a friend recently asked about music I listen to, which can best be described as "all over the place, but rich and engrossing sonic textures are like candy to me". when recommending music, I tend to bias towards 'classical' just because I feel like fewer people ~my age have familiarity with the repertoire.
Some notes:
- I put these in chronological order to kind of give a taste of how musical styles evolved (and also because it would otherwise be a jumbled mess). listen in order or jump around by what you're feeling, it's all good!
- I recommend setting your volume to a level where you can hear the quiet parts and aren't entirely blasted away by the loud parts1, to really let the dynamic range hit like it would in a concert hall. it's a critical part of the music, let it happen to you if you can!
- if you're a "listen while you do other things" person, I would strongly recommend making a note of ones you like and coming back to do a Dedicated Listen at some point. you'll be rewarded.
- I recognize some of these pieces are uh. Really Long. my recommendation is to give any given piece 5-10 minutes and if you really hate it just move on... but of course my biased view is to give it at least 20% of the runtime, because symphonies and operas can change a lot past the overture or introduction.
- I tried to listen to the whole performance of most of these. in all honesty I wanted to get this published more than I wanted to watch the entirety of the operas I've linked before doing so, so I did my best by listening to the arias I have strong opinions on and judging on that basis. if the productions do something unfortunate 1) I'm sorry, 2) please comment and let me know.
- I am a horn ('French horn') player by training and inclination, so many of these are brass-heavy. you have been warned.
And on to the music!
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Some (vocal) Renaissance music (15th/16th centuries in Europe)
Ríu Ríu Chíu, published 1556: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJl6nSVVrlg
Pastyme with good companye, likely King Henry VIII, early 16th C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YcDFOu6qWw
A whole album of Renaissance madrigals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIZDxaF511I -
Giovanni Gabrieli, Canzoni per sonare, published early 17th century (lived 155?-1612)
Pure sonic beauty. I've played some of these, and they're most fun with groups of musicians distributed around a space so the audience is literally surrounded with these cascades of sound.
Canzona per Sonare N°1 La Spiritata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi0lVr64vhU
Canzona per Duodecimi Toni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES1js_OjVmo
Canzon VII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHATzYh_7GY&t=390s -
Claudio Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine, 1610
Heavenly. The intimacy of the voices in this one is something else. Sex is good but this? This??? Oh baby. I'm partial to this recording that shows off the use of position in space to achieve various effects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJIwFO9A1f8 -
Johann Sebastian Bach, 'Little' Fugue in G minor, 1703-1707
as originally scored, for organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbox4oi6HjA
Leopold Stokowski's orchestration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuDuEMVcSrM -
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cello Suites 1-6, 1717-1723
Performed by the master Mstislav Rostropovich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83wY_IegKqU -
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orphée et Eurydice, 1774
Liz note: growing up my mom would sing the aria "J'ai perdu, mon Euridice" when I lost stuff, subbing the item in question for "Euridice". This probably explains more about me than it doesn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpIxn1uEKIU -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), 1786
I like Mozart's vocal works a great deal, but I'm sorry to say that Classical (the musical period) instrumental music just doesn't do it for me. He's probably my favorite Classical composer, and I'd still rather listen to most other things than his works.
I like all of his operas, but I chose Figaro for sentimental reasons2.
Pride alert! Cherubino is a "trouser role" (male role sung by a mezzo-soprano).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ik-PzAXsQ -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (completed by Franz Süssmayr), Requiem in D Minor, 1791/92
Well-known for a reason. You're most likely to be familiar with the Lacrimosa.
https://youtu.be/I4dSQozed2w?t=312 -
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major ("Eroica"), 1804
Just about everyone has heard the opening of the Fifth and that one part of the fourth movement of the Ninth, so I'm switching it up a little3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfQ5n0dAc-8
they're gonna come fast and furious now. I love Romantic music don't @ me (or do, there's no @-mentions here, I won't know)
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Robert Schumann, Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra, 1849
Horn player candy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpfJ2ghmAsI -
Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major ("Rhenish"), 1850
Joy in musical form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxGax7g_fk -
Richard Wagner, (Prelude to) Das Rheingold, 1869
If we're talking about "personally significant music", the first four minutes absolutely do not fail to make me cry. Eight horns playing over a sustained ground of bassoons and contrabassoons. Truly, this sounds like the sun coming up over a river. Just close your eyes and listen.
Just the prelude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjkjF9OfMe0
Wagner the dude sucks real bad but I love his music. I'd honestly strongly recommend listening to the entire Ring4 Cycle. Wagner is famous for leitmotifs for a reason and he employs them well. Honestly, I think you'll start to "hear" where a lot of modern movie music stems from.
Wagner also has a reputation for being sung by older, fatter singers. This is at least part based on truth. However, I want you all to understand that they are singing, unamplified, over a 90-odd-person orchestra. That takes pipes and a long time mastering your craft. -
Giuseppe Verdi, Messa da Requiem, 1874
You have, basically guaranteed, heard "Dies Irae" from this. It's worth hearing the rest.
https://youtu.be/GFHMVeH-9GA?t=485 -
Georges Bizet, Carmen, 1875
You've heard Toreador (side note: lmao at this staging, Carmen gets done so many ways. backup dancers, my heart). You've probably heard the Habanera. Go the rest of the way, it's worth it. Libretto with French and English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_VkfIthWHo
Don't want to listen to the whole thing? I'm very partial to the Act II quintet. -
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 in E♭ major, 1874-88
Delicious, delicious food for the horn section. Lyrical and engrossing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEssCDEAyig -
Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 7 in D minor, 1885
The first symphony I actually went and tracked down a specific out-of-print recording for, as all the ones I was finding either had bad interpretation or bad sound balance (I understand that mic placement is hard, but this symphony is not 60% strings by volume and the recording shouldn't sound like it is). this isn't that recording but I stand by it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3thKh93NEEU -
Camille Saint-Saëns, Symphony No. 3 in C minor ("Organ Symphony"), 1886
Yes, there's organ in this one. Notable because organ as a concert instrument was relatively rare by the time this symphony was composed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GrO47WJKTI -
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, 1888
Justifiably famous. It's worth looking at the names of the movements, as I think this piece does a great job communicating the moods and the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6exoB7IW8qw -
Richard Strauss, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), 1889
I was on the fence about including this one, since it's not in my frequently-played list, but then I started trying to find a version I liked... yep, it's on the list now. Not always in the mood for it but it's lovely and evocative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM0Y-Yly8jY -
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1, 1888, final version 1896
Nothing quite like performing a symphony scored for 7 horns. Also, it's literally written into the score for the horn section to stand up for a portion of the last movement. I love it dearly. I got shivers and started crying while I listened to it again, and this is a piece I've listened to literally dozens of times. the next time I hear it performed live is going to ruin me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkonqKPZpQ -
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 3 in D minor, 1896
Huge. Long. Strap in for this one, but it's worth the ride in my opinion. At least to my ears, this sounds more "modern" than many of the pieces I've already linked. Also one where it's well worth experiencing the full dynamic range. Not a piece for listening in the car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xplx64LVENg -
Giacomo Puccini, La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), 1910
A spaghetti Western from before the spaghetti Western. Just listen to that opening! I haven't watched this whole production, but what I've seen looks and sounds decent. They're singing in Italian, it's subtitled in German, just hang out for the vibes! If you want, here's the synopsis and a link to the libretto with an English translation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDwwt9JOns -
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (The Rose-Knight), 1911
Happy Pride, one of the main characters in this one (Octavian) is a "trouser role" (male role sung by a mezzo-soprano). I even found a good version with English subtitles for y'all! (Act 1, Act II, Act III) -
Igor Stravinsky, Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), 1913
One of the bassoon solos. Wild and lonely.
This piece was... controversial... at its premiere and you can hear why that would be. Rough, "primitive", not particularly concerned with sonority. I love it. I found a video with the ballet being performed (Ballets Russes, Diaghilev choreography), but you can of course also just listen to the music if that's your preference.
https://youtu.be/YOZmlYgYzG4?t=275 -
Gustav Holst, The Planets, 1917
Crank the volume and swim in it. This is the recording I grew up with and I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB8F852qJsU&list=PLxpjNkTs16fyipiM3EczPScKc_hf4DtVp -
Sergei Prokofiev, Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, (opera premiered 1921)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eVTR3kYdSw -
George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, 1924
You've probably heard this in excerpted form in Fantasia. Iconic for a reason and so worth a full listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHdRkeEnpM -
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in D minor, 1937
Well worth reading the Wikipedia article on this one. An all-timer for me for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AQMA0XLuAo -
Aaron Copland, Rodeo, 1942
Symphonic Americana. I hear echoes of Rodeo in the BotW/TotK "battle" cue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du4DrdGp9vM -
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 10 in E minor, 1953
Melancholy and beautiful. Repeatedly signed with his "DCSH" motif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Rtd4tnFwU -
Randall Thompson, Frostiana: Seven Country Songs, 1959
Settings of Robert Frost's poetry to music. I am especially fond of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening*.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXOhRPI6UOM&list=PLiByeq5uQgPgeCf9FFuQFGT7Rb5vG0QNx
your reward for making it to the end: portrait of the author at 14
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if we're honest I turn it up perhaps more than I should when I am particularly missing playing in an orchestra. it's a full-body experience when you're 18" from your neighbor's bell and I wouldn't have it any other way
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my wife and I started dating while rehearsing for a show of Pierre Beaumarchais's play The Marriage of Figaro, upon which the opera libretto is based
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imo you owe it to yourselves to listen to it in context, aka the whole symphony
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absolutely gotta call out this incredible bit of musical comedy from Siegfried where he hears a bird calling and wants to talk to it, makes a reed flute played by some beautifully atrocious clarinet, and ends up giving up and playing his horn instead. the relevant bit is about 10m long, give or take. it ends after the horn call (you'll know it)
