Best piece of classical music?

[True_Moose]

I don't know if this is really classical music, but there were two excellent pieces we played in band. One was Pilatus: Mountain of Dragons by Steve Reinecke. The other was Emperata Overture by Claude T. Smith. Again, those are relatively recent pieces (70s I think,) but they have a classical and orchestral feel to them.

[Jorath Calar]

Bach Air on G-string...
Holst The Planets

Does movie scores count as classical music?
if so I'd say The Lord of the Rings... simply awesome

[GokuZool]

Vivaldi - Four Seasons [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Melusine]

You've good taste, Link, if you like the Rach 3. You could try his second piano concerto as well, his Rhapsody on a theme from Paganini and his Vespers. The latter is a choral work, my choir performed it as well, it's stunning. If you'd like to hear about good versions to buy, let me know.

One thing you have GOT to listen to if you're at all serious about classical music, and which hasn't been named so far, is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his first and second piano concertos. Oh, and his 6th symphony, the Pathétique, which he completed hours before his death. I love the fifth as well.
Also, if you can take a bit weirder stuff, try Stravinsky's Rite of Spring or his Symphony of Psalms (another piece my choir did).
Also: Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition, Prokovjev's Cello Symphony.

Of course there are also non-Russian composers

My absolute favourite is Mozart. His Requiem will blow you away. I guess opera is too much of an acquired taste for most, plus it does take some knowledge of opera in general as well as the ability to read the libretto, to truly enjoy it, so I won't go into his operas. [img]smile.gif[/img] OK, maybe just one tiny pointer - listen to the Hölle Rache (revenge) aria of the Nachtkönigin from Mozart's opera die Zauberflöte. You'll already know it, but get hold of a good version and it's amazing! The best performance out there, IMO, is that of Natalie Dessay. Roberta Peters did a good one as well.

Some more truly 'classical' pieces: Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (all of them), his famous organ piece (Toccata and fugue in D minor) and his Mattheus Passion.
Mozart's Krönungsmesse, his symphony no. 40
Vivaldi's Quattro Stagioni and his Gloria in D major, I also love his Salve Regina and Stabat Mater, which I have in a version sung by a male alto, but you have to be into high male voices for that
Handel's Firework and Water Suites are lovely too.

Then there's Mendelssohn, Orff (Carmina Burana is fantastic!), Chopin, Purcell, Grieg (try his Peer Gynt Suites, one and two, and some piano pieces), Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mahler, Messiaen, Wagner, Poulenc, Britten, Vaughan Williams and oh my goodness, how could I possibly forget Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle???

We're currently working on Fauré's Requiem and Poulenc's Gloria with the choir. The former, i.e. Fauré is also a definite recommendation. From the Requiem, I like the introduction and the Libera Me a lot, and you could also listen to the short well-known piece Cantique de Jean Racine

Soooo arm yourself with my list and get your ass over to a good music store to listen to some of the best music ever made

Edit: Timber, nice list!

Jorath, I forgot to mention The Planets. Another piece that's pretty good if you're starting listening to classical music.

BTW Link, it's such a silly notion that "old" people will listen to this genre more... most older people I know are still living in the Stones era (or *is* this still the Stones era? ) Anyway, I am 23, I have a collection of classical music that's nicely coming along (just started to make an index of it, I'm guessing I've got about 200 CDs) and I know more younger people who like classical music than I do older ones.
Editedit: ah, I see you later amended it to 12-14 years olds. ROTFL. Sorry mate, 19 is just as young. I consider 23 young. When you're talking about young people, I take that to mean anyone under 30. 30 to 60 is adult. From 70 onwards you could start to call yourself 'older'. 12-14 year olds are kids. LOL, most people's tastes haven't exactly developed at that age! At 9 I was into Gloria Estefan, at 12 I was a Guns and Roses and Nirvana fan.

[ 10-04-2003, 06:21 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[Jerome]

Originally posted by Melusine: I consider 23 young.

Pfft, you're over the hill, my dear walking relic. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Viva youth!

Anyways, I like classical music, although i'll be honest and say my knowledge of it is pretty patchy at best. I like a litte Mozart and I have a bit of a thing for Vivaldi's Four Seasons. [img]smile.gif[/img] I plan on broadening out, fear not.

[Melusine]

Originally posted by Jerome: Pfft, you're over the hill, my dear walking relic. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Yeah? As it happens I have a real pet peeve about pimply teens or blasé twenty-somethings who keep exclaiming they're 'old' in a ha-ha-aren't-I-being-funny-huh-huh sort of way. So don't make me into one of those nitwits with your words [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Link]

Oh but I know that I'm young, Melusine! I was indeed referring to the more youth-youth [img]smile.gif[/img] When I was 12 years old (sooo long ago ) I only tended to listen to punk-rock music, and wasn't at all interested in classical music. I figured the same for all the members of that same age [img]smile.gif[/img]

I can quite honestly say that I've listened to all the pieces you've listed a couple of times, but the Rach 3 is simply my favorite of all. Mozart's Requiem IS a very good piece of music, I admit that [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]