By special request, let’s discuss our favourite Classic Music and why?

I was brought up listening to classical pieces on our old 78 records on our record player, Richard Tauber, Caruso Tito Gobbi etc. lots of Chopin and other classical pieces… as the times changed so did the record player and my sister and I played various LPs and EPs of the day… she bought Elvis, I bought Shostakovich! I enjoyed both. We always went to the Theatre and to local musicals, but It was however only later in my 20s after I had left home that I had my first visit to an Opera! Loved it and queued up to get in the ‘gods’, the cheap seats, immediately after work twice a year when the Welsh National Opera came to town!
So anything Verdi, Mozart, Puccini are my favourites, but I have also enjoyed many other Operas.
It’s the emotion that the music brings …not only Opera, Max Bruch’s double concerto is a favourite… that I revel in …so many more I could list all day. Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Eugene Oregon, Dvorak, etc etc.
Of all Verdi’s operas , I think Don Carlos is my Favourite. Aida of course, but also I am a big fan of the musical Aida written by Elton John and Tim Rice … which I saw in New York. Not really known much over here.
Wonderful music. I always get annoyed at Quizzes that almost always have pop questions but almost never on Classical Music.
It’s called CLASSICAL for a reason!

paddyann54

Madam Butterfly and La Boheme were amongst the opera albums my dad played LOUD on Saturday mornings.He flung open all the windows (that got us out of bed) and played mainly opera while he did the one household chore he did
He vacuumed the house on all three levels and the music had to be loud so he could hear it from top to bottom.
Only time he varied his play list was when he was learning the lyrics to some aria for a charity concert .
He didn’t speak Italian so he learned them phonetically ,we ,his four daughters used to write the lyrics down for him to practice as he hoovered.
Music was and still is a huge part of my life.

Would love to have met your Dad …he sounds wonderful!

Even the great and the good find some music shall we say “a bit much” sometimes. Sir Adrian Boult refused to conduct a second performance of Walton’s First Symphony because he said he “couldn’t face all that malice a second time!” It is full of angst, for sure, but the first movement is an absolute cracker.

merlotgran

Wyllow3
’Yuja Wang is scheduled to perform Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto" (at last night of proms

Seriously?
Oh Dear! 😫
I suppose. The Canzone Moderato’s not too bad but it reminds me of an episode of Foyles War where a woman is mistakenly abducted and tortured by being forced to listen to what sounds just like the first and third movements.

I know! I listened to it a bit and its ...well no appeal at all, just admirable technically if you ask me.

The Gadfly by Shostakovich is sublime. It is soothing to the soul as it swoops and soars like the gadfly. It always relaxes me and I marvel at the composer’s brilliance. Listen to it on YouTube.

Or Elgar’s “Where Corals Lie” sung by Dame Janet Baker. Bliss.

I always thought I would have ‘Coronation Scot’ (“the train now leaving platform 3….”) but now it has to be Mozart’s “Soave sia il vento”. May the wind be gentle and the wave be calm. As I’m not planning to go just yet, I may change my mind again😁!

I want to leave this world with “Lark Ascending”

But for me it is Mozart of choice. But it really does depend on my mood.

Wyllow3
’Yuja Wang is scheduled to perform Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto" (at last night of proms

Seriously?
Oh Dear! 😫
I suppose. The Canzone Moderato’s not too bad but it reminds me of an episode of Foyles War where a woman is mistakenly abducted and tortured by being forced to listen to what sounds just like the first and third movements.

Zadok the Priest by Handel. I get goosebumps every time I hear it. The Messiah, of course and I like the Peer Gynt suite by Edward Grieg. We were lucky enough to visit his Bergen home in Norway.

MOnica

They say hearing is the last sense to go and I want o leave this world for whatever..... with the Shepherd's Hyymn caressing my mind.

... here are some lovely visuals to match the Shepherd's Hymn - they capture it so essentially, especially the final scene.

There's no 'mid-way' adverts to disrupt the flow - apart from the inevitable initial one, in this video - I look at it frequently when I'm stressed.

youtu.be/twWjeH81krk?si=-LV3Fp0bXK3FRX9y

Monica the Gondoliers was the first G&S operetta I saw, by the D’Oyley Carte at Golders Green Hippodrome in the mid sixties. I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed by it too, but a later production of The Mikado was mesmerising. Totally bonkers and huge fun. I’ve seen it performed often and it’s my out and out favourite.

I have happy memories of G&S performances at school.
Pirates of Penzance will always be my favourite as I was in the pirate chorus.

My brother played Buttercup in HMS Pinafore at his all boys school!

I always used to think that girls dressing up as men got the better deal. 😂

Luckygirl3

I am passionate about classical music, but struggle with Beethoven. Sometimes his music is sublime but then he starts crashing the pots and pans about for no good reason.... I find that annoying ... and a bit formulaic.

...but then he starts crashing the pots and pans about for no good reason...

I do in fact know what you mean.

Because he was 'breaking the rules' of Classicism in music, pushing the boundaries of the balanced conventions of the Classical era, it was inevitable that his rather raw, emotional expression would assault the ear drums somewhat .

... that's how I see - or rather hear him!

lixy

For belting out when the neighbours are on holiday:

Finlandia - Sibelius
The Flying Dutchman overture - Wagner

For lifting the mood - any of the Gilbert and Sullivans, though The Pirates of Penzance is my favourite (if light operetta counts?)

DH is an Opera fanatic, He has watched, sung, directed, produced, musically directed, and set designed opera of every kind from G&S to high Italian drama - Rigoletta et al. over 65 years

We were actually at a performance of Welsh Natioanl Opera's production of The Flying Dutchman last night. I am not particulalry enamoured of Wagner, but I hadn't seen the Flying Dutchman before and I was blown away by it, music, and production.

of course light opera counts I have seen many a production of The Merry Widow, Die Fledrmaus etc in my time. My favourite G&S is Yeoman of the Guard, but The Gondoliers I find irritating.

Classical music is my passion and I could go on all day with ideas of beautiful choices. But here goes with a few

Thank you for the list, Luckygirl
How lucky we are to have YouTube and Wikipedia at our fingertips.
When the members of our group have chosen their piece for the month they are invited to say a few words about it but sometimes they decline so I have to fill in to keep the flow going.
Our former group leader was an accomplished organist and choral singer with an encyclopaedic knowledge of classical composers.
Talk about a tough act to follow!! 😕

Greyduster I love the Monteverdi Vespers. Probably cos it is such a joy to sing, which I have been lucky enough to do several times.

My father loved Italian opera, but couldn’t listen to purely orchestral music for some strange reason. If I wanted to listen to it, he would go into another room. We were often swapping rooms ( there weren’t that many in our very small house!) as I was not a fan of opera at that time. Now I am, and have seen many live performances. He would be pleased, I’m sure.

Growing up I had a lot of exposure to classical music and opera until my parents had one of their Road to Damascus moments and discovered The Beatles and thank God, less of the sopranos coming up through the ceiling into my bedroom and positively shattering my poor immature ear drums and more of what I loved.

Classical music eventually started to become something I wanted to listen to and that opera that I hated then, in particular Puccini is now music that I absolutely adore. I wouldn't claim to be very well up on classical music but know there's much of it I love. Many works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven,Rachmaninoff, Bach and then individual pieces such as The Gadfly Shostakovich, Intemezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni, Pachelbel's Cannon, Vaughan Williams Nimrod, The Pearl Fishers Bizet, Habanera from Carmen, Clair de lune Debussy. Like others introduced to it through the medium of film, Death in Venice, Mahler's 5th Symphony got played a lot after seeing the film.

I forgot the first movement of Mozart’s piano concerto no 21. Always a favourite.

Fallingstar

Correction Radetzky March not waltz.

As a student I had an Israeli friend who had both Russian and German grandparents and spoke both languages to some extent, as well as English and Hebrew.

He taught me a very funny rude German version of the Radetsky March but alas I’ve forgotten most of it.

For me Beethoven is the be all and end all. His music goes deeper into my soul than any other music I have ever lisened to.

This feel covers all his music fromthe lightest piano piece to his late uartets. However I love piano music and it is his piano concertos and the chamber music that includes a piano that I love most

When I am dying, I want to die with the last movement of the 'Pastoral' symphony playing in the room. I can still remember the first time I heard it because its effect on me was so profound. They say hearing is the last sense to go and I want o leave this world for whatever..... with the Shepherd's Hyymn caressing my mind.

I’m afraid I’m another who struggles with Beethoven though I don’t mind his piano pieces. Another piece that drives me crackers is Monteverdi’s Vespas. I usually turn it off and then groan when I turn the radio back on and it’s still droning away!! Sorry, I know there are people who love it.

What is the first live performance you can remember seeing? For me, I was thirteen and was taken with a friend by her father to hear Tchaikovsky’s First piano concerto at our City Hall. He got fed up of the two of us banging away our version on his baby grand piano and decided we ought to hear it played properly! It was a revelation, and kick started my journey with classical music - especially piano music.

I love Ravel, Debussy and Chopin and of course Bach’s 48 and the Goldberg variations.

I am passionate about classical music, but struggle with Beethoven. Sometimes his music is sublime but then he starts crashing the pots and pans about for no good reason.... I find that annoying ... and a bit formulaic.

It was always known as Carmina Banana in our house.
My primary school used to take us to the Saturday morning children’s concerts at the Festival hall, and they were wonderful. Did anyone else go to those?
Favourite Mozart pieces include the Lachrymosa from 626 and ‘Elvira Madigan’.
Listening to the Largo from Vivaldi R93 for guitar at the moment, lovely to wake up to.
There’s so much lovely music to listen to!