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

I run a local classical music appreciation group and we’ve just had ‘Baroque month.’
Each member chooses a favourite piece of music and we download a playlist from UTube. There was a lovely mix of composers, performers and solo instruments and the chosen Vivaldi piece was his Flute concerto No 3 in D major. The largo is beautiful in its simplicity.

I can see how much I'd have loved that growing up.

But the The Five Variants of Dives - oh my, thank you for reminding me how wonderful, lyrical, it is. It's like someone is speaking to me about life and comfort.

(the other Mozart choral that leapt to mind as really popular Greyduster was Laudate Dominum)

One of my all time favourites is the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, by Mascagni.

Probably too many others to mention.

I adore The Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus by Vaughan Williams. Then there's Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov and any of Schubert's ballet music.
My Dad loved Beethoven, but what got me into classical music was the overture to The Thieving Magpie by Rossini which he used to play on a very old record player.

Greyduster

My favourite piece of Vaughan Williams is the Norfolk Rhapsody No1. DH and I spent a lot of time bird watching in North Norfolk and the opening bars conjure up the marshes and the reed beds at dawn and then later the boats on the Broads and the coastal ports. He was a genius at “soundscaping”.

Oh, that puts it perfectly Greyduster, the way he describes the scene is so magical and can transport you to another place entirely. Good for the soul!

Well I don't think they are his strong point either! For example his Requiem Mass tops all of them, even perhaps his most famous Symphony No. 40.

(Now that would have got you brownie points ☺️, but I certainly didn't know the Mass at that age)

I once made the mistake of telling my piano teacher that I thought Mozart’s symphonies were boring. I thought he was going to throw me out of the house😂! I rapidly redeemed myself by saying I loved the operas and the choral works!!

Its what works for us that matters, is all 🙂

All like a lot of specific music

Because of the associations to places or to people, much loved films.

If you listen a lot you sort of become an explorer in a genre or with a particular singer or other musical performer.

I got into Mozart piano concertos because I just had to follow the trail in an episode of Morse, a lovely adagio from concerto 23. It's sad but sort of accepting of sorrow in the best way. and this the best performance I'd found.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8e0fBlvEMQ&list=RDj8e0fBlvEMQ&start_radio=1

Then how about "Out of Africa" film and that wonderful scene where the plane sweeps over hills and rivers, full of pink flamingos, and Mozart clarinet concerto - this has the pictures to remind us too

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjzf_cWzlp8&list=RDRjzf_cWzlp8&start_radio=1

I generally prefer orchestral music but I do love "Don Giovanni" and "The Messiah". I can't stand Puccini.

I enjoy listening to Beethoven's symphonies. When I was a child I used to enjoy jumping around to the various Litszt Hungarian Rhapsodies we had on 78rpm records.

I like most ballet music, my favourites being "The Nutcracker" and "Coppelia."

I suppose my taste is pretty mainstream.

I love all types of classical music and am lucky enough to have my granddaughter and her husband staying with us. He is a musician and I think his piano playing is just wonderful. It's certainly encouraged me to widen my interest.

My favourite piece of Vaughan Williams is the Norfolk Rhapsody No1. DH and I spent a lot of time bird watching in North Norfolk and the opening bars conjure up the marshes and the reed beds at dawn and then later the boats on the Broads and the coastal ports. He was a genius at “soundscaping”.

Anything by Beethoven from trivia like 'Fur Elise' to the late uartets, but mainly, the piano ccocertos and symphonies.

Another Lark Ascending fan here and Elgar's E Chello, also Bach's Goldberg Variations & Firebird too, so much beautiful music.

My dad also loved classical music, so we had lots of LPs. I remember walking past a listening booth in Boots record department one day and the music I could hear coming out quite literally stopped me in my tracks. It was one of Rachmaninov’s Variations on a theme by Paganini and I’ve loved it ever since.

Agggh!

Correction - that whole last post should just read

Yes, "Northern Lights by Ola Gjielo" is the sort of music that will pop up on R3 unwind too (which I find a bit too "off road".

Lovely.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NspOpsKs8vc&list=RDNspOpsKs8vc&start_radio=1

its late night R3 I find a bit off road.

Yes, "Northern Lights by Ola Gjielo" is the sort of music that will pop up on R3 unwind too (which I find a bit too "off road".

Lovely.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NspOpsKs8vc&list=RDNspOpsKs8vc&start_radio=1

I really liked both of the Baroque pieces, Lovemylife.

Its a close call with the Vaughan Williams, JamesandJon33 as to whether its "Lark Ascending" or "Theme on Thomas Tallis"

The Parry video is a wow Greyduster it needs "the full works", because I'd only found "small" versions. In a cathedral the sound would have been stunning.

I was my Dad too, Paddyann54. that's where it started. he'd stand doing the washing up conducting the orchestra with the wash up mop.

It was mostly fairly standard fare, but oh I listened. I play the cello as a teenager and we had free teaching and instruments in school/town youth orchestra and a good school choir. Hooked for life.

I like Classic FM just after 10pm FGT. For an all day listen it's the unusual mix of R3 Unwind which is a mix of calming classics (and yes it does top pieces from film score) and more "ambient" stuff and even meditations. I actually heard Spiegel im Spiegel there.

Jung described music as the "Royal Road" to the soul, but you don't have to believe in a God to have that connection. (well, take my Dad!)

I'm with the Vivaldi lovers, and Madam Butterfly, and The Lark Ascending, and...
A few years ago, one daughter bought me a book listing a piece of music for each day of the year. It was brilliant, and introduced me to many new composers and pieces. .. although even the writer was unable to convert me to Wagner.

There is a lovely piece of modern choral music called Northern Lights by Ola Gjielo. Very soothing.

Cheesey, but Lark Ascending because it’s just so beautiful. Won’t be having a funeral but if I did, that would be my choice.
Though went to a very good concert the other evening, Dvorak and Shostakovich (spelling?). Dvorak beautiful and as expected. Will be looking further into Shostakovich, pieces we hadn’t heard, beautiful.

I love Bach and Mozart to listen to and Tallis too. I used to sing when younger and Handel was a favourite then. My favourite piece of music depends on my mood. Entrance of the Queen of Sheba is a favourite.

The Parry video is on U tube. I can’t do links but if you type in An English Coronation - promotional video, you should get it. It is the absolute full Monty. Seven minutes of sheer heaven.

My absolute go to is Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’. I even love the title.

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.

Michael Nyman did the score for both 'The Piano' and Peter Greenaway's 'The Draughtman's Contract' around 1982 and about 1994?

'The Piano' will always bring me back to the day we moved and I had to part company with our grand piano (which I never learned to play but everyone else did). It just wouldn't fit into the bungalow.

As for 'The Draughtman's Contract' the music echoes the sinister allegory running all through film. Who murdered - or arranged for the murder of - Mr Herbert?