Anyone into classical music?

^Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it. :)

In actual fact, I was watching a video earlier on where a woman was teaching this girl how to tune up etc. So I have some basic understanding of how it works. It's just the positioning of the fingers (left hand) which would take some getting used to I would imagine. What with it being fretless and all.

I remember picking up a violin many years ago, and all I could get was a horrible squeak out of it. Granted, it was a cheap and nasty model. But I'm thinking it'll be somewhat of a challenge (which is kinda what I like about it).

I've been looking on ebay, and I don't really have the foggiest idea where to begin in terms of models etc. Any advice wouldn't go amiss. How do I know what a good quality instrument is, and what's not?. :)
 
a fortys or fifties russian stradaver replica, i think those were some good years.
look for "mr lovejoy" on ebay, new orleans, honest get what uu pay for stuff, and he reduces cost on an upgrade, seems to be passionate.
said to call if i had questions, i did lol, it kept screatching ;) heh, but he answered my questions.


im sure others will help, but i have alot of links to sellers, builders, and annoying info i gathered over a period of time.
 
thanks for the links to the performances.
like I said, I cant really get into Opera or it doesnt do the same to my brainwaves as instrumental music does.

this is all really funny, we started to discuss this here and 2 days ago a friend of mine gave me a gigantic cd set. "The ultimate Mozart collection" for some weird reason an aunt or someone gave him that for christmas. he cant deal with it so I borrowed it and will work my way through. just listened to "die Zauberflöte" (magic flute - I guess) which is brilliant musik...but I had enough of the singing when it was over.

I have to say, classical music must be the hardest one to really get into cause its so diverse, and if you have no real clue like me its kinda hard work :) .and there is no start or end... at least not really.

what I am looking for now is Kammermusik (chamber music) cause its just very few instruments 3-9 I think, where to start? I dont know but the wikipedia page about it is brilliant, especially cause you can listen to many examples. here goes : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_music#Haydn.2C_Mozart.2C_and_the_classical_style

what brought me there? a videogame. anyone know Echocrome? probably the best,weirdest,mindbender puzzle game ever and its got a complete classical soundtrack, mostly quartets I think. I tried to find out who made it and if I am right its Hideki Sakamoto.

here is a video of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLJiv9Aeo2c watch it, its worth it :)

and here is one of the pieces he wrote for the game in full:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alIsiRxL8wc&feature=related

so, that guy is alife and not dead for long time. does that make him contemporary?

its great to have a thread to discuss this! please post any links to things you recommend. I am eager to learn and listen to more :)
 
Mahler is great. I've played the piano since I was 5 or 6, when I convinced my mother to pay for lessons for me. Beethoven was my favorite at the time. But, by about age 19 I started to really enjoy Mahler the most, his 2nd Symphony being my favorite.
 
panic in paradise said:
^
annoying, in a timely bitch to compile sense.

;)

@katapult; i can definitely get into the right opera.
this song gets its plays here, much much better and damn powerful, LoUD..!
John Tavener - Akhmatova Songs: Death

im not familiar with the Vertigo Ensemble, but its a decent version.,
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Bloody hell, you'd think whoever uploaded that video to youtube would learn how to spell his name. Taverner != Tavener. Though glad to see you spotted it.

I'm not sure Tavener is a great place for Opera skeptics to start, though lots of his stuff is wonderful.

Do you know the St. John's College Cambridge Tavener CD? Has to be my favourite recording of Hymn to the mother of God. Just such powerful stuff.

Christ said:
Mahler is great. I've played the piano since I was 5 or 6, when I convinced my mother to pay for lessons for me. Beethoven was my favorite at the time. But, by about age 19 I started to really enjoy Mahler the most, his 2nd Symphony being my favorite.
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I'm with you on that. Mahler is great.

I'm not so sure I'm with you on 2 being the best though. I find 2 rather dull, when compared to the excitement within Titan (1), the exuberance to be found in the first movement of 5, and the sorrow that comes by the 4th mvt, only to be made well again in the final movement, the military start to 6, and the overwhelming climatic joy that can be found in 9.

In fact, I'd say 2 was my second least favourite Mahler symphony, only behind 8. Sorry Mahler, chorus' just shouldn't be mixed with orchestras in a symphony like that. Perhaps that's also why I'm not keen on 2.

Apparently Bülow told Mahler that his 2nd Symphony made Tristan und Isolde seem like a Haydn symphony. Balls. Tristan und Isolde is far more powerful, far more climatic, far greater in every way, except that Wagner doesn't let you think for yourself.

I think Bülow was just jealous that his wife ran off with Wagner.
 
Chopin piano concertos (and classical in general)

Any classical lovers here? I've been playing for 8 years and no other composer, or musician, has managed to move me to the extent that Chopin does. He combines so much - structure, improvisation, atmosphere, sentimentality... all in a perfect synthesis.

specifically, his piano concertos (especially no. 1 in e minor) are incredible. I am always confounded as to why there is no discussion about these - they tend to be completely under the radar, when in fact in my opinion they (almost) hold a candle to the greatest chopin pieces, the ballades.

but anyway, I'm curious to hear anything you guys have to say about classical. I also appreciate some baroque (the occasional handel, a bit of Bach..), some classical era (mostly Beethoven, some Clementi), and even some impressionist.

What do you guys think?
 
^Hey there. :)

We were kinda trying to get a thread on classical music going a lil' while ago, so I merged the two as you have mixed taste.

My dad just got me a Beethoven CD (my first actual classical recording I've ever intentionally sat down to listen to). It's this one...

51V946F03iL.jpg


It's pretty enjoyable. :)
 
Am just listening to Mahler's Symphony 1, you can get it for free at ITunes U but the recording is not that great... It's from a live event. Was quite shocked when there was applaus suddenly ;) he is definitely different than the other composers I've listened to before...kinda wicked XD
 
Just listening to Martha Argerich playing Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel.

Such brilliant technique. Awe-some (in the true sense of the word (hence the dash)) pianist, and an even more awe-some composer.
 
when ever i finally get a piano, or big fat korg or roland, this will be my first big challenge...
;)

Keith Jarrett - Shostakovich - Fugue #6 in B minor

thinking about it, as i was looking at violas, i realized the posture would kill me over time -lol- so, a piano is the goal, a goal -
with nice aligned playing posture....

very helpful actually at breaking your mind in to the deeper concepts of #'s, human emotions/actions/perceptions, science/music/art and how they intertwine.

if you can wrap your head around most of this, youll have a better time reading music writing music, playing music, understanding/conceptualizing and feeling music.
especially of the abstract sounding type.
;)


Godel, Escher, & Bach:
An Eternal Golden Braid.
 
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Yes! Didn't see this topic before I made my own, but this seems like the classical thread...

Chopin is incredible and will always be my favorite composer. His Ballades are essentially the pinnacle of romanticism. His piano concerto no. 1 is also astoundingly beautiful and the orchestral intro is very cool for Chopin.
 
Nocturne for Violin is the one of Chopins that really stuck with me.

i cant help it, since a damn preteen the Russian stuff is what has been buried in me somewhere.


i mostly listen to either piano and violin, solo violin, quartets, or religious(russian orthodox/elizabethan) vocal, small choir arrangements, or, elizabethan chamber/quintets, piano/harpsichord & vocal arrangements.

symphonies usually lose my interest...
 
IamMe90 said:
Yes! Didn't see this topic before I made my own, but this seems like the classical thread...

Chopin is incredible and will always be my favorite composer. His Ballades are essentially the pinnacle of romanticism. His piano concerto no. 1 is also astoundingly beautiful and the orchestral intro is very cool for Chopin.
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I'm not sure I agree entirely. I spent years working on the 1st (G minor) ballade. They're alright, but they're just ... so ... chopin.

Music for the showoff. Frilly outrageous arpeggios, scales that lead nowhere, for no purpose, technically challenging music that challenges nothing but the performer ... sure it's all good fun, but I certainly wouldn't call Chopin the pinnacle of romanticism. Especially after being forced to study pieces like the Butterfly etude, and the revolutionary etude. Hnnnggg, now there's a piece that instills fear and hatred.

If you want to learn to loathe Chopin, try playing Op. 10 No. 12. So unnecessary.

Rachmaninov, now there's a true pinnacle of romanticism. Just as technically challenging where it needs to be (take moments of the 3rd piano concerto), but it's not overblown unless it really warrants it.
 
HerrSchnaufer said:
I'm not sure I agree entirely. I spent years working on the 1st (G minor) ballade. They're alright, but they're just ... so ... chopin.

Music for the showoff. Frilly outrageous arpeggios, scales that lead nowhere, for no purpose, technically challenging music that challenges nothing but the performer ... sure it's all good fun, but I certainly wouldn't call Chopin the pinnacle of romanticism. Especially after being forced to study pieces like the Butterfly etude, and the revolutionary etude. Hnnnggg, now there's a piece that instills fear and hatred.

If you want to learn to loathe Chopin, try playing Op. 10 No. 12. So unnecessary.

Rachmaninov, now there's a true pinnacle of romanticism. Just as technically challenging where it needs to be (take moments of the 3rd piano concerto), but it's not overblown unless it really warrants it.
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you're telling me chopin is overblown but rachmaninoff isn't? i'm sorry... rachmaninoff has some of the most technically brutal pieces out there, to the point where they sound odd and disjointed. i'm thinkin of some preludes and many etudes tableaux... those don't even sound "pretty" or fluid like chopin's "study" pieces.

and then you have rachmaninoff pieces which are equally as bombastic as chopin... second piano concerto? especially movements 1 and 3... elegie, prelude op. 3 no. 2? eh, just not sure where the above comparison is coming from...

it's true that chopin's pieces in general contain more trills and arpeggios than rachmaninoff's, but i suppose i don't have a fundamental distaste for trills and arpeggios; i think there are equally overblown and insignificant compositional tendencies. well, that and the Ballades are far less trilly and arpeggiated than most other of his works, i think - well, there's more of a chordal aspect to them, if anything.

interesting to read your opinion, though, as i don't usually find too many classical enthusiasts that dislike chopin. i think your brain/musicality might just have an inherent disconnect from chopin's, because i and others certainly feel his music in a very intimate way, rather than find it frilly :P
 
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