Classical music newbie

Dear Bobby,

God only knows what advice you are going to get over the next few days......

But the truth is it is simply impossible to recommend five. There isn't anything like a consensus on these things, so everyone will recommend a different five. Classical music starts around 1000 AD and is still running today; it encompasses many styles and many different periods. If you are serious about getting to know a bit, the only sensible thing to do is to get some kind of compilation album - there are dozens on Spotify - and see what takes your fancy. You might like monks chanting in an old monastery, or Bach on the harpsichord or wierd, out of tune stuff from 1935. When you find something you like, follow it up and get a bit more.....and so on. It is a journey and it never stops.

And by the way, there is no "flouncy pompous arpeggio based music that was made for people in white wigs to ignore while they ate canapes." That's just a foolish, class-based stereotype invented by people who don't understand classical music and like to write it off as a expression of snobbery. 

Didn't mean to sound quite so rude on my last post, Bobby......I only meant that it is a bit like saying, "repetitive, drum-based music made for uneducated cretins to bounce up and down to."

Music is music. Some of it is good and some of it is bad........ 

No need to apologise, Bobby. You didn't look foolish at all. I probably shouldn't have said anything.......

I think what you probably mean is the kind of music that appears on period dramas, usually during a dance or an outdoor event of some kind (ladies twirling their parasols, men tipping their hats, ah, Mr Rawchester! etc). That is usually "classical" music - i.e. from the Classical Period (roughly 1750-1820, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven). That can sound a bit flouncy and insipid if you are listening to the wrong stuff, especially if it is a pastiche rather than the real deal. 

Look, what about this? What if I suggest a few (short and fairly representative) pieces that run through the various stages of classical music? (Ignoring my previous advice!). 

Let's start around 1700 and ignore everything before that (which many people do anyway):

1. Bach - Prelude in C sharp minor, from Book 1 Well-Tempered Clavier. (Last about 90 seconds)

2. Mozart - 1st movement, Symphony no. 40 in G Minor (you will know this.....about 7 or 8 minutes). 

3. Beethoven - 2d movment, 5th Piano Concerto (Emperor) About 7 minutes. 

That covers roughly a hundred years of classical music - from 1700ish to 1800ish. Have a listen and see if you like any of them. Later, you can move into the 1800s and the "Romantic" era, but see how you get on with those for now.....and if you find them flouncy, which you might.

Jane

Nor do you

Bobby, you're going to get as many views as there are posters on this forum, none more or less valid than any other. Plus, you're going to have to make up your own mind as to who's playing with a full deck on here.

My own view is that anyone entering classical music from the world of pop, rock, jazz etc. shouldn't start in the classical period (late 18th, early 19th centuries). At this point the genre is just too foreign to your taste, too redolent of the powdered wigs and frills you're looking to avoid. The subtleties of passion and anger in Mozart are less apparent to a classical newbie than are similar emotions in, say, Tchaikovsky, Mahler or Shostakovich. If your interest in classical music lasts long enough you'll probably find yourself gravitating to the Haydns and Mozarts because wigs or no wigs, their music is incredibly good.

I'd stick to orchestral music (symphonies, concerti, some ballets) at first. Lots of power in Beethoven, particularly a work like the fifth symphony, and very little wigginess. Tchaikovsky isn't one of my favourites but even those not particularly keen on classical music find his 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies stirring.

I came to classical music from rock (many years ago) so I might as well just give you a list of the stuff that first hit me. Very different from Jane's list so you're going to have to do your own sampling, find out whose tastes coincide with yours and go from there:

Shostakovich 5th and 10th Symphonies

Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto and Romeo and Juliet ballet

Sibelius 4th and 5th Symphonies and Violin Concerto

Walton 1st Symphony

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra

Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Firebird, Petrushka

Holst The Planets

Tchaikovsky Symphony 5

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Borodin Symphony 2

Dvorak Symphony 8

If some of these have slipped down or off my listening chart since, I can still recall the impact they had on me initially.

Just a couple more thoughts:

1) Versions matter when it comes to classical recordings. Don't assume that because a particular work doesn't quite click with you, that it never will. It may be the performance that's at fault.

2) Don't give up on anything first time around. Most 'serious' music requires many listens to reveal its secrets.

Happy listening and if you find anything on my list or Jane's, (or anybody else's), registers, come back for further recommendations.