Classical/Traditional Music

[Thoth-Amon]

I'll check that out, thanks. BTW, last thing, where should I start with Stravinsky? I listened to a bunch of his stuff and I never fell in love with it am I a fag?

yeah you're a fag. LOL
the rite of spring is probably his most well known work and definetly essential. i'd start there. he composed music in all of the styles that were current in his lifetime (serialism, neo-classicism, primitivism) meaning that you may not like some works from 1 style he wrote in but may like some from another. petrushka and the firebird are also popular and worth checking out. i really enjoy the symphony of psalms too. initially i wasn't too impressed with it but when we studied it in composition class it finally clicked.

 

[The Emptier]

No, I'm not the hugest fan, but I haven't heard a ton. obviously Rite of Spring, the firebird, symphonies, dunno he had certain period of music where he wrote in different styles

 

[Onder]

I heard Firebird and some other well-known work and I wasn't impressed. I guess Rites of Spring is next to check out. Thanks.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I heard Firebird and some other well-known work and I wasn't impressed. I guess Rites of Spring is next to check out. Thanks.

its awesome. one of the greatest 20th century works for sure. it caused a freakin riot at its premiere. if i remember correctly Debussy attended the premiere and walked out during the opening of it. LOL.

 

[Onder]

Ugh, I'm pretty sure I've had it somewhere. Maybe the old computer.

 

[Onder]

These are my two favourite cds:

 

[Onder]

its awesome. one of the greatest 20th century works for sure. it caused a freakin riot at its premiere. if i remember correctly Debussy attended the premiere and walked out during the opening of it. LOL.

I'm reading about it on wikipedia and it was Saint-Saens. And it might not even be true.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I'm reading about it on wikipedia and it was Saint-Saens. And it might not even be true.

hahahah. well that's what one of my instructors told me. I think it was in regards to the opening phrase which I believe is on a bass clarinet in its highest register. from what I was told he couldn't figure out what instrument it was initially but when he figured out that it was a bass clarinet playing in its highest range he basically said "this is ridiculous" and walked out. good story anyway!

 

[Thoth-Amon]

These are my two favourite cds:

i don't know the shoshtakovich which is surprising considering he's a favorite of mine. I do have a recording of the reqieum but its not a work i've really absorbed. i'll spin it again soon.

 

[The Emptier]

I never got the praise for Saint-saens third symphony, I've heard it once and wasn't impressed at all. I really like his ave maria though, haunting stuff.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I never got the praise for Saint-saens third symphony, I've heard it once and wasn't impressed at all. I really like his ave maria though, haunting stuff.

the organ symphony? i dug it.

 

[Onder]

i don't know the shoshtakovich which is surprising considering he's a favorite of mine.

Dude, I love Shostakovich. I'm currently spinning his quartets, I also heard like all of his symphonies, my favourite being the upbeat ninth, Leningrad, Stalingrad and also the fifth. But still the piano concerto with the trumpet is my favourite of all time.

 

[The Emptier]

Yes that one's great. I have most of his works. I really like the 6th and 10th symphonies, and of course 13, 5, etc.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

Dude, I love Shostakovich. I'm currently spinning his quartets, I also heard like all of his symphonies, my favourite being the upbeat ninth, Leningrad, Stalingrad and also the fifth. But still the piano concerto with the trumpet is my favourite of all time.

yes the string quartets are excellent though i found it took me several listens before they clicked.
as far as the symphonies i would go with 5, 6, 7 and 10 as my favs. especially the first movements of the 10th. fucking epic. the second movement of that work is intended to be a charicature of Stalin who had just recently died.

 

[The Emptier]

Yup. One of the most fascinating books is "Testimony:The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich" it's basically just him talking about everyone other than himself, but you obviously get to know him a lot better than him just talking about his life. He had such a horrible time it's depressing, he really just goes off on composers and people he didn't like and basically says his life was completely worthless. Amazing stuff though, you really learn about what it was like in russia at the time and the absurd things they did to stifle creativity

 

[Onder]

I've been recently diving into some contemporary stuff like Arvo Part and Gorecki. I already knew and loved Penderecki out of the Polish scene. His Polish Requiem rocks.

EDIT: np: John Tavener - Protecting Veil

 

[The Emptier]

My band teacher gave me a ton of Arvo, SICK shit. Check out his Te Deum, Berlin Mass and In Principio. Obviously with Gorecki I'm sure you had his 3rd symphony, which is beautiful. I mentioned some of these guys before, but my favorite right now is Richard Danielpour

It's actually incredibly hard to even find his stuff, but you can preview some on here

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Danielpour-Celestial-Night/dp/B00000I9G5[/ame]

Celestial Night is badass.

Some other recent composers are Robert Simpson, robert Farnon, thomas ades etc.

And not modern, but Arnold Bax is THE single greatest and most underrated/unknown symphonist/composer ever.

Oh, and I just got all of Brahms symphonies, which I'm very excited to listen to. Now to find the time....

 

[Onder]

I don't have any Bax here so I‘m downloading some Tone Poems. I don't know how they are but it's the first thing I came across. Also, I douldn't find any Danielpour, dude.

 

[The Emptier]

His tone poems are epic, but his symphonies are SUPREME, but you literally can't find them anywhere, at least not for free. Same with Danielpour, but those are some examples of composers I'd shell money for. I got a 50 dollar thing to amazon and i'm going to find a full cycle of the Bax symphonies

 

[Onder]

His tone poems are epic, but his symphonies are SUPREME, but you literally can't find them anywhere, at least not for free. Same with Danielpour, but those are some examples of composers I'd shell money for. I got a 50 dollar thing to amazon and i'm going to find a full cycle of the Bax symphonies

I have found plenty of Bax to download tbh. But no Danielpour at all. I'm pretty sure we don't have any at home. My mother used to collect classical music cds but she's not into modern stuff much.