Good evening. I’ve a fairly broad taste in music (don’t we all think that?) but have never really listened to anything classical. I think to some degree it’s because there’s so much of it that I’m a bit daunted.
Where would STW recommend I start?

Despite what other STWers think of it, I reckon Classic FM is a good starting point. It’ll give you an overview of what you might like. The adverts are really annoying though.

As above. Classic is good as an intro, but the adverts are indeed annoying, and their playlist is very safe. Not that safe is necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it a little limited.

As well as that, try having Radio 3 on over breakfast. They rarely play anything too “challenging” at that hour. The Proms can also be a good source of interesting stuff.

In short, listen to lots, note down what you like. Then listen to more.

Film music is what started me.
John Williams, John Barry etc.

You already have a connection with the music if you know the movie and it makes it easier to get into the music by itself.

Another ClassicFM here. IIRC there’s a playlist on their website so you can look up what you liked.
Here’s nice starter to chill to Nicola Benedetti plays Meditations From Thais

Spotify has a browse section, that will allow you to select a playlist of say: “late night Strings” or “British Countryside” which are a pretty good introduction.

+1 for Radio 3.

I have an old clock radio alarm set to R3. If I’m not working I’ll leave it on, heard loads of great stuff recently. R3 has also got me quite into opera. Had a’work from bed day’ a few Saturdays ago and listened to Handel’s ‘Semele’ in its entirety. Was great.

If you’re new to classical, but like it. Then Classic FM will be great… for about an hour. At first you’ll be ‘Ooh, I know this one (Hovis Ad), then the adverts targeted at boring old people because annoyingly that’s what they’ve pegged you as just for liking classical instead of trap… then back to that music that was in the Hovis ad… ad… ad nauseaum…

As above, perchy makes a good suggestion, the snobs sneer at film music, but it really does have great choons, and composers like Rachmaninov, who’s one of my favourites, wrote music for films.
One album I picked up on after hearing a track played on Classic FM is a soundtrack, called “Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture”, by a British composer called Jessica Curry, it’s actually a computer game soundtrack, and really rather good.
Rachmaninov is a good place to start, as is Elgar, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, Vaughn Williams, Tchaikovsky.
All deemed a bit ‘safe’ by the cognoscenti, but all a good place to get a good feel for classical music.

Thanks all. Spotify browse has served me well in the past so I’ll try that (seeing as radio adverts are the work of the devil).

As above, Classic FM, it can be a bit greatest hits but that’s ideal for you. Good driving music. But here’s some accessible favourites:

This is my favourite version of Firebird, the distortion at the end is horrible but fitting, it makes me want to rock out
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW4PuJYRIHI[/video]

This never really gets to where it should be going but it’s grand along the way:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdnf6dHbxPw[/video]

As a general rule, if I hear anything on Classic FM that I don’t know, but I love it, it’s Sibelius. Play loud.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5zg_af9b8c[/video]

Or you can always go, er, alternative:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88_PGUa69aE&index=3&list=RDa3LkKviuGKU[/video]

But there’s always the old safe bets, you can never go wrong with Mozart really.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyBX2k2M43Q[/video]

Mozart – clarinet concerto

Mind if we suggest a few pieces via the medium of links? Will try and give some varied suggestions.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXy50exHjes[/video]
(Glorious piece. Hated when it was first performed, but I adore it)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2JlDnT2l8[/video]
(Picture yourself in a field in Britain in high summer….)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVahuS9hk_s[/video]
(Includes Fanfare for the Common Man, which you may already know from other sources)

*Edit – Sibelius is rather excellent, especially that Finlandia piece.

Holst ‘the planets’

Phillip glass

There’s lots of iterations of each composition, varying according to the conductor, the orchestra and the recording techniques. So its worth reading up as to which versions are the best. Sometimes the reviews on iTunes are quite handy.

Just listen to Radio 3. You’ll pick it up. There is a concert every evening. Real buffs would play this via FM through their Quad Hi FI and electrostatic speakers.

Proms are great on BBC4 as well.

Classic FM is OK but a bit too much Radio 2. When you want BBC 6 music.

Oh and Stravinsky, of course.

Spotify browse is grand.

JS Bach – Violin Concertos, St Matthews Passion
Henry Purcell – Dido’s Lament (Dido & Aeneas)
Arvo Part – 4th Symphony, Kanon Pejokanen, Frates, Speigel im Speigel, Tabula Rasa, Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten
Steve Reich – Six Marimbas, Music for 16 Musicians, Octet
Bang On A Can – Music For Airports, Cheating, Lying, Stealing, Lick, Industry
Gorecki – 3rd Symphony
Michael Gordon – Weather
Gavin Bryers – Jesus Blood Never failed me yet
John Adams – Shaker Loops
Yannis Kyriakadies – A ConSPIracy Cantana

You could also try some Clogs….

I downloaded a 5cd ‘best of classical’ years ago, really very interesting listening… Almost like it’s not music sometimes, more of a pure emotional experience.. There’s so much verity pigeon holed into one ‘genre’.

Ludovico Einaudi is great and you will should recognise alot of his music from adverts etc.

Classic FM is for the over 80s. Nothing will help you understand classical music until you go to a live concert. Then the intensity of the performance will make it fall into place. Even better join a choral society and see it from in front of the baton.
Carmen and la Boheme are the best 1st operas to see. Short and tuneful. Catch a train and go to a Prom. After that, Bach, Vivaldi, and a bit of Beethoven (4, 6, 9) will get you started.

So much to choose from, and many good suggestions above.

Shostakovitch – try symphony 7. For some truly glorious uplifting English music, Holst, but skip the Planets.

And if you are going on a really long journey, Mahler.

Edit. Of course, Elgar.

Just listen to some and work out what YOU like. Classical music isn’t a specific thing, it’s a broad brush describing a certain genre. Imagine asking ‘what pop music should I listen to’ when ‘pop’ spans a very long time. ‘Classical’ music spans a much longer time….

Shostakovich 5th Symphony
Mozart’s Requiem

Steve Reich – Six Marimbas, Music for 16 18 Musicians

I never could count… 😳

Oh, I should also add his Proverb too

And Stephen Scotts New Music For Bowed Piano

you can never go wrong with Mozart

I think Mozart is to classical music, what the Beatles are to pop music 😉 Although I love his requiem.
What sort of non-classical music do you like? My top three composers are Webern, Janacek and Britten, but they’re not to everyone’s ears.

What BigJohn said about going to a concert. Get someone who knows their stuff to pick something to go to.

Classic FM goes on the radio when I’m in the shower for a few weeks then gets dumped for Radio X / Smooth / Gaydio (I’m not gay but it’s so cheery).

Rachmaninov / Holst / that South American conductor who I can’t remember the name of.

Dress up really smart and go to a concert. You don’t have to but to me it’s part of the experience.

The Proms are in full swing so that – either listen or watch. Tonight’s was great – some Schumann who I wouldn’t normally think of listening to – more fool me.

Radio 3 is really the only place to listen on the Radio, Classic FM is a good entry point but is a bit Greatest Hits and if you really want to try understand it, you need to hear the whole composition.

Go to concerts, plenty of cheap classical music gigs around, go and be transported somewhere else.

But whatever you do, keep with it, orchestras are closing throughout the world and it needs all the help it can get.

And if you are going on a really long journey, Mahler.

He only wrote a few symphonies, Haydn will take you round the world.

I watched the Rachmaninov prom in the BBC iPlayer last night. It was fantastic: great playing, big tunes. I would give that a go first. Rachmaninov is big on tunes, drama and atmosphere.

gauss1777 – Member

I think Mozart is to classical music, what the Beatles are to pop music Although I love his requiem. What sort of non-classical music do you like?

I’d say the Beatles are some of hte best pop music ever, so… (I don’t like the Beatles, but then I don’t like pop music) But yes it’s true, he’s pretty inoffensive.

I like big punchy classical, horns and timps and dynamics- kind of the classical equivalent of the punk and metal I like. And on that note,

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMj_F5oc7U[/video]

If you ever get the chance to see some ‘contemporary’ music live, go for it. I’ve been very fortunate to have a cousin who is both a composer and pianist who has premiered some challenging pieces by John Cage among others. When I was younger I was a bit of a groupie and followed him to music festivals in the US and across Europe.

The magic is in the live performance. Here he is aged about sixteen playing Xenakis at the Dartington Summer School. The preamble from 1.53 is worth listening to too.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH1ne3BexQU[/video]

Another thought, and it really depends where you are, but plenty of proms don’t sell out and are actually relatively cheap (<£20) so if London is easy for you go along.

Loads of classical music is rubbish! Dont be put off keep searching for stuff you like.

[video]https://youtu.be/wqhR37qSUMA[/video]

I like Bach cello concertos as played by Pau Casals

Northwind

I’d say the Beatles are some of hte best pop music ever, so… (I don’t like the Beatles, but then I don’t like pop music) But yes it’s true, he’s pretty inoffensive.

I agree, I did not mean to suggest Mozart was poor, he is clearly outstanding; but for me too ‘safe’/’nice’.

Ignore this lot, go watch Apocalypse Now & ride with the best* 😉

* Seriously it did give me a mild love of classical music.

If you want something that’ll make your speakers work a bit, then I might suggest the (in)famous Telarc recording using real cannon, the first time it had aver been done properly.
It’s not generally regarded as the finest performance, but for sheer dynamics, it’s pretty much impossible to beat:
http://hifi-writer.com/wpblog/?p=2504
Warning – it’s a recording that is literally capable of destroying speakers!

So how loud were these cannons? As it happens, one of the blasts produces a 38 hertz tone that considerably exceeds the maximum recording level of a CD! How can this be? After all, all PCM-based digital recordings have hard numerical limits. Analogue signals are mapped onto a 16 bit space. There can be no value greater than 32,767 or less than -32,768.

As with any art, remember it’s what YOU like that counts not what other say you should like. So experiment to find what touches you

Classic FM is ok if you can stomach the syrupy sicklines of the presenters and will introduce you to styles that immediately resonate – good links to iTunes to build up a collection too

Married to a cellist and have another one in family so I will break with advice above and say listen to Thais’ Meditation on the cello – try Yo Yo Ma’s version as his ending is dramatic and a bit off piste. Mini THM got told off for playing it this way in a solo which was odd as it’s an amazing climax in his version. He also plays the Bach Cello Suites beaitidaly althohh you might get bored with all of them quite quickly

Never overlook organ and choral music for majesty and glory and spine tingly moments – sounds like a Classic FM intro there so better stop

This version of the 1812 might be better: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Digital-Music/Tchaikovsky-1812-Overture-Neeme-Järvi/B003ZHJBX2
It has the choral parts, the bells, and the cannon used are proper black powder pieces appropriate to the period, maybe not quite as loud, but probably more accurate.
As THM says, don’t overlook organ and choral, Saint-Saëns 3rd ‘Organ’ Symphony is a stunning piece of music, when the organ comes in it sends real shivers down the spine!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saint-Saëns-Organ-Symphony-LApprenti-Sorcier/dp/B000001G85/ref=pd_sbs_15_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=E3AAHNVGHTQQ7CPQDRYX
[video]https://youtu.be/ZWCZq33BrOo[/video]

Get a copy of this book

Find a gig and go and see something live, usually plenty happening, just pick something that gets good reviews. Aye, classical crowds are oddball and have a serious stick up their arse with their inability to clap when they bloody well should be(what is that all about btw, ritualised nonsense..).

But once ye ignore that, it’s bloody marvellous hearing a full orchestra live. Get a decent seat though where the acoustics are optimal in the hall. I buy a ticket for something every once in a blue moon. Good way a wee scoob beforehand! 😆

If you want an over view of the timelimes and get a general gist of the development of music, watch howard goodall’s story of music(how music works is good too). Music is all about timeline and the genealogy of it all, all music is linked in this way, music is very much based on what came before.

6 episodes, it’ll give ye a good sense of where it comes from and how we got to today. It’s very good, well worth a watch.

Story of music ep 1 of 6

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Y6NPahlDE[/video]

Classical music also wide ranging all encompassing term, for example the classical era is a subset of what people term as classical music.

This page is good for getting a sense of the timelines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_classical_music_composers_by_era