Question for Listeners

I am interested in expanding my knowledge about classical music.  I grew up listening to some Mozart (including some opera), Vivaldi, Dvorak, a little Greig and Handel.  My music collection contains a CD of each of these, plus Sibelius' Karelia Suite, Beethoven's piano sonatas and Yo Yo Ma playing Bach.   Oh yes, and of course Rimsky-Korsakov.   I am essentially ignorant. 

I am particularly curious about Chopin and Bach, but haven't a clue where to begin, or who else should have my attention.  Where should I start? 

Comments

[Eleanor]

Chopin's nocturnes and Beethoven's symphonies are my favorite. For fun, they have compilations of classical music that really rocks, but I can't find any offhand.

[Al Wheeler]

Paraphrasing Albert Schweitzer, everything Bach wrote was based on choral, so a good starting point is choral works rather than instrumental stuff. The only way to really understand what's going on is to participate, not just listen, and since you're in a school environment now, perhaps there's a choir you can join that does Bach sometimes. I would say avoid Glenn Gould recordings for now.

For Chopin, I like Maurizio Pollini and Artur Rubinstein, but there's a recording of the concertos by Martha Argerich that I find myself listening to over and over.

[Valjean13]

I would say that listening to Glenn Gould's Bach recordings is a must. In particualar, his 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations is just brilliant.

Another composer I love is Brahms. Check out the violin sonatatas, particularly the recording by Itzhak Perlman. Or Brahms' 4th symphony, it's wonderful.

[Christine]

I've been listening to Bach's Goldberg variations lately, and they're growing on me. It's difficult for me to give them my undivided attention, but they make a good accompaniment to walking, thinking, working and falling asleep (in a good way...). Without knowing much about the choral structure of his music, I can say that Bach is fun to sing. I remember feeling happy doing it when I was in a choir. It feels really joyful and I would just get sort of sucked in to the experience. So yes. Explore Bach. Sounds like a good plan.

[Christine]

If you end up listening to the Goldberg Variations, this quotation from Ian McEwan's novel Saturday might help:
"Henry pauses in the corner [before performing brain surgery] to choose some piano music. He decides on the "Goldberg" Variations. He has four recordings here, and selects not the showy unorthodoxies of Glenn Gould, but Angela Hewitt's wise and silky playing which includes all the repeats."

[Al Wheeler]

The thing about Glenn Gould is yes, he's brilliant, yes he's a genius, but he used Bach as a vehicle for his musical ideas, which is quite different from interpreting Bach on his own terms. Hence, to use Gould as part of an intro to Bach would be dangerous.

[Planethalder]

Bach's cello suites are haunting and mournful, especially as played by Pierre Fournier. Paul Tortelier's rendition is just slightly more upbeat.

[Planethalder]

I agree, Bach's Goldberg Variations is a great piece to explore. It's actually quite fun to listen to, so perfect as a pick-me-up or energiser.

Try exploring the symphonies by Beethoven: Eroica is beautiful, the Ninth is bombastic. Listening to them played by the Berliner Philharmoniker as conducted by Herbert von Karajan (particularly from the early 1960s) is a MUST.

[Crow]

Your post has strange timing as I'm in the exact opposite situation as you - I listen to mostly classical and opera, but have wanted to expand my knowledge of "modern" music.

The main branch of the Portland library has several classical CDs if you want to try before you buy. I would agree with the advice to start with Bach and Beethoven. For Bach, I'm fond of the Brandenburg Concertos, and would recommend a recording made with period instruments, not modern. There's a good one by the Boston Baroque. A great place to start with Beethoven is the Third Symphony (Eroica), conducted by Karajan. I'd also recommend my personal favorite, the Second Symphony. Beethoven's Piano Concertos and Sonatas are also highly recommended - I'd try the Third Piano Concerto, possibly with Martha Argerich, if you can find it.

I've been enjoying YoYo Ma's version of the cello suites. Murray Periah's version of the goldberg variations has also been getting a bit of play while I'm working. The Brandenburg concertos, of course, are a favorite.

As for the being ignorant. Big deal. Are you looking to write a thesis on the composers, or listen to some good music. Look around your favorite music store (or, since you're once again part of a college - the music library) and see what's of interest. Spend a little money on something you may know nothing about, or check out something from the library if you can. See what NPR is plugging at the moment.

Go explore on your own. Have fun. It's music. You can't go wrong.

At the moment, some Vivalidi is playing on the computer.

[Chan S.]

Angela Hewitt plays Bach in a way that engages the mind as much as the soul...you can't go wrong with her Goldbergs. As a two-fer, she's also recorded the Chopin nocturnes, which I am about to run out and get based on what I heard of her Chopin in a recent live performance. Her playing evokes genuine, profound emotion without the showboating endemic to a lot of Romantic music performances. The Beethoven sonatas are the centerpiece of my classical music fandom, but it can take years to plumb their depths, and the pianist makes a hugh difference. Apart from piano music, you may want to give Schubert's late string quartets and Dvorak's just about anything a whirl also.

[R J Keefe]

Given what you've already got on hand, I'd advise you to expand toward Brahms (symphonies and concerti), Schubert (symphonies and the string quintet), Schumann (piano concerto - it's usually coupled with Grieg's, so you may have it already), and Tchaikovsky (symphonies and ballets).

Brahms, Schubert and Schumann are all composers of great chamber and vocal music, too.

And don't forget Papa Haydn.

For 20th century orchestral pieces that are essential and accessible too, try Barber's Adagio, Copland's Hoedown/Appalachian Spring, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris.

[Elfie]

I couldn't agree more about Herbert von Karajan! Best sense of timing in the universe. Also fantastic are his Mozart symphonies. Just flat out buy anything that shows him as conductor, you won't go wrong (as noted above, especially the older stuff).

Personally, I'm a nut for what I call the "Bs": Bartok, Barber, Brittain, Bach, Beethoven for a start. Try delving into the the Barber and the Brittain for something very different but wonderful. Particularly try Brittain's War Requiem, Barber's "School for Scandal." Honestly, I've been known to buy composers whose names start with a "B" because of that pantheon just for the expansion of it.

Rachmaninoff also won't jar the sensibilities you have in Chopin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Grieg. Can't beat him for sheer pyrotechnics on a piano concerto. I also love Saint-Saenz, Debussy, and (wow, does he not fit with those two) Copland. Aaron Copland wrote a book called "What to Listen for in Music" that is a useful little volume for helping a non-musician hear what is supposedly so great in music. Slender, helpful volume.

What I would do is buy symphony tickets and go. Listen to all of it, toss out what doesn't reach you. If you keep the programs and make notes on what you liked, you should be able to more rapidly figure out what your taste is like -- kind of like figuring out what you like in wine, but hopefully without the crazy hang-ups people have with wine.

[mr. fun ball]

I'm suprised there hasn't been a recommendation for Claude Debussy. "Claire de Lune" from "Suite Bergamasque" is one of the prettiest pieces I have ever heard.

[Crow]

Benjamin Brittain's War Requiem is a good call. Two other very accessible Requiems are Mozart's (although there are a few different completions of it out there as he didn't live to finish it) and Brahm's German Requiem. Verdi's is probably also good, but may not be your cup of tea if you don't like nineteenth century Italian opera. I'm more of a Mozart opera fan, so Verdi has never been one of my favorites.

[Confabulist]

I'd like to put a little plug in for Pollini's Chopin. He's the benchmark by which I judge all other interpreters. In particular, try his Etudes/Preludes/Polonaises. He's not as emotional as some performers, but I think he is a master at steering the pieces through subtle changes in color and tone. By comparison, some other performances seem to me to be garish or maudlin.

[Richard Ames]

Where should you start? Well, you might start with a gun pointed somewhere along the flat region on either side of your forehead. If doing this doesn't scare you enough to give up the idea of actually listening to classical music, pull the trigger. The music with stop, immediately.

[wab]

I was glad to see couple of recommendations of the bach cello suites. These are deep and very emotive, and to me for that reason very approachable. Although the recordings are very old and not of the best acoustics, the Pablo Cassals recordings are inspired. It is difficult to cite the suites for cello without also pointing out the suites and partitas for unaccompanied violin. Of these the Itszak Pearlman recordings are very fine. A lovely interpretation on the guitar is "Celedonio Romero Plays Bach & Sanz;" trying listening to the sound samples on Amazon. As for the piano, Alfred Brendel's recording "Schubert: Impromptus, Op. 90 & 142" is marvelously melodic. I heard this first at a friends house and the experience cost me several thousands of dollars for a new sound system and a piano.

[sketchelement]

Seeing as nobody has suggested anything pre-Bach (I know that Vivaldi was born 7 or 8 years before Bach, but that's immaterial), I would recommend listening to some Renaissance era vocal music -- Josquin Des Prez, Gesualdo, Palestrina.

Don't let people steer you away from Gould -- his recordings of Bach are brilliant.

[Kitten]

I'm a classical music and opera FREAK. And I admit I know a ton. I've always been a big fan of learning one piece at a time -- that way they get sort of solidified in my brain.

I would agree about just going to the symphony. You'll learn so much more when you're listening to a live performance. Here in Minneapolis we can get rush tickets for ten bucks. I think Potland must have some good deals, too.

You'll get wonderful program notes at a live performance, plus you'll be exposed to more than one piece or composer. You might go to the second Rachmaninoff piano concerto -- which I think you'll like if you know you like Chopin -- and wind up learning that you'd like to learn more about Gorecki.

I'm not trying to sell you anything; but personally, I love this poster I found on the web called The Classical Composers poster. (Do a gooogle search.) I think it was $20. It's basically a timeline, and labels the periods (Baroque, Rennaissance, etc.) at the top. Helps keep in all organized in my head.

Just don't get frustrated or ever feel as if you "should" know more. You can study this for years and still find composers you have never heard of. Enjoy!

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