Hi all, I got sick of listening to house music and wanted some nice classical music that I could listen to while studying/working. I prefer purely orchestral music (some opera is okay as long as the instruments don't stop playing during that part and it has a nice soundscape so the vocals aren't overpowering the instruments). I don't like dissonant melodies. I prefer songs that have one coherent melody throughout without too much variation. I prefer string instruments and piano over wood and brass instruments. I don't really have a preference in terms of intensity; I like everything from Bach's cello suite no.1 to Vivaldi's winter from four seasons, and now that I think of it, I would prefer to have a roughly equal mix of intense to mild and relaxing. Classical music buffs of TL, help me out Thanks!
Najda United States. November 15 2011 13:28. Posts 1767
I believe there's already a pretty big classical music thread in General chat, have you looked through that? Then again I wouldn't mind hearing suggestions because I'm too lazy to look myself and I have the same taste as you it seems
"Admit your flaws, admire your weakness, hone your imperfections – then may you address your desires." — Paul Crik
rotinegg United States. November 15 2011 13:28. Posts 1717
haha i did, but the music seemed all over the place and there was a lot of modern stuff too (which I don't really like) so I decided to make a blog explaining my narrow scope in hopes that I would get a more tailored list
mozart pieces all have pretty light melodies that aren't very dramatic if you are into that kind of thing, although his later pieces have more drama in them than his earlier ones. beethoven pieces are like the antithesis of mozart pieces. they are all very dramatic and stuff.
yeah. that's just my two cents on two classical composers that you might want to listen to.
Edit: oh sorry. i didn't know you wanted specific pieces. well i don't really have any at the top of my head right now :\
Last edit: 2011-11-15 13:30:37
hongster90 Korea (South). November 15 2011 13:31. Posts 15
One of my favorite pieces is Brahm's Cello Sonata in E minor. Although, I will say that it's moreso on the intense and mild side rather than the relaxing side.
Rather than go on listing everything I have ever listened to, I recommend looking up anything by composers like Dvorak or Mendelssohn. I find that pretty much everything they wrote is very accessible, but also very good, and often very stirring. Instead of giving you specific pieces of theirs that I like, you should just pick anything at random; there's a good shot you'll like it, but if not, try the next one.
Last edit: 2011-11-15 13:42:14
aphorism United States. November 15 2011 13:42. Posts 226
Rachmaninoff's piano concertos are probably something you would like, though I don't know exactly how dissonant they are compared to what else has been suggested.
Last edit: 2011-11-15 13:43:12
rotinegg United States. November 15 2011 13:42. Posts 1717
On November 15 2011 13:44 Crais wrote: This is my All time favorite classical song.
This is great, this is exactly the type of stuff I like T_T Thanks everybody else for your suggestions too, they have pretty much all been added to my playlist atm :D
Dvorak's Serenade for Strings. Particularly the first movement. Love that piece.
Anything Dvorak really, it's all good stuff.
Bach is pretty relaxing, so try listening to that.
I'm not a huge Mozart fan. TBH, I get very pissed when I play a Mozart piece, because I can never do it right. The man is laughing at me from his grave, I swear...Mozart feels very stale and annoying to me. Oh well.
mrmin123 Korea (South). November 15 2011 13:58. Posts 2872
As mentioned already you can't go wrong with some of Mozart's works e.g. Eine Kleine Natchmusik; most if not all of his Piano sonatas (I can't recommend any specifics, they're all awesome in their own way).
Haydn has a rather optimistic and humorous style in most of his works and has written tons of Symphonies in which a portion have nicknames. Check out both his Cello concertos - the C major one is very straightforward, but the D major one has a little more flavour to it.
Beethoven's works fall into the 'eccentric' category for me, and probably isn't much of a good fit for you. If you're willing to give him a go then you need to start with the Symphonies (now that I think about it, Symphony No. 1 is quite suitable).
Make drones. Make drones. Make drones.
iSometric China. November 15 2011 14:04. Posts 1951
I'm a student at the Eastman School of Music and will suggest you a few of my all time favorite works of music.
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2 -- Listen to Mvts. 2 and 5 Tchaikovsky -- Symphony Nos. 4, 5 and 6 Bruckner -- Symphony Nos. 4 and 8 (In particular 8 last movement) Shostakovich -- Chamber Symphony, Symphony No. 5 Beethoven -- Symphony Nos. 5, 9 (Last movement of 9 is still amazing no matter how many times I hear it) Saint-Saens -- Symphony No. 3 Organ Symphony
This is not at all what you are looking for in terms of "relaxing" classical music, because all of these are fully orchestrated and contains brass/percussion. They are incredible works though and staples of every classical musicians repertoire. Definitely give some of them a try. Even for me some of the baroque period stuff (Bach) and classical period (Mozart/Haydn) gets really dry and boring. Music becomes much more passionate and entrancing to me once you move more into the romantic period.
Edit: To be fair I completely avoided your question, but I am trying to expand your ears a little bit here. I fell in love with music when I started listening to these works.
Last edit: 2011-11-15 14:22:39
Iceman331 United States. November 15 2011 14:23. Posts 106
Dvorak Cello Concerto .. possibly the greatest Cello concerto ever written, such a beautiful piece *tear* It's long, but it never feels like a minute too long for me .. the piece is an emotional journey for me. (3 movements, but 6 parts) + Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxYbF-Yzdf0
Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 5 is an epic symphony, but also very long lol (5 mvmts but in one video) + Show Spoiler +
Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings is also great, might be more of what you're looking for since it has the most coherent melody per movement w/ least amount of variation compared to the other two (four mvmts) + Show Spoiler +
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rotinegg United States. November 15 2011 13:24. Posts 1717
Thanks!
Korea (South). November 15 2011 13:38. Posts 2872
ArvickHero November 15 2011 14:57. Posts 9378
