Classical for a n00b?

[Alyks]

In addition to some of the names mentioned above: Stravinsky, Varese, Mendelson, Schomberg, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt, Mahler, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Schumanns and (my personal favorite) Frank Zappa. That's a 'short' list of some essential listening. Due to lack of time right now I can't recommend any specific works by these individuals, but I can come back with further suggestions if you'd like, or of course if someone else wants to fill in some names of works have at it.

[JordanWexler]

Originally Posted by pnoon

The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.

Happens to be my personal favorite
He has a number of symphonies for each of the seasons,
great music to study or relax to.

[vicvitola]

Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"



"Put on psy war ops and make it loud,"

[Seanohue]

Sweet, thanks for all the suggestions guys. This should definitely get me started.

[Mystophales]

Knowing your love of power/progressive metal I would suggest Paganini

here is pretty cool clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98y0Q...eature=related

[Alyks]

Originally Posted by Mystophales

Knowing your love of power/progressive metal I would suggest Paganini

here is pretty cool clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98y0Q...eature=related

How could I forget Paganini?! There's such a large volume of stuff out there, tough no one person can list it all.

[Mystophales]

Easier way to make Paganini better known. The final duel scene from the blues movie Crossroads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKfxp...eature=related

[Seanohue]

Originally Posted by Alyks

How could I forget Paganini?! There's such a large volume of stuff out there, tough no one person can list it all.

I'll say already aquired 12 hrs worth of music so far lol

[jmcrawf1]

Originally Posted by McCharlie

Station 80 on sirius radio is a good one, if you have sirius .

Ditto, A late night drive w/ a cigar and some classical does wonders for clearing the head.

[Studebaker]

All excellent suggestions. Try some Tchaikovsky too. The Nutcracker Suite is full of some pretty rocking brass, etc. From there you can dig deeper into his stuff.

[Mad Hatter]

You should get the Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack 16 track import. Lots of great heavy sounds. Richard Wagner Rheingold, Valkyries, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods. All newbs dig Beethoven. Mozart had some good stuff. 100 Piano Classics is a decent intro to classical piano. Overall I'd suggest german and Italian composers. Search Youtube. I don't like Tchaikovskiy. Stay away from budget cheapie discs.

Violin: I'd like some suggestions myself.

[BigFrankMD]

http://www.shoutcast.com/

do a search for some classical stations. i stream some on winamp... good stuff.

[coffeemonkey]

Several terrestrial stations stream from their sites. KDFC in the Bay Area is a great station (I don't live there but listened while on a business trip and now I listen online because I like the station so much). The program manager and I must have a lot in common because they are always playing great stuff.

http://www.kdfc.com/
http://www.king.org/ (local station for me, KING in Seattle, WA.)

XM satelite stations 110 and 113 are dedicated classical stations and 112 is opera.

Classical is such a great genre. There is so much music out there you can't possibly listen to it all and you will always have new pieces to listen to.

Enjoy the journey.

[awsmith4]

Originally Posted by pnoon

The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.

Awesome choice and another would be Beethoven's 5th

[jm0307]

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

Richard Wagner Rheingold, Valkyries, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods.

If you do start to listen to Wagner, send me a PM. I collect Wagner recordings...

As regards a good introductory piece to classical music, may I suggest Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals.