classical help please!
I'm a novice when it comes to classical music, but I find myself with some spare credits and 36 hours in which to spend them in. I'd like to try some classical music, but where to start?
I've attempted this before, and from that experience I know that I probably do not like baroque music (organ and early keyboard instruments in particular), definitely dislike the sound of violins (yeah, I know, but there's something about the tone when they hit the high notes...) and wouldn't like anything too abstract/avantgarde.
On the other hand, having been force-fed Chopin during my childhood, I love the sound of the piano, and, having randomly downloaded World to Come by Maya Beiser last month, have come to the conclusion that I rather like cello music too.
In addition, being in the UK, I thought it may be a good time to stock up on those long tracks/short albums before that '12 credit deal' arrives.
Any suggestions much appreciated!
I've attempted this before, and from that experience I know that I probably do not like baroque music (organ and early keyboard instruments in particular), definitely dislike the sound of violins (yeah, I know, but there's something about the tone when they hit the high notes...) and wouldn't like anything too abstract/avantgarde.
On the other hand, having been force-fed Chopin during my childhood, I love the sound of the piano, and, having randomly downloaded World to Come by Maya Beiser last month, have come to the conclusion that I rather like cello music too.
In addition, being in the UK, I thought it may be a good time to stock up on those long tracks/short albums before that '12 credit deal' arrives.
Any suggestions much appreciated!
Comments
Oh, wait. Hmm.
Well, if you like the cello, the first thing you need to do is download the first track from Bach: Cello suites, and then decide whether you don't like baroque music.
If you liked the Arvo Part track off "World to Come", the latest Part album on ECM, In Principio, is apparently wonderful (I haven't got it yet).
I'll defer to RonanM on pianistic matters, except to say that Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated is, in Europe at least, one of the all-time great eMusic bargains.
If you want suggestions for a short "rough guide to classical music", ask - and then the fur will fly!
ooh ok, ok, quite a lot.
Rzewski's album is indeed a bargin, but I'll reserve judgment on In Principio until I've heard a little more of it, it's the words 'string orchestra' that fill me with trepidation (maybe it was some bad childhood experience...?)
As for the "rough guide to classical music", well, I wouldn't dream of starting a fight....
...but I'll watch!
Of the others (apart from Beethoven op.69), is there anything in particular you'd recommend to start with?
I may postpone Mozart: The Complete Sonatas for Piano til we get the 12 credit deal here, nor do I have access to any Sony catalogue yet, but that still leaves plenty for now.
I first came to classical music through compilation albums (things like "The Essential Karajan", "The Classic Experience", and some EMI series that I think was called "Best-loved classics") plus a handful of tuneful, accessible works (like Grieg's Piano concerto). I don't know if at that stage I'd have been receptive to something like a Bax symphony or Chopin's cello sonata. So when making recommendations to a newcomer I tend to follow my own experience. But other listeners may want to jump in at the deep end.
Unfortunately that's not true, because any track over ten minutes long on Naxos or Chandos (another good label for Bax) is "album-only" in the UK (and Europe generally?) , i.e. you have to buy the whole album if you want that track. And Bax tended to spread himself, so many of his tone-poems and symphonic movements are over ten minutes long. Album-only in the UK (with no album-capping) is disproportionately hard on classical fans who like romantic or post-romantic music. Long live BIS and the other IODA labels, who dont yet have album-only, and I hope never will, unless they also have album-capping.
This is how I began exploring both classical and jazz, and I recommend it.
Since I was forced to learn piano as a child, I somehow have always leaned toward pieces with piano in them. Go figure!
I see your point, fduniho, but say you want a Bax tone-poem which is 12 minutes long. You've got to buy the album, so in effect it "costs" you however many tracks there are on the album, which in fact can be much more than 12 in the UK, as we don't have album-capping. If you've been collecting for a long time, you may well not want any of the other tracks, which are a dead weight eating up your credits. I think "album-only" is a huge deterrent to exploration. If we must have it, we've just got to have album-capping as well.