Classical Music

[Dan]

A while ago I mentioned that I wanted to share my favourite classical works on the forum. I was going to start with symphonies, which are often regarded as the pinnacle of classical music, but an observant friend on here suggested that symphonies contain too many instruments and they are too long, complex and difficult to listen to as an introduction to classical music. So instead I’ll start by posting a list of my favourite solos, duos and chamber works. The vast majority of the pieces are under 10 minutes long and part of a larger work.

I plan to post about more genres / musical forms over the next few months. It takes me a while to re-listen to works I’m familiar with and to discover works I’m not familiar with, but I’ll try to do a post once a month…

May: Classical songs, opera arias and choral works
June: Orchestral works that are not symphonies or concertos
July: Symphonies and concertos

I’m no expert on classical music but it is a genre I enjoy listening to from time to time. It can be incredibly engaging music if you accept that it has a different structure to pop music and don’t keep wishing that the music would have more tunes you could whistle.

Please feel free to post your own lists or recommendations of classical music (or modern classical… there won’t be much music on my lists that is younger than 1960). At some point last year there was talk of doing a classical poll, but that seems to have dwindled.

I’ve listed the pieces in the following format: # - Composer – Work – Movement/Section. For example:

7 – Johannes Brahms – Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor – III. Rondo alla zingarese

This means that my #7 choice is the third movement of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor.

Following a request from Romain, I've also translated the keys using the French and German systems, which you will see on the list after the year of each piece.

Anyway, here is my list of favourite solos, duos and chamber pieces as well as a Spotify playlist that include all 70 pieces…

1 - César Franck - Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major - IV. Allegretto poco mosso ( 1886 ) La majeur , a-Dur
2 - Edward Elgar - Salut d'amour ( 1889 )
3 - Johannes Brahms - Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major - I. Vivace ma non troppo ( 1879 ) Sol majeur , g-Dur
4 - Claude Debussy - Suite bergamasque - III. Clair de lune ( 1905 )
5 - Antonín Dvořák - String Quartet No. 12 in F major ("American") - IV. Finale: Vivace ma non troppo ( 1894 ) Fa majeur , f-Dur
6 - Frédéric Chopin - Polonaises, Op. 40 - I. Polonaise in A major ("Military") ( 1838 ) La majeur , a-Dur
7 - Johannes Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor - III. Rondo alla zingarese ( 1861 ) Sol mineur , g-Moll
8 - Aleksandr Borodin - String Quartet No. 2 in D major - III. Nocturne: Andante ( 1881 ) Ré majeur , d-Moll
9 - Frédéric Chopin - 24 Preludes, Op. 28 - IV. Prelude in E minor: Largo ( 1839 ) Mi mineur , e-Moll
10 - Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier - I. Prelude in C major ( 1722 ) Do majeur , c-Dur

11 - Maurice Ravel - String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé ( 1904 ) Fa majeur , f-Dur
12 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme ( 1731 )
13 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg Variations - Aria ( 1741 )
14 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Sonata No.11 in A major - III. Rondo "Alla Turca": Allegretto ( 1783 ) La majeur , a-Dur
15 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major - I. Allegro ( 1788 ) Do majeur , c-Dur
16 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio in A minor - Var VI. Tempo di valse ( 1882 ) La mineur , a-Moll
17 - Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 - II. Allegro molto ( 1960 ) Do mineur , c-Moll
18 - Francis Poulenc - Flute Sonata - I. Allegretto malincolico ( 1957 )
19 - Franz Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor - I. Allegro ( 1828 ) Do mineur , c-Moll
20 - Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces, Book 8 - VI. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen ( 1897 )

21 - Franz Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major - IV. Allegro ma non troppo ( 1817 ) Sie bémol majeur , b-Moll
22 - Frédéric Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10 - V. Etude in G flat major ("Black Keys") ( 1833 ) Sol bémol majeur , ges-Dur
23 - Clara Schumann - 3 Romances for Violin and Piano - I. Andante molto ( 1853 )
24 - Fritz Kreisler - Liebesleid ( 1910 )
25 - Sergei Rachmaninoff - Ten Preludes, Op. 23 - V. Prelude in G minor: Alla marcia ( 1903 ) Sol mineur , g-Moll
26 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ("Moonlight") - I. Adagio sostenuto ( 1802 ) Do dièse mineur , cis-Moll
27 - Robert Schumann - Piano Quintet in E flat major - I. Allegro brillante ( 1843 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
28 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D minor ( 17?? ) Ré mineur , d-Moll
29 - Frédéric Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10 - III. Etude in E major ( 1833 ) Mi majeur , e-Dur
30 - Felix Mendelssohn - Songs without Words for Piano, Op. 19 - VI. Andante sostenuto in G minor ("Venetian Gondola Song") ( 1830 ) Sol mineur , g-Moll

31 - Felix Mendelssohn - Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor - I. Molto Allegro agitato ( 1840 ) Ré mineur , d-Moll
32 - Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 ( 1832 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
33 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G major - I. Prelude ( 1720 ) Sol majeur , g-Dur
34 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ("Pathetique") - II. Adagio cantabile ( 1799 ) Do mineur , c-Moll
35 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ("Waldstein") - I. Allegro con brio ( 1805 ) Do majeur , c-Dur
36 - Frédéric Chopin - Polonaise in A flat major ("Heroic"), Op. 53 ( 1842 ) La bémol majeur , as-Dur
37 - Johannes Brahms - Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 2 in E flat major - II. Allegro appassionato-Sostenuto-Tempo I ( 1895 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
38 - Franz Liszt - Grandes études de Paganini - III. La campanella: Allegretto in G sharp minor ( 1851 ) Sol dièse mineur , gis-Moll
39 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major ("Spring") - II. Adagio molto espressivo ( 1801 ) Fa majeur , f-Dur
40 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor - V. Chaconne ( 1720 ) Ré mineur , d-Moll

41 - Darius Milhaud - Scaramouche (for 2 Pianos) - III. Brazileira ( 1914 )
42 - Franz Schubert - String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden") - IV. Prestissimo ( 1826 ) Ré mineur , d-Moll
43 - Isaac Albéniz - Iberia, Book 1 - III. Fête-dieu à Seville ( 1906 )
44 - Franz Schubert - Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major - I. Allegro moderato ( 1836 ) Sie bémol majeur , b-Dur
45 - Maurice Ravel - Le tombeau de Couperin - VI. Toccata ( 1918 )
46 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ("Appassionata") - I. Allegro assai ( 1807 ) Fa mineur , f-Moll
47 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Trio in E flat major ("Kegelstatt") - III. Allegretto ( 1786 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
48 - Erik Satie - 3 Gymnopédies - I. Lent et douloureux ( 1888 )
49 - Johannes Brahms - Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 - III. Intermezzo in C major: Grazioso e giocoso ( 1893 ) Do majeur , c-Dur
50 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke") - II. Scherzo: Allegro ( 1814 ) Sie bémol majeur , b-Dur

51 - Franz Schubert - 4 Impromptus, D935 - III. Impromptu in B flat major ( 1827 ) Sie bémol majeur , b-Dur
52 - Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in C major ("Emperor") - II. Poco adagio: Cantabile ( 1799 ) Do majeur , c-Dur
53 - Franz Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major - III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace ( 1828 ) La majeur , a-Dur
54 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major - I. Allegro ma non tanto ( 1809 ) La majeur , a-Dur
55 - Johannes Brahms - 16 Waltzes, Op. 39 - XV. Waltz in A flat major ( 1866 ) La bémol majeur , as-Dur
56 - Franz Liszt - Liebesträume No. 3 in A flat major - ( 1850 ) La bémol majeur , as-Dur
57 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - String Quintet No. 4 in G minor - I. Allegro ( 1787 ) Sol mineur , g-Moll
58 - Claude Debussy - Préludes, Book 1 - VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin ( 1910 )
59 - Robert Schumann - Piano Quartet in E flat major - III. Andante cantabile ( 1845 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
60 - Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in B flat major ("Sunrise") - I. Allegro con spirito ( 1792 ) La bémol majeur , b-Dur

61 - Franz Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata in A minor - I. Allegro moderato ( 1824 ) La mineur , a-Moll
62 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Clarinet Quintet in A major - I. Allegro ( 1789 ) La majeur , A-Dur
63 - Franz Schubert - Piano Quintet in A major ("Trout") - IV. Andantino - Allegretto: Theme and Variations ( 1819 ) La majeur , A-Dur
64 - Johannes Brahms - Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 - II. Intermezzo in A major: Andante teneramente ( 1893 ) La majeur , A-Dur
65 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - String Quartet No. 1 in D major - II. Andante cantabile ( 1872 ) Ré majeur , d-Dur
66 - Robert Schumann - Kinderszenen - I. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen ( 1839 )
67 - Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet No. 8 in E minor - IV. Finale: Presto ( 1808 ) Mi mineur , e-Moll
68 - Carl Maria von Weber - Grand Duo Concertant for Clarinet and Piano in E flat major - III. Rondo ( 1817 ) Mi bémol majeur , es-Dur
69 - Sergei Rachmaninoff - Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor - III. Andante ( 1901 ) Sol mineur , g-Moll
70 - Antonín Dvořák - Piano Quintet in A major - II. Dumka: Andante con moto ( 1888 ) La majeur , a-Dur

[sonofsamiam]

Holy cats, this is fantastic stuff, Dan! Is your list ranked? I'm REALLY looking forward to the symphonies, there is nothing like the hugeness of the dramatic orchestral stuff.

I'm delving into classical backwards, starting with 20th century and going back from there. I of course know the mainstays from the earlier eras, but to go deeper I need to ease in I think. I got drawn into modern classical by starting with jazz, which blended with avant garde, which drew me then to minimalism (which I loved before I knew what it was called), and finally to the rest. There is so much to dive into just from the last century, and it's amazing how little known a lot of that music is compared to the larger context of classical.

Anyway, I digress. I can't wait to listen to what you've posted.

[Henrik]

Woohoo!! Thanks Dan!

[Stephan]

Listening to the playlist right now, thanks Dan!

[nicolas]

Thanks Dan!!

I'm listening to a lot of classical music these days. I'll post my favorites soon.

[Kingoftonga]

Hooray for classical music! It's my first musical love, and though I've grown to enjoy many other genres, I think classical is the one that is most rewarding for those of us who like to obsessively relisten to pieces we know by heart.

Dan raises a good point about the different structure of classical music. I think this is the hardest thing for newcomers to appreciate. Popular music is very much predicated on the verse-chorus structure; there are many exceptions, but it's the sort of thing that we're most often used to hearing, and what we expect. Classical music contains a lot of other musical structures as well (the sonata-allegro form is one of the more persistent, especially in late 18th and early 19th century music). Many of these forms have been around for 250 years or more, and often times pieces are composed with an implicit understanding that the audience will be familiar with the structure. I think the best classical pieces are those that take an existing structure and do something new and exciting with it that the audience might not expect.

If you'd like an easy example of a basic kind of classical music structure, check out the Bach chaconne (#40 on Dan's excellent list, and one of my all-time favorite pieces). It begins with a series of rather grating chords in a minor key (0:00-0:28), and then the violin begins to elaborate on this initial sequence. The underlying bass notes remain the same, so the piece retains a coherent structure, but gradually the melody becomes more fluid and less punctuated. The music remains dark and mysterious until around 6:36, when the piece shifts to a major key. It now sounds more peaceful and tranquil, although a sense of the original underlying chord structure still remains. The melody rises to higher and higher notes, as if the violin is striving for something out of reach. Yet it dissipates; there's a transitory passage around 12:00, and by 12:15 we're back in a minor key again, violin again playing at a lower register. The piece ends with those same dark, punctuated chords that it began with.

What does it mean? I read this as the music starting in a dark, unsettling place, slowly shifting and recreating itself until it reaches something beautiful, before that beauty fades and the music is left only with the handful of chords it began with. I think grasping the larger structure of the music - this gradual journey from darkness to light and back to darkness - is what makes it so interesting to listen to from a music nerd's point of view. Very complex symphonies and operas do this on multiple levels, so you have different instruments playing different themes and interacting within movements, and then multiple movements interacting with each other on a higher level to present a narrative.

I hope I haven't bored people away from this thread, but I'm just happy that there's a classical music discussion going on! Dan's list looks excellent, and I think it's a great idea to introduce different kinds of classical in each month. I'm going to put together my own list to share soon.

[Dan]

Thanks guys!

Is your list ranked?

Yes, the list is ranked, sonofsamiam. And it’s interesting to read how you’ve come to appreciate classical music. My path went the opposite way: I was introduced to classical music from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods by my piano teacher at school, and my partner has also made me listen to a lot of great early works over the past 10 years or so. I haven’t delved into enough 20th century classical music yet... I’m still too in love with the early stuff.

I'll post my favorites soon.

I'm going to put together my own list to share soon.

I’m looking forward to those! The more classical music that gets exposure in this thread, the better. There’s so much to explore. And thank you very much for your eloquent explanation of the different structure of classical music, Kingoftonga. That’s even better than the kind of discussion I had hoped for on here.

[Henry]

This is fantastic. Thanks!

[Zorg]

Can someone explain something that's been nagging me for a while? My knowledge of music in terms of theory is ridiculously limited (as a child I played one of these to grade 1 level, which basically meant that I knew how to make noise come out of the damn thing).

But how important is the key signature? To take Dan's #1, Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major, what would it sound like if it were Sonata for Violin and Piano in C major for example? To the untrained ear, wouldn't it sound identical? I'm 95% sure I'm wrong, but I'd like the clarification that my recorder teacher could never provide

[Kingoftonga]

Unless you have perfect pitch, the two will pretty much sound the same. "Major" and "minor" (called modes) are pretty easy for the untrained ear to pick out, but actual keys not so much. Some keys may be easier to play on certain instruments, and because a lot of older composers didn't necessarily title their works, it's a convenient shorthand to refer to a specific piece.

(Pre-Baroque era, the specific key did make a difference because tuning systems used to be slightly different. The explanation is pretty technical though. For nearly all music written in the past few centuries, the piece could be transposed to another key without most listeners noticing anything strange.)

[HRS]

This is incredible! Thanks, Dan. I'm familar with the most well known compositions because they used to be everywhere when I was younger; from Windows Media Player to Cafes and TV. They are not pop music, but they were used a lot as soundtrack or as ambient music to all kinds of places that I've been to. I started to fall in love both with jazz and classical music recently - a friend of mine claim them to be one and the same, separated by some kind of music equivaleny apartheid haha. I know more about 20th Century classical music composers than other eras - I guess only Wagner and Schubert are the two names I listen more often out of this span of time. Hopefully, this will change! One of my frustrations in listening to classical music is my lack of seeing beyond it. I can admire a piece, but I can't analyze i. Everytime I'm listening to it I feel like learning to play something and understand all of this better - and play, of course, though that would sure take time!

[irreduciblekoan]

"Hooray for classical music! It's my first musical love, and though I've grown to enjoy many other genres, I think classical is the one that is most rewarding for those of us who like to obsessively relisten to pieces we know by heart."

My thoughts completely, kingoftonga. Classical was also my first love, that and jazz. It was only in middle school that I started getting into rock, then other genres in high school. But classical is still the style I keep returning to, precisely because of its complexity (and thus, relistenability).

Great job, Dan!

[Honorio]

Absolutely awesome, Dan! Just beginning to listen to the playlist right now. Many thanks!!

Three quick suggestions from the top of my head:
OLIVIER MESSIAEN "Quatuor pour la fin du temps: III. Abîme des oiseaux" (1941) You tube link
FRANCISCO TÁRREGA "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" (1896) You tube link
JOHN CAGE "String Quartet in Four Parts: I. Quietly Flowing Along" (1950) You tube link

[Romain]

Dan, I love you!

Great great list.

As soon as I can, I will try to give some of the classicals pieces I like too.

Thanks for this wonderful thread.

Just one thing Dan, can you give us, in your first post, the translation of the notes.

For example :
Do - Ré - Mi - Fa - Sol - La - Si
C - D - E - F - G - A - B

Or at least this link :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signat ... anslations

Because it's a lot more difficult than in pop music to easily find the music in youtube or spotify for example.

[Dan]

As soon as I can, I will try to give some of the classicals pieces I like too.

That's the best news I've heard all day!

Just one thing Dan, can you give us, in your first post, the translation of the notes.
For example :
Do - Ré - Mi - Fa - Sol - La - Si
C - D - E - F - G - A - B

Yes, I'll do that tomorrow evening.

As soon as I can, I will try to give some of the classicals pieces I like too.

Déjà vu...
And I'll say it again...

That's the best news I've heard all day!

[Moonbeam]

What a wonderful post! I have long liked classical music but rarely have I really dug into it. This thread seems like the perfect opportunity to do just that!

I'm not really sure that this counts, but my favorite (neo-)classical music comes in the form of George Winston's brilliant December.

[Live in Phoenix]

Cool, I think this list could help me, whose knowledge of classical music is pretty brutal (not having love for much of anyone besides Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy's piano music). Actually, I spent a couple months getting classical music assistance from Digital Dream Door, who have been mentioned a few times this week.

[nicolas]

Thanks Dan! I have heard your top 10 and I specially love your #2 and your #9, the Chopin prelude, whose melody reminds me of "Exit Music" by Radiohead (Brad Mehldau made a solo piano version of that songs that starts exactly like the Chopin prelude).
Clair de Lune is fantastic too.

[Dan]

Thanks Nic. Based on the pieces you pointed out, I can highlight some others that you might like, if you haven't heard them already (and I'm not mentioning Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1"... I think I've seen at least one of them on your lists):

13 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg Variations - Aria ( 1741 )
24 - Fritz Kreisler - Liebesleid ( 1910 )
30 - Felix Mendelssohn - Songs without Words for Piano, Op. 19 - VI. Andante sostenuto in G minor ("Venetian Gondola Song") ( 1830 )
32 - Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 ( 1832 )
41 - Darius Milhaud - Scaramouche (for 2 Pianos) - III. Brazileira ( 1914 )

I'm really pleased about the interest in this thread. It's great that people who are not familiar with classical music are threatening to give it a go.

[Honorio]

Dan, having listened by now half of your excellent list (and planning to continue listening on this -appropriately rainy- weekend) I can only thank you for this initiative and express my congratulations for your choices. My favourite three (apart of Satie's "Gymnopédie nº 1," the only piece on this group that it's my all-time list) come in the last part of these first 35, exactly numbers 32-34: Chopin's "Nocturne," Bach's "Prelude" from "Cello Suite" and Beethoven's "Adagio" from the "Pathetique" piano sonata
I particularly love this Chopin piece. I remember one particular day when I went to pick up my kids at school that the music coming out the loudspeakers was this "Nocturne" by Chopin (the music played every day was selected by a young music teacher that showed great taste with her selections day after day). That particular day I felt trapped by the beauty of this piano piece. I tried to isolate myself from the trivial (and deafening) chatter of the mums waiting to pick up their own kids and I found myself ecstatic and almost levitating and in the middle of the chatting crowd. The power of music is (sometimes) that strong.

[John]

If anybody uses Rdio I made this playlist a few weeks ago. It's pretty thorough based off some lists online.

http://rd.io/x/QJlbL2o4Rg/

[Dan]

John:
Thanks for your extensive Rdio list!

Honorio:
Thanks very much for your comments and for your story about Chopin's "Nocturne". Classical music sometimes has a similarly profound effect on me; more so than any other musical genre. And I find that classical music often helps to clear and focus my thoughts, especially during live concerts.

If you are halfway through my Spotify list, then you must be near Isaac Albéniz's "Iberia, Book 1: III. Fête-dieu à Seville". I heard Albéniz's Iberia books for the first time fairly recently, and this third movement from Book 1 immediately made me think of you, probably because you were the person who got me interested in exploring flamenco music. This movement evokes various elements of flamenco (although sometimes when classical music 'evokes' other genres or themes, you have to use your imagination to hear it, lol). To quote Wikipedia, the piece describes "the Corpus Christi Day procession in Seville, during which the Corpus Christi is carried through the streets accompanied by marching bands. Musically, this piece consists of a processional march that eventually becomes overwhelmed by a mournful saeta, the melody evoking Andalusian cante jondo and the accompaniment evoking flamenco guitars. The march and saeta alternate ever more loudly until the main march theme is restated as a lively tarantella that ends abruptly with a flamboyant fort-fort-fort-fortissimo climactic chord; the piece concludes with a gentle coda again evoking flamenco guitars along with distant church bells."

I thought this quote might be useful information for when you hear the piece. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to listen to the Spotify playlist. Considering how much I've learned about music from your comments and how much I've enjoyed listening to the songs and albums on your lists, I'm delighted if this thread is giving you something meaningful in return.

[Honorio]

Many thanks Dan, I truly enjoyed the Albéniz piece (that I never listened before!). It begins as variations on a very popular Spanish melody, "La Tarara" (probably the most famous song in Spain, it's impossible to find anyone in Spain that could not at least hum this melody). Interestingly enough, parts of the Albéniz arrangement were included in the adaptation of "La Tarara" that Camarón did for his acclaimed "La leyenda del tiempo" (right now performing quite well on Round 1.9 of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4). You can listen in that piece from "Iberia" a part from 0'57" to 1'13" and you will find that the piano player on Camarón's album played this part almost note by note (from 1'25" to 1'49").

[John]

At some point in the near future I'm going to be porting that playlist over to Spotify. Rdio's iPhone app keeps giving me issues. I'm not a big fan of the Spotify mobile interface, but it works. I just wish there was an easy way to port all my Rdio playlists over there, but unfortunately it looks like it's search and add.

[Craig]

Thanks so much Dan!
Classical Music has always been on the outskirts for me. I was always intimidated by it in a way. I have been listening to the spotify playlist all day today and have really loved it. I feel i still have so much to learn though.

[Dan]

Interestingly enough, parts of the Albéniz arrangement were included in the adaptation of "La Tarara" that Camarón did for his acclaimed "La leyenda del tiempo" (right now performing quite well on Round 1.9 of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4). You can listen in that piece from "Iberia" a part from 0'57" to 1'13" and you will find that the piano player on Camarón's album played this part almost note by note (from 1'25" to 1'49").

Thanks for this, Honorio. I've heard Camarón's "La Tarara" a couple of times but didn't notice that. I now appreciate the song on a different level.

Classical Music has always been on the outskirts for me. I was always intimidated by it in a way. I have been listening to the spotify playlist all day today and have really loved it. I feel i still have so much to learn though.

I'm pleased you enjoyed the spotify playlist, Craig! And yes, the world of classical music is so vast and intimidating that it's difficult to know how to even start the process of learning more about it. Some tips about exploring classical music, if you don't mind me giving them:

Wikipedia is obviously a quick way to learn a bit more about the different periods of classical music, composers, foms/genres, etc. There are also loads of books about classical music, but it's probably best to start with a book that doesn't go into too much detail about the technical stuff, like Classical Music 101 by Fred Plotkin or The Essential Canon of Classical Music by David Dubal. To learn more about music theory, there is an excellent website called One-2-Five Music. It takes you through music theory from prep-level all the way to grade 5 level. But the best way to learn is just to listen to more and more works. The more you listen, the less overwhelming and big the world of classical music becomes.

Anyway, if you choose to delve deeper into classical music, I hope you enjoy the wonderful journey. And I hope you will find the additional lists and playlists that will be posted here over the next few months useful.

I should probably also add that the quality of a recording can make a world of a difference. So listen to recordings from top labels like Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Decca, and Sony Classical.

[Henrik]

I should probably also add that the quality of a recording can make a world of a difference. So listen to recordings from top labels like Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Decca, and Sony Classical.

Dan, what's your opinion about Naxos?

[Dan]

Dan, what's your opinion about Naxos?

I think Naxos is a bit hit-and-miss. The recordings are not as consistently good as on the other labels I've mentioned. But it's a good label for obscure works. EMI Classics, Decca, etc. don't tend to record many obscure works.

[John]

Classical snobs would argue with me until they are blue in the face, but I believe the best way to really dive into classical is to listen to all the greatest movements before diving into larger works. I believe that you can't truly appreciate any kind of music until you can identify it. Listening to 200 of the greatest movements gives you a large base of what classical music has to offer and then you can listen to something and say, "That's X composer, or, that's baroque". It's just like pop and rock music. Most of us grew up listening to the radio or singles... you grow into albums. You might have had a couple favorite albums when young, but the beginning stages of pop music appreciation is singles. I don't see why classical is any different. Yet, most people who try to get into classical music undertake symphonies when they should be listening to the singles. In the age of Spotify, it's easier than ever to really get into classical music in a way that won't be overwhelming.

[HRS]

There was a really good piece about Wagner on the London Review of Books last month and I really want to go further into his operas, since I'm already fond of Tristan und Isolde -- the prelude being, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest achievements of the human mind. I've been currently in a love affair with two nordic composers: Sibelius and Grieg. I've always been fond of piano music and recently I've been listening some Liszt; though, I must be honest, nothing touches my soul like Chopin. There's a really great scene, among plenty of memorable others like in basically every movie of his, in Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata which both Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann give their spin on a Chopin Prelude; it's incredible to see such a formidable composer being performed first as a fragile, broken-hearted piece to afterwards watch this very same composition being interpreted in such a strong, muscular, almost cold way. My favorites of his are the Nocturnes -- great to see them being cited here. My favorite is the number one, whose first twenty seconds are the closest I ever got of floating into the night, of dancing along the dark clouds. The whole batch captures nighttime feel in an exquisite, rather unique way; intense stuff!

[John]

Found a way to export my Rdio playlist to Spotify. It didn't catch everything but it looks like it found a good portion of it.

http://open.spotify.com/user/johnfgills ... EZmIFUging

[John]

Found a way to export my Rdio playlist to Spotify. It didn't catch everything but it looks like it found a good portion of it.

http://open.spotify.com/user/johnfgills ... EZmIFUging

Just realized that a large portion of this playlist was imported but didn't give me the recordings that I chose on Rdio, instead choosing tracks from compilation albums which usually suck and you don't know who the orchestra and conductor are. I'm going to have to completely redo the playlist at some point, but it's still decent for now.