Classical music selections - advice needed

[chrisvenus]

I spend time at work listening to music and often nowadays this is from http://www.we7.com/ . I won't go into detail about them because htis isn't a sales pitch but basically you can get loads and loads of music for them and they'll stick a short ad on the beginning of each track to pay for it. I've today decided to start collecting some songs on a classical playlist. Unfortuantely my memory for music is not great so I thought I'd turn to you lot for advice...

So what classical music should I be listening to? So far my playlist only has half a dozen songs on it that may be visible here: http://www.we7.com/subscriber/view-playlist?playlistId=220133 (but may not, I am not entirely sure). I've got a few things like in the hall of the mountain king, a night on bald mountain and various other bits and pieces that I always enjoy when I hear them come up. But what else should I be listening to? I have decided that ballet is often quite pleasant (I have some nutcracker and swan lake) but lots more suggestions would be appreciated (even those from ballets or whatever that I already have on there since often I don't know anywhere near all of the stuff and just have the more famous stuck in my mind (or I couldn't find it in the case of one bit of swan lake that I couldn't be bothered to listen to it all to find).

Links to the we7 site would be appreciated but I can do the searching myself if I have to. :)

Comments

[taimatsu]

What *moods* are you after? If you can deal with modern classical (very GOOD modern classical) you should listen to Michael Nyman (also Michael Nyman Orchestra, and The Michael Nyman Band). Anything except his string quartets, which I don't like! The Draughtsman's Contract: Chasing Sheep, and A Zed and Two Noughts: Time Lapse, are worth looking at. Also most of the Live album, especially the Water Dances.

Why not try looking for famous classical musicians? They seem to have a lot of stuff by Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, for example.

Possible links:
Meditation from Thais by Massenet.
The Bach St Matthew Passion is very good.
Debussy: Clair de Lune (Explore more Debussy!)

More later.

[dave [earth.li] (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not sure I've got links to work in LJ before, but I'll give it a go.

I assume you've read the We7 Guide to classical written by our intern?

http://www.we7.com/public/introduction/classical

How about the We Like Sheep bit of the Messiah? It always reminds me of playing Settlers and having a sheep port.
http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Messiah-All-we-like-sheep?trackId=574980

There's the Mozart bit from lemmings (at least on the archimedes version) http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Piano-Sonata-No-11-in-A-K331-K300i-III--Rondo-alla-turca?trackId=920786, and a techno remix: http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Macho-Mozart-Dreamdance-Version-?trackId=4886

Classic wedding music includes: http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Handel-The-Arrival-of-the-Queen-of-Sheba-arr-J-Dearman-?trackId=136850

Handel's music for the royal fireworks is nice: http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Handel-Music-For-The-Royal-Fireworks-HWV351-1749--I-Ouverture?trackId=75324 and don't forget Holst's Planets: http://www.we7.com/public/albumDetails/Holst-The-Planets--St-Pauls-Suite-Reissue-?albumId=53936

I'm sure I can find more.

I've been listening to the music from west-end shows recently.

http://www.we7.com/public/albumDetails/Grease?albumId=81076
http://www.we7.com/public/albumDetails/Oliver--The-Original-Broadway-Cast-Recording?albumId=86789

[dave [earth.li] (from livejournal.com)]

That didn't really work did it. Oh well, I had a look at the lemmings wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game)

http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Pachelbel-Canon-in-D?trackId=127030 (What a weird album concept - baroque music for your baby)

http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Dance-Of-The-Reed-Flutes-Nutcracker-Ballet-Op-71?trackId=762474 is quite nice ballet, as is
http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Swan-Lake--Ballet-Suite-Op-20-ACT-2--Pas-de-quatre-Dance-of-the-Little-Swans?trackId=566299
Both classics (and on the lemmings soundtrack)






Finally: non-lemmings http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Lakme-Flower-Duet?trackId=457293 I remember it being the soundtrack to a british airways advert :)



Oh, and another one that works quite well when working, though not classical is music is jazz covers for restaurants: http://www.we7.com/public/albumDetails/Bar-Music-Moods-Vol-1?albumId=333 (there's some more, including a christmas version)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Things wot I know about Classical...

Mozart: Good
Chopin: Bad

There, that didn't take long!

[mentalfirewall.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of Vaughn Williams and really like 'The Lark Ascending' and 'Fantaisia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis' as well as 'Greensleves'.
Holst as mentioned is also wonderful. I really like Aaron Copland and George Gerschwin as well. If you like classical film scores then John Williams, Howard Shaw and James Horner are good (although Horner's stuff is all fairly similar - a beautiful mind soundtrack is similar in places to titanic).
If you like choral stuff then stuff by Thomas Tallis is good.
Modern Composers I like include Michael Nyman (who did the soundtrack to The Piano), Philip Glass, Ludovico Einaudi (who does lovely Piano pieces) and John Tavenner (choral work mostly).
I may have more ideas once I get hold of my classical collection at home and if you haven't told me to stop by then...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

If you like the fun bits of Nutcracker and Swan Lake, also worth seeking out Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty which might be familiar fromt he Disney film. Also Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherezade is not ballet music but it has a similar "telling an exciting story" feel to it. Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition similarly.

Then if you like all that you can move up to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Firebird and Petrushka, and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, which are basically the same sort of music tradition but moved on a few decades.

[padzor.livejournal.com]

Bach, Brandenberg Concerto. It may distract you, but it's altogether fantastic.

All, Bach is good, some is better than others. Cello suite is very nice.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I like all the popular stuff (1812, for example) - but I haven't listened to that much else.

[taigne.livejournal.com]

Dude, Night of Bald Mountain rocks! A few random suggestions I like most Elgar, not that I can name any of it, but he's pretty cool imho. My favourite is Nimrod from the Enigma variations

http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Nimrod-From-Enigma-Variations?trackId=944702

I like to listen to it really loudly but that's probably not what you're supposed to do, I've played a bunch of classical music in orchestras but don't know much about it really.

I also like Saint-Saens (sp?) http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Rondo-Capriccioso--Saint-Sa-ns?trackId=67

This one's a violin concerto, not a full orchestra like the other stuff of your list, but it's one I like. It's not the version I know of it, the violin seems cleaner than the manic one i had, but now can't find, but the piano bit's better in this version I think. You'll probably know a few of the movements from Carnival of the Animals by the same guy.

Wow, that's all I can think of, am brain-dead. Those are the two pieces I name if asked what classical music I like, that and Erik Satie's Gymnopedie, but that's very slow and sad, and not really anything like the stuff you've got here. I know it from Short Circuit II, have a link anyway http://www.we7.com/public/trackDetails/Gymnopodie-No-3?trackId=574529. Actually, that whole album has some really classic classics, like Moonlight Sonata and Pachabel's cannon that you'll know and the theme from Tchaikovsky's (sp?) Romeo and Juliet http://www.we7.com/public/albumDetails/Classical-Dreams?albumId=122217