classical music

Why do some pieces stick in the memory? The first classical piece I remember from when I was very small is the final movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Don't know why, but it's still there almost 70 years later.

janeainsworth yes i agree with your choice, there are so many pieces of music used for tv and radio pragrammes which are beautiful,i am a great fan of listening to background music on tv while everyone else is absorbed in the dialogue i am straining to hear the music.how those people know what music to choose to suit which programme,atmosphere music for every occassion it is an amazing skill....i have found a wonderful web site for classical music called SINFINIMUSIC.com......you can search and learn about every composer listen to there music and buy the CDs if you want to.it is great for beginners wanting to learn about classical music....Lillian

Lillian the very first piece of music that I became aware of was the piece which was used at the end of 'Listen with Mother'.
I still love it - it's 'Berceuse' from the Dolly Suite by Faure.
Another favourite is Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, by Vaughan Williams. It seems to me the essence of Englishness.

Hi Gagagran i have recently bought a Shostakovitch cd and i love his music,it started with my buying one of his cd.s just to get a piece of music which makes me drool GADSFLY romantic, it is so beautiful,i enjoyed the rest of the cd and then went into CLASSIC FM on th internet and found so much information and and music by Shostacovitch. for people who enjoy classical music it is a wonderful web site with samples of the music to listen to......Lillian

Hi Lillian (my late Mum was called Lilian - such a pretty name) Have you tried Waltz 2 by Shostakovitch? It's lovely and one of my favourites. Andre Rieu had a huge hit with it some years ago. I'd be interested to know what you think.

recently i heard a beautiful piece of music and hurried into the room where it was playing on the radio, i tried to catch what the music was called, i just managed to hear the presenter say Gadsby by Shostacovitch...i typed in the information on Amazon in CDs and it came up as... not known... but try "Romance" THE GADFLY.....i then went on utube put in my information found a sample to listen to and there it was.......wonderful computer.....how did i live without it.i immediately ordered my CD from Amazon it arrived in 3 days and i sat in awe listening to this beautiful music...how would i have ever found this music so quick without a computer....i also discovered how much i enjoyed other music by Shostacovitch.my classical knowledge of music is gradually growing.lillian.

In 1993 I bought a CD of "Classic Commercials" which has 20 classical themes that were made into commercials - the Hamlet one, the Dulux dog, Hovis, and so on, with a bit about each piece of music and composer.

That is not up to date, but a quick look on Amazon showed that it is still on sale (photo of Dulux dog on cover) , and there are also more recent CDs available on the same lines.

Lillian, i have the same doubt as you ,some of my friends told me to settle this problem by insisting learning and learning some classic music knowledge that I can gugure out what circle a song belongs to at first sight when hearing about it, and even some software is used to settle that problem, I am sure you can try it as well.

Just knew that my attempt would fail!

thanks for all your replies, i will try Youtube but if i get stuck i will name the advert that has the great music and all you experts can advise me,i know car adverts use the classics, i found Classic FM online and have been searching that and educated myself at the same time....Lillian

I think lillian that if you weren't able to find it on line, then you would need to name the advert. It could be a bit tricky sort of trying to type "dum de dee de dum de dee, dum de dee de dee dah (My attempt at Dance of the Knights )

My husband googles the music played on a T.V. show, frequently. He seems to find it easy, I have never tried.

No, please don't Flick I like it but not all the time in snatches.

Not to mention Vivaldi, The Seasons

The Youtube idea is the best I think - we always turn the TV down during the adverts, so even if I knew what the music was I would be no help at all!!

If you look on Youtube, it usually tells you what the music is (I think)

Definitely the Prokofiev. Don't think The apprentice though

Apart from Tchaikovsky, Carmina Burana gets used a lot too.

No idea about the Swan Lake, but I rarely watch television and don't like Tchaikovksy.

Movedalot I think you're talking about the Prokoviev music which was once called Tybalt's walk – so strutting, don't you think? Not necessarily inappropriate – Tybalt was very aggressive and the fight with Romeo was to the death. Tybalt was fired – big time – but then so was Romeo.

Always worth Googling!

You could give it a go, lillian but first we'd have to watch the advert!

I find it very strange when a piece of ballet music that I know well is used totally inappropriatly on the television. I think it was The Apprentice which used the fight scene from Romeo and Juliet. Lately we seem to have had a lot of inapproriate Swan Lake!