where to start with classical?

fguihen

Im new to the whole classical music area. I know i love movie soundtracks ( jurassic park, lord of the rings etc) and I have a tiny amount of mozart and Beethoven but i have no idea where to start to find out what i like.

I know i like that tune O Fortuna but not sure of much else.

is there ( apologies for asking this!) a greatest hits type cd with some of the better known classical scores?

ogy

no matter what other areas of classical music people are into, from the romantic era to post-minimalism, i've never heard anyone who didn't sing the praises of JS Bach.

cornbb

Can't go wrong with a bit of Bach is right You're off to a good start with Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

There are plenty of "greatest hits" type CDs around although I can't recommend any particular one. Try browsing the classical music section at any good music store and see if you see anything that looks promising. Classical CDs are cheap, try picking up some €7.99 HMV/Naxos releases - Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Brandenburg concertos or some Tchaikovski ballet favourites would be good places to begin.

Sandwich

With Truid Aagesen, then Pietro Aaron etc.
You'll eventually get to Wojcich Zywny.


Really though. Try Mozart, and Beethoven. Id go against the posters suggesting Bach. Which is not relegate him at all - I just couldnt advise him if you are new to classical music.

Robbiethe3rd

Totally agree, bach's only a good chronological start!

buy any greatest hits classical cd, chances are it has only excerpts from larger works. I suggest you listen to that, decide on favourite composers from what you've listened to and try listening to more of their stuff next.

kawaii

You should check out Holst's "the Planets"

A lot of film composers borrow from it. You'll probably find a parts of it sounding somewhat familiar.

Grieg is great.

[Rambling]I don't know about Bach for a starting place. Which Bach really is the question. His output is huge! A lot of it can seem very formulaic aswell. That's just my opinion though, and don't get me wrong, I love Bach. It's just a bit of a leap from film scores is what I'm trying to say I guess...[/Rambling]

Try some Tchaikovsky aswell.

Kevster

kawaii wrote: »

You should check out Holst's "the Planets"

Yes, particularly 'Jupiter' and 'Mars'. If you can, get this one too:

Johann Pachelbel - Canon In D Major

ZorbaTehZ

Why not give Classic Flicks a try? Music from movies - there's some ****e on it, but the majority is v good classical music.

Intothesea

A compilation like this will help you get your bearings. It wurked for me :pac: many moons ago. Good luck.

Burning Eclipse

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherazade' is a beautiful symphony and very accessable. Couldn't recommend it more, particularly the 3rd movement, which opens with a passage you may recognise

samadhya

Hey, it would be great to get a broad overview of the most popular and you can then start narrowing down what you like from there.

I would recommend listing to Lyric Lunchtime or Classic Drive (depending on what time you're near a radio) on Lyric FM. Both of those programmes are really broad but as the presenter announces the piece and composer after each piece you will soon get an idea of the composers you do and don't like.

Also if you like the songs from Movies they actually have a Movies & Musicals programme on Saturday mornings.

Hope this helps!