Classical music - where to start?

[mangoontoast]

I'm a huge music fan, I usually listen to bands with guitars and drums, but I recently started going to the ballet and I love the music. Strings especially. I want to start listening to more classical music, but I don't know where to start. Any recommendations? Advice?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YEAR-WONDER-Classical-Music-Every/dp/1472252306/ref=asc_df_1472252306/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310081590442&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17425273596918661657&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045989&hvtargid=pla-562275495067&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

This book is a brilliant guide to help you get started.

Thank you! I've ordered it.

Classic fm on the radio?

Classical play lists on Spotify are good. Don't listen to music snobs, if you like it, it's good! Ballet is often from the mid - late 19th century so look at other composers working then perhaps before expanding before and after (date is only a guide to their style).

As for strings - adagio for strings by Barber is my favourite, yes it's in movies and adverts but it's my personal preference. Also can't beat a bit of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov

Not as, adagio!

I too was going to suggest Classic FM.

The Radio three breakfast show and the programme straight after, I can't remember its name, are both also v accessible. I like classic FM but the adverts annoy me. There are some great Classic FM compilation CDs from "back in the day" that I expect you might find quite easily in charity shops too.
If you like strings, try Haydn string quartets and Mozart violin concertos, vivaldi's four seasons (yes v popular but I adore it) and Brahms cello sonatas.

Radio 3, Classic fm or Scala radio.

Thanks for all the specific recommendations, I'll have a listen to all. The problem with classic fm is that I don't know what I'm listening to, I know they tell you, but if I miss that, I have no idea and I would like to learn. I want a more methodical approach I guess!

You can check on Classic FM's website for the details of what was played at a particular time: https://www.classicfm.com/radio/playlist/. Do you have Shazam on your phone? That's useful, too, say if you hear something not on the radio, or on a station where they don't put up the playlist, though it's not 100% correct.

Over Easter weekend classic fm normally do their hall of fame, which I always enjoy.

As well as all the brilliant suggestions so far see if you have an orchestra that plays near you regularly. I'm in Scotland and RSNO tours near to us a few times a year. DC love to to see the orchestra but won't listen to classical music at any other time. A great orchestra and conductor is a wonderful experience (and I've been on both sides of that as I was in our county's schools orchestra at high school).

The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, by Handel, is a fun piece of music.

Are you willing to be brave and try some opera?

You can watch live transmissions of some Metropolitan Opera performances in cinemas. Don Giovanni coming up in May and Zauberfloete (Magic Flute) in June. Both by Mozart and divine music - very accessible even if you are new to opera.

https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

You can also find a lot of classical music and opera on YouTube. Once you've watched a few things, the YouTube algorithm makes suggestions that may be of interest to you.

Have a look at this - its fabulous film of Puccini's Tosca:

Yes, I live in a city and there are regular orchestras, this is why I want to learn more. Tickets are so expensive I don't want to risk buying them for music I then don't like. Going to see the orchestras play is one of my motivations to learn more!

No sorry, I don't like opera. I have been to one and was not keen.

I'll have to check some of the suggestions above and then put any I like into you tube.

Thought I'd start here, I typed it into Spotify and got all these! I guess part of my problem is I don't know what it means. Barber is the composer? Musician? What does the adagio mean? Is it a type of music or the name of the piece? See? I'm clueless!!

Hey ! I am a professional classical
Violinist and love this question yay! If you are wanting to get started, I would recommend the composer's of the baroque period. The music is beautiful and it is also easy to get into, it's quite pop music esque. Composers I would recommend : Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Lully, Purcell, Corelli, Biber. I listen to Spotify too.

I listen to BBC radio 3 for exactly the reason you pointed out (on their website it tells you the track they are currently playing) and I love the variety of music they play.

Hope this helps!

You can get an amazing boxset of magazines and vinyl records (maybe they were released on cassette or cd also?)which were released in the 1980s called 'The Great Composers and their Music'

I bought them again after remembering them as a child they really are fantasic. You can get a set off ebay for £30 - £40.

Yes, I live in a city and there are regular orchestras, this is why I want to learn more. Tickets are so expensive I don't want to risk buying them for music I then don't like. Going to see the orchestras play is one of my motivations to learn more!

Oh fab, so lots of opportunities to see them then. One thing you could do is see what you have coming up locally in the next few months and look up those exact pieces to have a listen and see if you'd like to hear any of them in person then.

The times I've been they'll advertise the concert as say "Dvorák's New World Symphony" but they'll play other things in the first half and the advertised symphony in the second so it's also a good way to enjoy pieces you might not have come across yet. The programme would mention what each part was though so you wouldn't be clueless while there.

As for Adagio, with Barber his piece is called "Adagio for Strings" but Adagio is also a term used as a tempo marker and often used for the name of a movement within a symphony too. So yeah it can get confusing because of that.

Symphonies will tend to have numbers too and some have nicknames. So the New World Symphony I mentioned earlier is Dvorák's 9th Symphony for example, if they're marked down as one or the other I know that could get confusing.

You'll actually recognise parts of different classical pieces more than you realise too. They're often used in advertising or in film/TV so you'll more than likely have hummed along to parts and just not known the names. It's fun to find them when you're listening.

There was thread a back in September, which had some beautiful suggestions, I used it to make a playlist on Spotify. It could get you started

thread

Just to say I read the magazine and play the music mentioned on Alexa whilst reading.

So grateful for all these brilliant replies! I'm going to investigate each and every one. A quick follow up @tarkan, so if I look up the piece they're playing, can I chose any that come up or will different musicians play it differently/on different instruments? If you see my screenshot above, can I play any of those and know what I'm getting?

I really agree with your R3 suggestions- the breakfast show and Essential Classics. Great if you're not yet sure what you like as they play a very varied selection of shorter pieces- when you hear something you like you can then get onto Spotify to find more by the same composer. R3 list every piece they play on the website.

Your question reminded me of a cd I bought many years ago when I had the same question. Here’s a Spotify playlist of it, it might be a good introduction 🙂

https://open.spotify.com/album/2ATjahdDeMtmnjmdOM2WF3