Anyone else like classical?

[...has left the building.]

Well since the rap thread turned into a debacle, I was curious how many people like classical music. I was formally trained to play classical guitar for about 5 years so I've developed quite a love for it. (What a classical guitarist who likes rap!?) Anyway, what are some of your favorite pieces and composers? Right now, I'm listening to a composer named Shostakovich. His compositions are incredible and I highly recommend them.

[MaterDei]

I appreciate it more than I like it, if that makes sense.  My teenage children like it more than I do, go figure.

[El Tejon]

Bach fan here.  Unless you are talking about classic rap, then I like Ice Cube--"Black Korea", "Summer Vacation", you know, all the classics!:D

[Preacherman]

I'm very much a classical music fan.  Bach, Beethoven, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rodrigo, Sibelius, Telemann, Vaughn Williams, some (not all) Wagner, Warlock - too many favorite composers to list.

[Ben]

Like it a lot. No matter what you're doing, from just kicking back at home, to driving, to going to the range, there is always a perfect classical piece to accompany the activity. I don't think I can say that about any of the other genres that I listen to.

[Unisaw]

I listen to it at work using iTunes.  I find it to helps to reduce stress.

[K Frame]

Yes, I adore many genres of classical music.

Just about anything by Bach or Vivaldi, Mozart, and quite a few othes...

[InfidelSerf]

I love most classical.. especially Baroque period.
There have been some interesting studies on the effects of sound on plants and animals.  Classical typically has the most beneficial and significant effect on plants and we humanoids.

[Moondoggie]

Yeah, what Preacherman said!

Add Sibelius.  "Finlandia" is a beautiful overture.

I could listen to Brandenburg Concertos all day!

[Standing Wolf]

Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff for me.

[Fly320s]

You bet.  We played selected bits of Gustav Holst's 'Planets' at our wedding instead of the traditional wedding march.

[Silver Bullet]

I don't think of myself as a classical music person, but most of the time when I hear something I like it turns out to be Chopin.  My problem is identifying them by name.  I bought a CD, and I recognized a lot of his work (including the Death March), but it didn't include any of the pieces I had heard elsewhere that I liked.

But I finally ran down the name of my favorite:  24 Preludes, Op. 28, Prelude No. 4 in E Minor.

I'm also fond of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

[Guest]

Mozart, Wagner and..

...um..Tupac. Go figure.

My kids are fans of classical music, as well..which suprised me but they both like nearly all kinds of music, which is good, and seems to be much more the case with kids I know today vs. when I was growing up.

They're also huge classic rock fans..kind of funny when I see them wearing t-shirts I swear I had when I was their age.

Tomorrow after pheasant hunting, Ryan and I are going to a jazz concert at the college.

[J.J.]

Classical is a favorite of mine. Especially when studying.  I think one of my all time favorites is Beethovens Moonlight Sonata, something about that song makes me just stop and thing wow that is gorgeous.   Opera is great too&.La Donna e mobile. (with a few accents)  well except when you translate that one into english.. then it is not so good...hehe

[crt360]

I like it.  I listen to classical music every morning when I'm getting ready for work.

I played violin in orchestra from 4th grade through some time in high school and took piano lessons for about seven or eight years.  Somewhere along the way I picked up a guitar and went the other direction.  I think it had something to do with the instant satisfaction of bustin' some heavy grooves with just a few other musicians vs. whatever it was I got being part of a large orchestra.    Classical music is very technical and only works if everybody is spot on.  As a player there is little or no room for improvisation and it can become very tedious and boring.  Besides, no hot chicks ever jumped up on stage when I was playing violin.

I still have a number of guitars (amps and piles of other related stuff I haven't used in years), but no violins and no pianos.  I'd love to get back to playing piano and maybe some other stringed instrument, but I hardly ever have time to pick up a guitar anymore.
I listen to all kinds of stuff (even some rap and hip-hop), but if I have to play it, I prefer rock, blues & bluegrass.  I do believe that if you are a musician or want to be one, listening to classical music is good for you.  Rap, which I think of as people talking really fast, and occasionally rhyming, can be entertaining, but by itself seems to have little musical value.

[Agent P]

Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven
Canon in D Minor by Pachabel
Montagues and Capulets by Prokofiev
Hallelujah Chorus by Handel

These might better be labeled Opera...
O Fortuna by Orff
that one song from Carmen, I think it was with the cigarettes (having a complete brain fart as to name)
anything Russell Watson sings (he's dreamy!)

[Ben]

Not to throw Daniel's thread on a tangent, but during Star Trek First Contact, in the scene where Riker walks into Picard's ready room just before they are notifed of the Borg attack, there is opera playing in the background really loud. When Riker inquires, I think Picard says, "Verdi." I could never verify that, nor track the title or music down in the couple of Verdi CDs I have (if it is in fact Verdi). Anyone know what it is? Cool battle music.

[SalukiFan]

My favorite composer is Saint-Saens and my four favorite pieces by him are:

1.  Rondo capriccioso for violin and orchestra in A minor, Op. 28
2.  Symphony No. 3 for organ
3.  Danse macabre, Op. 40
4.  Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila

I'm also a fan of Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Schubert and the various Strauss family composers.  I really enjoy early music as well and attend the Early Music Festival that they hold at Indiana University - Bloomington each year as well as a few of the various early music performances that are held throughout the year.

Personally, I love lute music and sometimes I really wonder why the lute has fallen by the wayside (maybe it's the umpteen strings vs. the six on a standard guitar).  My favorite lutinists are Andrew Maginley and Paul Odette.  I have seen Maginley in concert, now I've just got to get to a Paul Odette show!

[garrettwc]

I generally like something in all kinds of music. There are some classical pieces that I remember that I liked, although if pressed to match them to their composer I'm not sure I could.+6

going to the range, there is always a perfect classical piece to accompany the activity

"Flight of the Valkyries"

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

I'm not extremely knowledgeable by any means, but everything Baroque I've ever heard, I've loved.  Vivaldi's 4 seasons, anything on lute is beautiful.  Bach Brandenberg concertos are fantastic.  Handel is great to listen to (and not just Messiah). And Eine Kliene Nachtmusik.

[Norton]

You'd think that as a professional musician that I would spend more time listening to classical music.  Maybe I'm just so saturated with it that I try to find other things to listen to to escape my daily diet.

That being said,  with regards to classical music I'm mostly into the big orchestral repertoire, Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner, Hindemith, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky.  Obvious bias to the Romantic and 20th century......

The Bach cello suites and Beethoven piano sonatas can make me melt.

In total contrast, I did my Master's thesis on minimalism....