Classical Music

[Tuly]

the following is a list I compiled for a friend. I can't say enough about the good influence good music makes in my life. Any other ideas, suggestions, thoughts?

The process of bringing music to our homes is actually a daily dedication to listening to good music everyday. There are some great radio stations in CA, like KUSC/91.5 is one of the better ones in the nation. I realize classical music is an acquired taste, and not all classical music is good. The basic classical library should include:

Peter and the Wolf – Sergei Prokofiev
The Four Seasons – Anton Vivaldi
Nutcracker Suite – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Magic Flute – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (great first opera experience)
Amahl and the Night Visitors – Gian-Carlo Menotti (another great first
opera experience)
Bolero – Maurice Ravel
Carmina Burana – Carl Orff
Scheherazade – Nikolay Rimski-Korsakov
Messiah – Georg Friedrich Handel
The Planets – Gustav Holst
The Ninth Symphony – Ludwig van Beethoven
Brandenburg Concertos – J.S. Bach
Piano Concerto #2 – Sergei Rachmaninoff
Surprise Symphony – Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony #9 (From the New World) –Antonin Dvorak
Carmen – George Bizet
William Tell Overture – Giacchino Rossini
1812 Overture – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin
Carnival of the Animals – Camille Saint-Saens
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Benjamin Britten
Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
Petit Suite - Claude Debussy
Saber Dance - Aram Khachaturian
Double Concerto (violin/cello) - Johannes Brahms
A German Requiem (Ein Deutsches Requiem) - Johannes Brahms
Toccata and Fugue in d minor – J.S. Bach
Fantasia on Greensleeves - Ralph Vaughn-Williams
Symphonic Metamorphosis on a theme by Weber – Paul Hindemith
Die Walkure(opera from The Ring) – Richard Wagner

[Edward]

Having just heard the BYU orchestra do it, I would add Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, along with something from Chopin, and Gorecki's third symphony, which I personally feel is one of the most beautiful pieces in the world. The Firebird should also be on that list. There are a billion other things to be sure, but those are some I would willingly call "essential."

[John]

I concur with all the above, and would also include:

Bach - Concerto #3 (?) in d-minor for piano(harpsichord) especially the seminal recording by Glenn Gould
Any and all of Bach's organ works
in fact, anything at all by Bach
Beethoven Symphonies 3, 5, and 7
Schumann piano trios
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite
Tschaikowsky - Symphony #5
ibid - all the piano concertos.
likewise, all the piano concertos of Rachmaninov
the piano works of Chopin in their entirety
The Liszt piano concertos
Samuel Barber's violin Concerto and Adagio for Strings
Ravel - La Mer
Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus
Faure - Requiem
Durufle - Requiem
Vaughn-Williams - Symphony #5
Shostakovich - Symphony #5
Die Schöne Müllerin (song cycle) Schubert - sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Die Fledermaus by Strauss (Johann) great intro to Operetta
The Four Last Songs of Strauss (Richard) - sung by Kiri Te Kanawa
the stunning recordings of Florence Foster Jenkins
the synopsis of Wagner's Ring Cycle and the intoduction to the art of singing by Anna Russell

[Edward]

OH, and Morton Lauridson's Lux Aeterna or his Chansons des Roses, either one for me is a worthy choice.

[Bryn]

I have a question, and this will lead to another question (if you want, we could start another thread for this). Can we name some examples of bad classical music?

[Edward]

There's lots of bad classical music! For example there's......well, um, that one guy's, uh....well you know you, well, uh......................

[Edward]

[Edward]

I can't think of any.

[Ian]

hmmm, bad classical music... well, if a piece is played poorly, you could call it "bad music."

[John]

I think that there tends to be a winnowing out of poor music before it can prove itself durable enough to become "classic", and hence, much of what we consider "classical" has already passed the acid tests of time. Much of what was once merely "popular" has long since fallen by the wayside, leaving as our muxical heritage usually that of higher quality.

All that being said, however, remember that much of what we today consider mainstream classical, was, in its day, considered radical and perverse, ugly and incomprehensible. The critics of his day thought that much of what Tschaikowsky wrote was the work of a hack.

[Tuly]

When Liberace played classical music that's bad classical music. Seriously though, there are some pieces by Mozart and Haydn that I find personally redundant.

[Edward]

When Liberace played classical music that's bad classical music.

Wow, somehow just that name made me bust up laughing, and in the public library too. Thanks.

Seriously though, who doesn't find that guy freaky? I mean, he looks like Elton John in one of Queen Amidala's dresses. SCARY!!!

[Steve]

It's hard to really define "bad music." What I would consider bad, someone else might really like. It's similar to art--there are some works that I just don't think are very good, but those who included it in the gallery hold it in high regard.

It seems that there will always be standing ovations, even when we've been cringing the entire performance.

[Ian]

the difference between good and bad music is not entirely subjective. there is such a thing as "bad taste." just because you can find someone in the world that likes a particular piece of music doesn't make that music "good."

it is hard to define good/bad taste, though. maybe the words of the Savior are helpful: "...lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."

[Steve]

Yeah, there's certainly "good" and "evil" music. Oops, didn't mean to imply otherwise.

I refer to trying to define music in the subjective sense. There are many classical pieces that I don't appreciate as much as others, and there are many that I love that others don't really care for. Same with other genres. As long as the music's not evil, it's hard to define what is good and what is bad.

Note: this has been the basis for talks on Kenny G between Lily and I. That'd make a great discussion. hehe