I guess my tastes are changing, or at least expanding. I listen to a mix of jazz, rock and a lot of modern indie music. I am finding myself listening to some classical music on the local university radio station. - and I kinda like it. I was looking for some suggestions/recommendations in the classical music genre. I know its kinda of a broad question, but it is a broad genre. When I go to the store to purchase some classical music, I see there are about 5 million recordings of the same composers by 5 million different groups, so I get overwhelmed and leave empty handed. I am not looking for rare or hard to find, but just a good place to get started. Thanks.

Try going to the NPR website. The College station you listen to is probably affiliated with Public Radio. At this site, they did have a link to suggestions of Classic , Jazz, Folk and alternative music, If they still have it up. *I heard this a couple weeks ago.

To see what some of us here are listening to, check out this thread: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51069

Also, yourmusic.com, an AK sponsor, has quite a lot of classical music at $6.99/disc.

Bach and Stravinsky got me started in classical.

I originally leaned toward piano music, and you cannot go wrong with Artur Rubenstein playing...well, anything. Also, a lot of the Philly Orchestra with Ormandy at the helm is great stuff. To get your feet wet, try Beethoven. If you like it, try Mahler. If you like Mozart, try Mendelssohn. Vivaldi did a lot of string quartet, chamber type music which is a personal favorite of mine.
There's a vast variety; you might try the library to check some of this stuff out before you buy it (no pun intended). Depends on whether you like full orchestra, piano, piano w/ orch, string chamber music (generally small groups). I found the NPR Classical Music Listener's Encyclopedia very helpful-$20 at any Barnes & Noble.
Dan
PS there is a hell of a lot of this stuff on vinyl at thrift stores. Got a turntable?

I do have a turntable. I see a lot of classical vinyl when I am looking at other vinyl, but some of the ones that I have picked up have been a little lack luster. So that is part of the reason that I was looking for some direction.

I will have to look into the NPR Classical Music Listener's Encyclopedia. I know it's like saying tell me a good rock band - there are a million of them and there are so many different things under that genre. I have been trying to catch some of the classical play lists on the radio. Plus like you mentioned, I am trying to narrow what type of classical music that interests me.

I will take some of the above suggestions and run with it. I use a combo of AR4x's, Large Advents and Dynaco A25's, and it is amazig how good classical music can sound thru them. Somehow the help with making the music make sense.

there are tons of classic samplers in the cd stores. pick up one for $10-$15 and see what you think... look for a lot of different composers on it and see what you like.

A couple more suggestions.

Check out your library. Many have collections of CDs to lend and it's a great place to sample for free.

Check out local college and NPRs for Classical shows. I've got about 3-5 on my car radio and find they are really a quite nice alternative to the usual blatherings available.

When thrifting, check out Deutsche Grammophon LPs. I'm pretty sure that they are a solid buy and generally well respected. I think Angel and Nonesuch are pretty good too.

Lastly, and this is how I've acquired more than a few of my fledgling collection; hit church sales at Bag time. They sell you a bag for $1,$2, $5 and you fill it up. I sometimes us it to snag old T shirts for the shop, but have acquired about 20-40 classical LPs in this fashion and all in quite nice shape. At that price, just about any LP in fine condition is a great deal.

Start with Beethoven's 9th. If you like that, get a Mozart greatest hits package. Then, a Rossini greatest hits package (this will turn you on to opera). If you can listen to Rossini's "William Tell Overture" without thinking of the Lone Ranger, you are a true intellectual.

Classical CDs, even brand new, can be a bargain since the labels no longer have to pay the long-dead composers. You can pay dearly for classical CDs too depending upon the composer (Karajan) or label (Telarc), so it is best to start with the cheap ones until your taste evolves and you can tell the difference in performances.

Ken

You may want to pick up a copy of The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music as a reference. And if possible, listen to a couple of classical music stations to get acclimated to the different genres.

When I got started, I began by listening to a fair amount of Baroque music (Bach, Handel, Pachelbel) and then moved on to Mozart and Haydn and Beethoven...anything by Beethoven, but particularly symphonies 5, 6, 7, and 9, the piano concerti and the violin concerto. Tchaikovsky's work is accessible, same with Copland and Gershwin.

Plenty of time to move on to Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg and opera later.

ISNIP
I was looking for some suggestions/recommendations in the classical music genre. SNIP


one word:

Mozart :thmbsp:

BMG has released many of the RCA Living Stereo recordings on SACD. These recordings are generally of the highest quality with artists of the first rank. They are also priced right at about $11.99 list. Here is a link:

http://sonybmgmasterworks.com/series/livingstereo/site-f.html

My recommendation would be for the Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade 82876-66377-2. This piece, maybe more than any other, has started music lovers down the path to classical music. Good listening.

Start with Beethoven 5 symphony.

Good news, Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade is only $9 (on sale) on the sony website. It's already in the basket. Probably add a few more.

Maybe someone hear might know of a song that I am looking for. I heard it about a month ago on one of the NPR classical stations. I believe it was called "The Romance" - no clue who it was by (it wasn't announced) and they didn't list it on thier website as a song played. There was a song before it and the announcer came on and said that he was going to let the next movement play on and it cut right into the song. It was a fully orchestra playing, simple yet powerful.

At the end of the song, both my girlfriend and I looked at each other and simultaneously said "That was beautiful." I really want to find that song. Did an internet search - nothing.

Any ideas?

A couple of months ago someone wrote a letter to Stereophile asking the same sort of question, and writer suggested Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy (Jascha Heifetz and the New Sympony Orchestra of London) and Elgar's Cello Concerto (with Jacqueline Du Pre) as a good place to start. Of course, he gave cogent reasons why this was so. So I ordered both off of Yourmusic.com. I like some other stuff on the CD better than The Scottish Fantasy, but the cello concerto is fine.

Also, you should dial up WCPE on the www. It's local to me and I hear a lot of fine music on it. I like their Music In The Night program.

Good news, Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade is only $9 (on sale) on the sony website. It's already in the basket. Probably add a few more.

Maybe someone hear might know of a song that I am looking for. I heard it about a month ago on one of the NPR classical stations. I believe it was called "The Romance" - no clue who it was by (it wasn't announced) and they didn't list it on thier website as a song played. There was a song before it and the announcer came on and said that he was going to let the next movement play on and it cut right into the song. It was a fully orchestra playing, simple yet powerful.

At the end of the song, both my girlfriend and I looked at each other and simultaneously said "That was beautiful." I really want to find that song. Did an internet search - nothing.

Any ideas?

I will guess that this may have been one of Beethoven's Romances for violin and orchestra.

If you like the romantic stuff, you also have to check out the other Russians. Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto is a must (last movement especially.) And Tchaikovsky, of course. The 5th Symphony (particularly the 2nd movement) is great. And even though they'be been around forever, the Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty ballet suites have some gorgeous melodic music.

My way in to classical music a few years ago was through Beethoven. You know he would have used electric guitars had they been available to him. I love the 7th Symphony. Karajan is a big conducter who recorded his work. I would also recommend the sonatas, Alfred Brendel is a great contemporary pianist who has recorded them all a couple of times. I also have a tasty Musical Heritage Society set of the sonatas performed by Friedrich Gulda. The quartets are also terrific. Let's face it, the guy could write music. (Although my wife's grandfather, who was an amatuer violinist and a Bach man through and through, once described Beethoven's work as pedestrian.!)

If you're interested in opera at all, I can recommend Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin - dark and moody, but I'm afraid, like so many operas, it doesn't end well. It's been on heavy rotation in our house for the last couple of years.

You should also do a little reading about this musical history. It helps knowing who came before whom (ie, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert) to put the music in context.

Lots of great used vinyl out there. Have fun.

Trust me, you will love Dvorak. Start with Symphony #9 "From the New World." You'll soon want to hear everything he wrote.

Handel: Water Music. One of my favorite.