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Message:: [QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 4565770, member: 112852"]As a young man half my age, I listened exclusively to classical music; now, I find myself listening more and more to pop-classical fusion type music, as well as to classical renditions of pop--but all the classical music I listened to in my early twenties I still enjoy very much. In this post, I'll cover the pure Classical side, and then in the next, I'll cover everything else. For Classical music, I most enjoy the French scene from the late 19th century to the early twentieth century.  This music is very delicate.<ul> <li>Gabriel Fauré.  Fauré is essentially a composer of smaller-scale, "intimate," "melancholy" type works.  His chamber music is absolutely gorgeous!  I recommend with all my heart his barcarolles (especially 1, 2, 3, and 12), his piano ballad, his two piano quartets and and his two piano quintets, his violin and piano duets, and his violin and cello duets.  I also recommend his sacred music very much, especially his Requiem, which is exquisite and divine (if I can say that as a formerly religious person).  The best recording of Faure's other sacred choral music (which is  is undoubtedly anything but "melancholic") is the one by the Ensemble de la chapelle du Québec.  I love his Messe basse, his Tantum Ergo (the 3:26" one), and his Cantique de Jean Racine, as well as many others.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>I love all the music by the French composer Maurice Duruflé.  His "Requiem" is outstanding, as his "Messe 'Cum Jubilo.'"  I always like the way he intersperses Gregorian chant with the organ in "Veni Creator."  And of course, if you like the sound of "big organ," give Prélude et fugue sur le nom d'ALAIN" a listen--especially the fugue!</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Charles Gounod wrote a wonderful "Messe Solonnelle de Sainte Cécile" as well as a gorgeous arrangement of Bach's "Ave Maria"</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Jules Massenet: I don't really like much of Massenet, apart from his "Meditation," but his "deux berceuses"--well, what can I say?  Words in English are not sufficient to describe these two miniature piano lullabies!  I've already used words like "delicate" and "exquisite," and they are certainly these.  Perhaps I might also say "wholesome," and "hypnotic," which is an unusual combination of words.  They also have a very charming simplicity to them.  Listen to them: you'll never be sorry!</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Erik Satie: some of his piano music is nice.  His "Petite ouverture à danser" is very relaxing.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Rachmaninoff's cello music is very nice--especially his "Vocalise."</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" is a very evocative and unusual piece.  It was originally composed when Messiaen was a prisoner in a concentration camp in Germany during WWII.  The music requires a violinist, a clarinetist, and a cellist.  The cello the Germans provided was missing a string.  From my Naxos jacket notes: "the first performance was given in the Stalag VIII A on the 15th of January, 1941 in atrociously cold weather.  The audience included five thousand prisoners from all levels of society: priests, doctors, shop-keepers, professional soldiers, workers, peasants.  'Never,' Messiaen later recalled, 'have I been heard with as much attention and understanding.'"</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Camille Saint-Saëns' well-known "Carnival of the Animals" is nice, but so is his "Organ" symphony.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>For piano music generally, I recommend the anthology in "Für Elise: Romantic Piano Pieces" by Deutsche Grammophon.  There are some amazing pieces of music on this album.  You will love some of them right away, but as you get older, or listen more, you will find that you start to really fall in love with others, too!</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Of course, I love pretty much everything by J.S. Bach, especially his famous hymns (e.g. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"), his large works (e.g. the B Minor Mass), his cello music (Cello Suite #1 is my favourite), and his organ music ("Toccata and Fugue"). </li> </ul> <ul> <li>I also love much of Vivaldi's work.  His Cello Concertos are lovely, his "Gloria" is appropriately glorious, and of course, his "Four Seasons" are all wonderful.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Beethoven and Mozart: the usual favourites, plus more.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Haydn and Handel: ditto.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Tchaikovsky: give the "Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom" a listen-the Naxos recording with the Kiev Chamber Choir is a fantastically Russian bit of sacred choral music.  The men have REALLY deep voices!</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Ralph Vaughn Williams: if you would like to hear a classical music representation of a certain word that begins in "o" and ends in "m" (I can't write it here--this is a family website after all!)--listen to his "Flos Campi"--you'll know it when you hear it. I really love his settings of traditional English poetry (especially "On Wenlock Edge" and "It was a Lover and his Lass").  His "Song of Thanksgiving" was the official British anthem to end WWII.  Listen to the one with John Gielgud.  If you're interested in the Book of Job, listen to his "Job: A Masque for Dancing."  I must mention "The Lark Ascending."  This is a very gentle, pastoral piece with a deep and quiet joy. </li> </ul> <ul> <li>The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů wrote an oratorio that could sit beside Handel's "Messiah" and Haydn's "Creation" and still keep its head held high: "The Epic of Gilgamesh."  I recommend you listen to this piece either just before, or just after reading the epic!</li> </ul> <ul> <li>I greatly enjoy much of John Rutter's sacred music (but not his "Gloria"--too brassy!)</li> </ul> <ul> <li>I should also mention Bottesini's "Music for Double Bass and Piano," because there isn't that much music written for double basses.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>In terms of pre-classical music, I love the absolutely heavenly Pope Marcellus Mass (try to listen to the one by Archiv Produktion--it's "Missa Papae Marcelli"), and also the "Missa Aeterna Christi munera" on the same label. </li> </ul> <ul> <li>Finally--what about Pachelbel's Canon in D?  I am absolutely obsessed with this piece of music, and have created a rather lengthy playlist for my own, and now your enjoyment <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7yC5T_5UHA9O8GOoAJ5W2ju4Qlog85Ee" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7yC5T_5UHA9O8GOoAJ5W2ju4Qlog85Ee" rel="nofollow">here</a>.  Be warned: there are many different styles here, from electronic to pure classical to techno: that's the beauty of this playlist.  (The techno is in the second half of the playlist, but there are two wonderful more traditional pieces at the very end.)</li> </ul>[/QUOTE]

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