
37. Mozart: Symphony #40
38. Mahler: Symphony #1 “Titan”
39. Brahms: Piano Concerto #1
40. Dvorak: Symphony #8
41. Ravel: Bolero
42. Handel: Water Music
43. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
44. Marais: The Bells of St. Genevieve
45. Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5
46. Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto
47. Mahler: Symphony #5
48. Barber: Adagio for Strings
49. Copland: Appalachian Spring (“Simple Gifts&rdquo😉
50. Grieg: Peer Gynt
51. Bach: Sheep May Safely Graze
52. Bizet: Carmen Suite
53. Strauss, J Jr.: Blue Danube
54. Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
55. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #3
56. Brahms: Symphony #4
57. Chopin: Piano Concerto #1
58. Brahms: Violin Concerto
59. Debussy: Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
60. Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
61. Chopin: Piano Concerto #2
62. Bruch: Scottish Fantasy
63. Wagner: Overture to “Tannhäuser”
64. Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
65. Beethoven: Piano Concerto #4
66. Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 “Pathetique”
67. Handel: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
68. Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries
69. Schubert: Symphony #8 “Unfinished”
70. Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis
71. Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances
72. Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
73. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #2
74. Bernstein: Candide Overture
75. Chopin: Heroic Polonaise (A-flat Major)
76. Rossini: Barber of Seville Overture
77. Mozart: Piano Concerto #21 “Elvira Madigan”
78. Bruch: Violin Concerto #1
79. Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
80. Sibelius: Finlandia
81. Mozart: Piano Concerto #20
82. Brahms: Piano Concerto #2
83. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
84. Brahms: Symphony #3
85. Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
86. Bach: Keyboard Concerto in F Minor (BWV 1056)
87. Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Overture
88. Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol
89. Mozart: Piano Concerto #23
90. Haydn: Symphony #104 “London”