Classical music for Rockers

Try Franz Liszt's "Dante Symphony" and "Faust Symphony" -- both good classical pieces for a rock fan.

And if you like Mozart's "Requiem," try the "Requiems" by Verdi and Cardoso.

I'll also second (or third) the Wagner recommendations -- you'll probably recognize the Siegfried Idyll from the movie "Excalibur" (along with "O Fortuna" from the Orff you just bought), and the overture to "Tannhauser" is one of my favorite pieces of classical music -- you just have to get past singing "Oh Bwunhilda, you're so wovely" in an Elmer Fudd voice while you listen to it . . . . ;-0)

Pat

Nrchy, my experience is similar to yours. When I was very young, my pop was a rock and roll DJ. All we had around the house was rock. I moved to classical when I heard Beethoven's third symphony. Soon after I went to hear it performed and haven't stopped exploring classical music since. Also try Mahler, and Zappa also wrote a selection of orchestral music.

Aaaron Copland was a great American composer. He died somwhere around 1990, i think. Fanfare For the Common Man is one of my favorites. Especially when played LOUD. Emerson, Lake and Palmer did a version in the early seventies. I always wondered what Mr Copland thought about it. Cheers

Wow, I'm surprised to get so many responses. Some of the music mentioned does ring a bell. I'm going to have to check into these suggestions. The Wagner titles mentioned above are familiar and are things I should probably be familiar with. When I go to the music shops there is so much classical I don't know where to start or which recordings are good. Your recommendations are very helpful.
If anyone listed a suggestion and know which copy of the recording they have please let me know so I don't have to muddle through inferior copies to find the good stuff.
Albert, beleive it or not, I have thought about getting some Cecilia Bartoli. I have read reviews of her work and have been intrigued by what people said about her.
Keep the idea coming, and I'll try to find some of these recordings in this lonely hamlet!

Wanna hear a weird one ? How about Dave Lombardo ( ex drummer from Slayer and now playing with Fantomas ) playing with a bunch of classically trained musicians covering Vivaldi ??? It can be had on Thirsty Ear Records THI 57066.2 if you are interested. The sound is not bad but the drums are definitely too far up in the mix. Might have been more enjoyable to see how well he could have blended in with the small orchestra rather than listening to him come over the top of them.

Other than that, i found a 20 disc boxed set put out by Delta Entertainment that was pretty interesting. It has mixed selections from 20 different composers, kind of a "greatest hits" for each composer on their own individual discs. The list of composers is kind of a who's who in Classical music i.e. Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Johann Strauss, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Ravel, Dvorak, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Grieg and Schumann. While i'm sure that others may think that this left out a few worthy composers, it is none the less a very good introductory to a lot of different styles and performers. If you like what you hear by one specific performer, you can simply pick up individual discs of music written by that artist.

For the "record", i found this at Best Buy a few years back at Christmas time. The twenty discs were something like $45, so it was a real eye / ear opening bargain without breaking the bank for someone like me that was not real "up" on all of these dead guys : )

As a side note, Antony Michaelson of Musical Fidelity did some nice recordings. The best one ( in my opinion ) is titled "Mozart Clarinet Concerto K622 in A Major". While i'm not much of an expert when it comes to ANY type of Classical music, what i hear when listening to this disc is very nice sounding "Chamber music". The other one that i have is titled "Johannes Brahms Clarinet Quintet Opus 115". Audio Advisor used to sell these and may still have a few lying around, but i would not count on it. Sean
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