I’d quite like to listen to a little more classical music but don’t really know where to start, so I guess a few recommendations to set me on my way can’t do any harm.

And if they are available on Spotify even better!

Ian

Nimrod, from Elgar’s Enigma
Appalachian Spring, Copeland
The lark ascending, Vaughn Williams
and so on

Adagio for Strings – Samuel Barber
Lots of Elgar and Debussy.

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2

Spiegel Im Spiegel is nice in a solo piano kind of way

Hah! depends on mood – Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Debussy Cello Sonata, Shostakovich Symphony No. 10, Stravinsky Do Concertant is lovely as well. Janacek Sinfonietta, Schubert late piano sonatas..

Can I also add – not so much a particular piece of music as a composer – J S Bach – Wachet Auf would be a good start for a cantata but basically would be quite happy if Bach was on the radio 25% of the time – engaging and reassuring at the same time.

I think it will always be the lark ascending for me

Gorekis symphony for sorrowful songs was wonderful until they started playing as mood music it every time anything sad happened on telly and spoiled it.

I think Serj Tankian has been doing some fantastically exciting and challenging contemporary work with classical music, well worth a listen.

Saint Saens Organ Symphony No3 in C Major. Saw a live performance on our town hall organ and it does need to be played on some massive organ (ooo errr missus)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, but I’d suggest watching Shine to give it some context
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6DmRnYZCfI[/video]
We used to have a classical open air proms near us that finished with a grand firework finale, last time it was Tchakovsky’s 1812, Awesome with fireworks.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLCuL-K39eQ[/video] In fact Fantasia is a pretty amazing film for it’s time. Still worth a watch
Look around and keep an eye open for a chance to go an see a full orchestra, regardless of what they’re playing. An orchestra in full flight really is an amazing noise

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vdgZAJVnes[/video]

Thank you everyone so far. I am working my way through the lists as I type. I have to say i am really enjoying Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2.

I will try The Lark Ascending when I return from this morning’s spin.

Ian

+1 for Lark Ascending.

Crown Imperial is always good.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WMrQe87gRk[/video]

Talk about a bygone era 😯

Oh and…
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vokfi-kKy3Q[/video]

“And what do you know my brothers and only friends, it was the 9th, the glorious 9th of Ludwig van.”

Not really possible to choose just one, yet a common favourite is Sibelius’ Symphony No 5 in E Flat Major. The finale is for me impossible to describe. It has a profound effect on my being!

[video]http://youtu.be/nkzrSZKA4cM[/video]

Dvorak’s Cello Concerto

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVKb3DwPFA8[/video]

Another very English sound, Delius – The Walk to the Paradise Garden – I particularly like the fact that the Paradise Garden is a dilapidated pub.

You might want to have a gander at this recent thread:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/must-have-classical-records

My personal favourites are:

Tabula Rasa/Frates – Arvo Part
Misere – Allegri (link in above thread)
Six Marimbas – Steve Reich
Dido’s Lament – Purcell (I really need to explore Purcell more….)
Weather – Micheal Gordon

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

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – 2nd movement

I have to say i am really enjoying Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2.

I’m really pleased you like it, I saw this live at the Royal Festival Hall when I was a school boy, most amazing experience that has stayed with me.

Wow! Thanks everyone. I had no idea that I would get so many suggestions. The ones that I have listened to so far have been great.

Moving on slightly; what do you listen to if you want to lift your mood? You know, when you’re feeling a bit low, you put on your favourite piece, play it through, and by the end your world seems a slightly better place.

Anyone?

Ian

The BeGees – Jive talkin’

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRdLZyOU4w[/video]

I love the way it builds, each part in comes in playing the same part as previously, and then one by one they drop back out.

And you’ll know the chord progression because it’s been copied so many times. All Together Now, for example.

mood lift – Mozart Horn Concertos. Beethoven 8th symphony.Some Tallis or Byrd is more contemplative. Don’t for heaven’s sake listen to Dowland 🙂

Bartok romanian dances. Grieg Holburg Suite.
Some Monteverdi or – even better – Gabrielli – in full venetian brass flow. That or Herb Albert 🙂

Moving on slightly; what do you listen to if you want to lift your mood?

Shostakovitch 7th Symphony.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N1tMghRGko[/video]

Or if it’s really serious, then the Brandenburg Concertos, or anything by Vaughan Williams, obviously.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT0MF4XNjkA[/video]

You know, when you’re feeling a bit low, you put on your favourite piece, play it through, and by the end your world seems a slightly better place.

youtube – anything by vanessa mae or nicola benedetti

This sends a shiver down my spine
[video]http://youtu.be/SRc1gJmXJ5U[/video]
Gustav Mahler 5th Symphony
Beethoven 9th Symphony
John Williams Star Wars Episode IV OST

[Another] Lark Ascending.

Very favorite would be Karl Orff s carmina biranah . probably spelt wrong also love Eroica .

Very favorite would be Karl Carl Orff s carmina biranah Buranah

Certainly are some interesting lyrics
From Cignus ustus cantat (The Roast Swan)
Once I lived on lakes,
once I looked beautiful
when I was a swan.

Misery me!
Now black
and roasting fiercely!

The servant is turning me on the spit;
I am burning fiercely on the pyre:
the steward now serves me up.

Were diu werlt alle min (Were all the world mine)
Were all the world mine
from the sea to the Rhine,
I would starve myself of it
so that the queen of England
might lie in my arms.

Chramer, gip die varwe mir (Shopkeeper, give me colour)
Shopkeeper, give me colour
to make my cheeks red,
so that I can make the young men
love me, against their will.
Look at me,
young men!
Let me please you!

In taberna quando sumus (When we are in the tavern)
When we are in the tavern,
we do not think how we will go to dust,
but we hurry to gamble,
which always makes us sweat.
What happens in the tavern,
where money is host,
you may well ask,
and hear what I say.
Some gamble, some drink,
some behave loosely.

Orff had some questionable associations with the Nazis, if that affects your views at all – really it shouldn’t, at all, I think he was more seduced by the recognition and naive about it all..

The words are 13th Century Gregorian chants, Orff’s contribution was to arrange the verses musically.
Ford Motor Company had more questionable associations with the Nazis, would that affect your car buying decision?

Very good album this. I like.

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

Very favorite would be Karl Carl Orff s carmina biranah Buranah burana

I’ve sung in it. Great fun, especially the drinking song”In Taberna” – a Latin tongue twister.

Agree with Sibelius 5 – utterly stunning, as is the 2nd.

Shos 7 is well… I wouldn’t use it as a mood lifter.

This morning I’ve been playing in Mozart’s Symphony 40. Highly recommend the late Mozart symphonies – 38-41 and any Beethoven (3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 generally the most approachable).

Khatchaturian – Toccata in Eb minor
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfo4-CnJZQQ[/video]

Zbigniew Preisner – Craven Leaves
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNv0idbhmpA[/video]

Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 3, 6th Movement (What Love Tells Me)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIqoiSPgwUA[/video]

Grimethorpe Colliery – Abide With Me (Eventide)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_9WlUTR4Ys[/video]

Classical snobs will probably turn their nose up, but if you’re looking for a wonderful album, I would definitely suggest you have a look at Ludovico Einaudi In a Time Lapse 🙂

[video]http://youtu.be/WJcv18IyvKM[/video]

CBIL – no, and I didn’t say it did. I was giving some peripheral information. Music, like sport, and politics shouldn’t be mixed. But they are, and that’s unavoidable in some ways. Should a composer take a stand against what’s happening round him? Or not?

Late Mozart symphonies are excellent – though I find the last – 41 – quite bittersweet / poignant :/

Might be a bit too modern, solo cello (and a fancy delay of some sort):

[video]http://youtu.be/Mgz8rOAGRCI[/video]

Just remembered this. Opening to Marriage of Figarro by Mozart, as seen in the opening credits of the classic Trading Place.
[video]http://youtu.be/lCubTHR5vpY[/video]