feel i could be missing out

I'd try a classical sampler off the front of something like the ClassicFM magazine. Or try listening to ClassicFM to get a feel for what you might like.
Just now I'm listening to Nicola Benedetti's first album – she's a violinist, so it's all violin, but quite varied. Also Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 for a bit of blood and thunder

undo the zip and climb inside whilst wearing the appropriate middle eighties wine bar pompous expression. alternatively just go out and buy some Liszt or Rachmaninov and listen to it within the confines of your own home.

Classic FM is a good intro, they never really play anything challenging

then you can get cheap classical CDs from the likes of Naxos in HMV etc.

probably depends on your current tastes

if you like rock then get some big bold stuff from Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Wagner etc

if you like electronic music then more modern stuff like Philip Glass, Peter Maxwell Davis, Steve Reich

more melodic stuff from the likes of Bach, Brahms etc

Go and see a proper orchastra play. I used to see the RSNo at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. LIke any music, much better 'in the flexh'.

Don't shy away from more 'popular' pieces. They help one appreciate what music can be about. Pachelbel's 'Canon in D', for example, is the most overplayed, abused piece of music in human history, but if you actually sit and listen to it for all its subtleties, it can be very beautiful.

Beyond that, listen to something like Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' all the way through, then move up through the periods.

Finally, don't neglect late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century French composers, like Ravel, Debussey, and Satie.

But you really must listen. It's not enough to put it on in the background, and wonder what all the fuss is about…

Buy a film scores or telly adverts CD that has all the tunes you recognise** but know nothing about. Then you'll find out what you like. Of course if you have a Spotify account you can fill your boots right there.

** You know – like the one that goes Da-da-da-da-daaa-daa

Oh yes, and Naxos is your friend.

Classic FM over the headphones via internet radio here at work for me.
Most of the stuff they play is pretty good and occasionally you can find a real gem.
Radio 3 is good for full length concerts without the adverts.

Or try one of the "best of" or "classical film music" compilation albums.

Grab something like a relax compilation from Classic FM see if you like any of it and start exploring from there.

Try:

Vivaldi (Four Seasons)
Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture for example)
Bach (Brandenburg Concertos)
Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 5)
Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue)

Some of the more modern stuff you hear on Radio 3 can be a bit grim, a little too experimental for my tastes.

For a great range of free music I never tire of recommending the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum podcast: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/concertmain.asp

In the summer go to an open air concert with a fireworks finale.

The 1812 overture or the Dambusters theme etc

Try Elgar, Mendelsson (Hebridean Overture)William Barber(Adagio for strings)All these lot have done is strung together a load of advert tunes of of the telly just like Shakespeare did with famous sayings. 😉

Second what others have said about especially, Gershwin and Debussy. Don't be too worried about pretentious types poopooing popular and accessible stuff. There are reasons some pieces are popular.

Indeed, you are missing out!

Classic FM is a good starting point.

I'd look at internet radio stations too.

Try Last FM when you have a few composers names. Type in Holst. Re – Holst, The Planet Suite is a goodun.

The problem with buying classical music is that you get umpteen recordings of the same piece. Some can be as old as the hills and many are quite mediocre. A good recording will blow you away, but i'm talking about listening on a proper hifi. Deutsche Grammophon have a good reputaion for quality recording as do some of the BBC's. It's a bit of a lottery getting it right. If you listen to web radio, you can sometimes get the label and pressing number.

type chosen composer into spotify.

download from here
http://www.spotify.com/en/

Rostropovich !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mstislav_Rostropovich

can't believe no ones mentioned dvorak (sp?) really beautiful stuff

Classical music ?, its good stuff alright, but theres so much of it, who can tell whats going to flick your switch

Scanning the thread, the suggestion of listening to Classic FM is a good idea. If you're new to it, I'd not get too bogged down in the detail, just listen and look at what is popular as its popularity is for a reason.

Not sure if its still online, but one of the good things about Classic FM was that if you heard something you liked, then as long as you knew when you heard it, you could go online later and find out the details of that particular item, etc.
7pm to 9pm week days is a good slot, imo.

I don't claim to know much about it, but I know what I like and my life is richer for my liking and listening to Classical music.

Good Luck, I hope you find something that does for you, what classical music does for me.

🙂

Edit: I agree with others here, Ludovico Einaudi (one car ?) is good stuff too, imo.

Solo.

What scuttler said. I enjoy stuff from Hans Zimmer, Ludovico Einaudi – all heard on film scores, tv programs (Top Gear) etc.

Decided to do something different before Christmas and saw Ludovico Einaudi live at the Colston Hall Bristol – was ace.

A good recording will blow you away, but i'm talking about listening on a proper hifi

Good point – listening on a decent MP3 plyer through decent headphones is ok, but an Ipod/mp3 through hi-fi amp just won't cut it. I was looking at replacing my CD player with an Ipod and tried one through the stereo. All fine until I tried some classical and the difference in quality was seriously noticable – and I'm not an audiophile by any means. Classical uses volume as an instrument, so you can get really quiet pieces which draw you in, and th's where sound quality counts/

Come to think of it – watch Shine as well

The problem with buying classical music is that you get umpteen recordings of the same piece.

this has always been the stumbling block for me. Now, I know that, in reality, if I like the piece in the round, searching out different recordings by different orchestras/soloists/conductors can really add to the appreciation, but somehow that initial sense of being over-faced with choice stops me.

Double post.

7pm to 9pm week days is a good slot, imo.

That's the Classic FM slot which I hate! Just goes to show how tastes differ, that's the "Smooth Classics" one (actually it's 6pm – 9pm). I like the afternoon slot, 3pm – 6pm where there's a good mix of generally fairly lively stuff and a good DJ.

Try looking on YouTube, there's loads of stuff up there. Haydn and Hummel are 2 of the "lesser known" composers worth looking up.

i just cannot get into classical.it might have something to do with,when i used to work in an ironmongers.the manager used to play the same 5 best of classical cd's on a constant loop.

Agreed about the live performance angle. What sort of music do you like normally? Might have a bearing on your preferences. Your best bet might be just to buy a compilation CD and see what you like.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto no. 2 (Andante)

I listen to Classic FM – some seriously impressive music on there…there is a lot of stuff that I find total garbage but overall, it's a great station for background music where you can turn up up when a piece appeals.

I can't stand the smarmy tone of the Classic FM announcers, to be honest.

And furthemore, I think that most of the composers they play would be offended that their's was 'music to relax to'. It's supposed to move and to challenge FFS. Not pretentiously sip white wine or fall asleep at the wheel to!

Carmina Burana?!

http://www.last.fm/music/Michel+Plasson+-+Malcolm+Stewart+-+Orchestre+Du+Capitole+De+Toulouse+-+Jose+Antonio+Sainz+-+Orfeon+Donostiarra+-+Choeur+D'Enfants+Midi+Pyrenees/_/Carmina+Burana+-+Fortuna+Imperatrix+Mundi+:+O+Fortuna?autostart

I believe the procedure involves learning to like the screeching made by the poxy instruments of yesteryear.

I like Kraftwerk, which is composed along fairly classical lines, but I can't stand the noises emanating from Radio 3 or Classic FM.

In fact, that's definately it. There are various cover versions of Kraftwerk records on Youtube using string instruments, and they're universally awful.

Or you can listen to the beautiful, timeless, and emotive music composed sometimes more than 300 years ago by people with proper talent and played by highly skilled and dedicated musicians.

And I like Kraftwerk too.

everyone likes The lark Ascending, you could start there.

Have a nice bottle of wine sit back and listen to Albinoni's Adagio. You'll immediately appreciate what's good about classical. Other than that you can't go wrong if you start with Elgar, Beethoven/Tchaikovsky piano works or their 5th symphonies. Vivaldi's Four Seasons is very good except that every call centre going uses it, but don't let that put you off. Dvorak's New World Symphony is good. Some Rachmaninov also. The world is your oyster.

I started with a subscription to a CD firm thast sent out one recording a month, but they seem to have gone the way of all retailers, so look for something similar that's downloadable. You won't like everything, nobody does.

for classical covers of electronica you'll be wanting Alarm Will Sound covering Aphex Twin

awesome stuff, turn it up loud.

actually i've decided i dislike the term 'classical music'

lets say 'orchestral' music

and i find Overture to Dancer in the Dark by Bjork just as emmotive as any of the trance music i like, it's heart rending, especially if you've seen the film.

And the cadenza from Peter Maxwell Davies' Strathclyde Concerto number 4 (especially the clarinet bit) makes every hair on my body stand on end with a decent hifi

Buy this, there is a reason it's so popular.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/concerto-for-2-oboes-strings-and/id151913031?i=151913179

It's the best version too IMHO.

quote]for classical covers of electronica you'll be wanting Alarm Will Sound covering Aphex Twin[/quote]

I keep meaning to buy that. The null[]London Sinfonietta[/url] album on Warp is pretty good, disappointed they didn't put a Boards of Canada track on there though. I went to a couple of those performances and they were spectacularly good in places. Steve Reich pieces in particular IIRC.

Spotify is brilliant for it, I'm beginning to find out what I actually like in classical music without the risk involved in buying it.

Listen to Radio 3 morning show – it gives you the whole piece, Classic FM tends to just include the crowd pleasers, and a great variety.

Then you can find what you like.

If you're blown away by virtuosity as well as musicality, you might enjoy Alkan. Apparently, Liszt once stated that Alkan had the finest piano technique of anyone he knew.

There is a great CD of Jack Gibbons playing his etudes, which might be on spotify. If not, you can get a feel for it with some of these http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=alkan+gibbons&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=BFBHS9yWN9eTjAf06eyABw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBEQqwQwAA#