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pnoom · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:11 am **Posts:** 5089

Peter Mennin's work, particularly his piano concerto. It's mindblowing stuff.

Don-Alexei · **Posted:** Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:39 am

Never heard of him. Where can I find his stuff?

john17 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 25, 2010 10:40 am

auris wrote:

I'm finding Prokofiev's Diabolical Suggestion an interesting piece.

I played one of them in college. They're tough mothers, and tbh not my favorite music

pnoom · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:11 am **Posts:** 5089

Don-Alexei wrote:

Never heard of him. Where can I find his stuff?

It's almost impossible to find online, so I uploaded it.

-http://www.mediafire.com/?c9fz7sjjgc81z6r

zephead8 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:18 pm

i'm just starting to get into classical music now and Chopin has been without doubt my favorite that i've listened to. listening to Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 in B Flat Major-Larghetto and its quite lovely. any recs for him or others similar would be great. uploads wouldn't hurt either. thanks.

Don-Alexei · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:37 am

A few Chopin recommendations:
_Nocturnes 1, 2, 13, 19 & 20.
_Ballads 1 & 4 (no.2 is also great)
_Etudes op.10 no.3 (tristesse) and op.25 no.11 (winter wind)
_Waltz no.7
_Prelude no.4
_Scherzo no.2
_Piano Sonata no.2 (the 3rd movement is very famous)

Otherwise here are a few other recommendations in the same sort of genre:
_Liszt, Liebesträume (especially "O Lieb...") ; Etude "Paysage"
_Schumann, Piano Sonata no.1 (introduction) and no.2 (1st movement)

_Brahms, Symphony no.3 (3rd movement, and 1st movement too); Violin Concerto 3rd movement
_Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no.2

You won't have too much trouble finding these on filestube or something like that. And if you like them then you can safely jump into classical music without too much hesitation.

George · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:43 am **Posts:** 4165

i'd never heard of peter mennin before either, and i'm listening to his stuff now and quite like it! (some of his piano concertos, symphonies and toccatas are on youtube)
it reminds me a bit of another big favorite of mine, claus ogerman, so i recommend him to pnoom and others if you're not familiar with him. here are a couple of pieces:

cityscape, written for and performed by michael brecker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfHZrugDhUU

elegia, written for and performed by bill evans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayqd9U5Q1fE

Tudwell · **Joined:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:06 am **Posts:** 4129

Been getting into keyboard concertos, particularly Bach's harpsichord concertos and Mozart's piano concertos. Right now I feel so much more drawn to this kind of stuff than to grander symphonic works. So much classical music seems really melodramatic to me, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, then BOOM they hit you with that big burst of euphony. But these keyboard concertos keep you interested simply with the notes themselves and the patterns they create.

Don-Alexei · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2010 3:54 am

Same here I'm not a big fan of symphonies either. Much prefer Concertos, solo works and some chamber music.

Brian · **Joined:** Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:52 pm **Posts:** 2338

I think the era of the music is at least as much of an indicator of how melodramatic something will be as its genre. 19th century works are often melodramatic, and Baroque music tends to not be melodramatic, regardless of genre. Mozart and Haydn are also not as melodramatic as many later composers.

corrections · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 14690

thejew wrote:

Can anyone recommend me some incredible and technical Piano Concertos? I've heard some of Beethoven's later works take the more technical approach. I've mainly only listened to his early Piano works and his symphonies..

Prokofiev's 2nd is pretty technically difficult and has the side benefit of being fucking awesome.

corrections · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 14690

420 Bro wrote:

Pascal's versions of Satie's 3 Gymnopedies and Other Piano Works
10.0

The Gymnopedies alone make it a 10, but everything this guy did on the piano really impresses me. He can conjure so many different moods, and the Gymnopedies basically spawned modern ambient music, so it's endlessly interesting to hear the influence in his music. I think Pascal does a great job of translating it, but I've only heard his versions of Satie's music, so if there's better recordings out there, I'd love a rec.

The Gymnopedies are quite good.

corrections · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 14690

Brian wrote:

For Russian piano or violin concertos, I would say that since you like Rachmaninoff, try Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, which is basically a piano concerto. The 2 most esteemed Russian concertos are probably Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto No. 1. After Tchaikovsky, I would look to Prokofiev, starting with Violin Concerto No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 3. If you like these, try his Violin Concerto No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 2. Of other Russian composers Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 is probably what I'd sample next. I don't know any flute concertos by Russian composers.

For technical stuff, I'm not the best person to ask, but Liszt has a reputation for technical difficulty in general, so chances are his 2 piano concertos would fit here.

Knowing his taste I would recommend starting with Prokofiev's 2nd over his 3rd. I think that will resonate more.

corrections · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 14690

auris wrote:

I'm finding Prokofiev's Diabolical Suggestion an interesting piece.

Haven't heard it (which is odd because I've heard most of his work).

Anyway Shostakovich's 13th Symphony. It is exceptional if a bit unconventional.

corrections · **Joined:** Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 14690

Tudwell wrote:

Been getting into keyboard concertos, particularly Bach's harpsichord concertos and Mozart's piano concertos. Right now I feel so much more drawn to this kind of stuff than to grander symphonic works. So much classical music seems really melodramatic to me, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, then BOOM they hit you with that big burst of euphony. But these keyboard concertos keep you interested simply with the notes themselves and the patterns they create.

So not a fan of dynamics?

Edit: This was not meant to be disparaging. However, I'd submit that the reason you find it melodramatic is probably because
1. modern popular music does not make great use of dynamics so you aren't used to it; and

2. the most common way people hear "classical" music in modern society is through film scores which utilize dynamics but often tend to be melodramatic and not particularly well written giving anything with that style of music the feeling of melodrama.

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