The Classical Music Thread

[Gideon Dragontongue]

Correct me if I am wrong, but we do not have a classical music/musicians thread yet, do we?

If the answer is no, I would like to start one. Any other comers? I know that generally video games and classical music don't go hand in hand, but it's never to late to start.

[Frost Mage]

Tchaikovsky <3.

[Dark Spark]

"Is this classical?"

"No. It's baroque."

(pause) "Sounds fine to me."

[Gideon Dragontongue]

Ha ha. Cue slow clapping.

[DorostheConqueror]

Victor Borge. All other answers are wrong.

[Taters]

I don't go by specific composers, but my favorite pieces would have to be Dvorak's 9th Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and Mozart's Requiem.

[Musicman247]

Love Baroque, Classical, and Romantic era composers!

Bach is probably my favorite, with Beethoven not too far behind.

[the Savage Hippie]

I love Paganini, Holst, Rachmaninov and Grieg

[Gideon Dragontongue]

Right now I'm really in to Chopin. And I'm growing weary of the sixteen-page Haydn sonata I'm playing right now.

[Will Zurmacht]

Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Liszt - Transcendental Etude #5

[Gideon Dragontongue]

Now I get to play the glorious Waltz in a minor by Chopin. Happy day!

[Mattbott]

I call it orchestral music, it means you dont have to worry about which era it's from and you can include Steve Reich, Britten etc

i enjoy the romantic era composers cos they are great at painting pictures and stories in the music, i think modern movie scores aspire to the likes of Greig, Prokofiev, Wagner, Tchaik etc.

There's a great tv series about the symphony on BBC at the moment which i have been watching on and off over the last few months and links everyone and everything symphonic together, gives a good grounding in what went on and reminded me of a load of music i'd forgotten i wanted to get to know

Stravinsky's Firebird is amazing , Bach's organ works too - when they sent out the voyager probe with the gold record of earth music, speech and sounds on it, Carl Sagan said something like they didn't want to put Bach on the disc cos that would be showing off lol

Benjamin Britten too (20th century composer and i would recommend Peter Grimes to anyone, some absolutely lovely bits in it and a good story, sad tho)

Prokoviev's Scythian suite is cool, kind of reminds me of something you might see in a fantasy RPG, the Scythians were a mad bunch

for some reason i went through a phase of buying every different recording of Holsts the planets, ended up with 7 or 8 versions

[Mattbott]

I got the Brandenburg concertos by Bach today, can't remember when i last listened to them and i was reading the Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams, which talks about number 5

[Norroen Dyrd]

I think it goes without saying that I listened to a lot of Tchaikovsky in my day. His ballets are an integral part of one's cultural upbringing.
I am also very fond of Mozart (for example, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Concert for Flute and Harp in C Major or Symphony № 40 and so on), Bach's cantatas and Handel's Water Music.
Apart from that, I just love the arias from the Demon opera by Anton Rubinstein, and from Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko.
Lastly, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana never ceases to fascinate me.
Actually, it would be rather hard to make a definite list of the works of classical music that I am fond of.

If we talk more modern music, I'd like to mention my deep affection for the Spartacus ballet by Aram Khachaturian.

[Gideon Dragontongue]

I'm a big fan of Aaron Copland, everything he's written is really interesting, but especially some of his more modern piano pieces.

[Dark Spark]

Classical compositions were written to tell stories through sound. I find nothing detrimental nor disrepectful in the consideration that scores composed for movies are a continuation of that form.

[Mattbott]

yes, i think you're right there, the only difference would be the way capitalism and democracy have allowed these entertainments to be accessible to the sweaty masses now, and there is a popularisation of movies which causes snobbery.

history will decide tho, if people are listening to John Williams, James Horner and Danny Elfman in a hundred year's time..

[Dark Spark]

A hundred years from now, the thrums of John Williams' Imperial March will fill the air as massive starships glide over the the marbled blue disc of Earth. Just as the piece is about to reach its crescendo, Cassie punches the sound button on the control panel and glares at the technician as the normal sounds of an operating space station re-asserts itself.

"Jerry. Please. Not that same ol' crap again."

"Sorry, boss. Larson's Pride, you are cleared for de-orbit burst on Stratospheric Entry Track Pacific Five. Be advised: Hyperion battlecruiser approaching from your right. Have a nice day."

[Mattbott]

edit:

Bach's Holberg number 5 is pretty awesome btw, if you like the harpsichord and thought it always got a raw deal as a sort of background support sound, this is the one for you