My Interest in Classical Music.

I often have the Classic station on in the car.. but I only know if I like something or not I never can remember who its by.. I have a terrible memory so I've given up trying ..

I think it's a shame that 'classical' music is often looked on as something rarefied and difficult. There is such variety, every emotion is reflected. I also love traditional jazz and folk music, especially English.

I like to hear classical music played/sung live too, better than recordings. Even the best recordings lose something.

Live is good, however sometimes you have to listen to a CD or radio, and the new digital radios are near perfect.

I go with a friend to the Halle in Manchester and we love it, but it is becoming an expensive night out. I always listen to Classic fm and I am learning all the time. Sometimes it makes me cry and sometimes it is so uplifting.

I enjoy Classic FM when I'm in the mood. I also like live classical music but the seats are often uncomfortable. At home you can settle down, close your eyes and just 'absorb'.
I think Andre Rieu has done wonders for bringing classical music to all ages.

Most of what is termed 'classical' music isn't really classical at all. It's a pity we can't come up with another name for it! Strictly speaking, I suppose the classical period ended with the death of Beethoven, having began around the time of Haydn - cartainly it was after Baroque. Then later we had Nationalist, Romantic and so on... Art music? No, I don't think that would catch on...

I like all kinds of music, but I listen most to classical music and have a large collection of CDs. You grow with it, I think. You start with the "lollipops" - the first live concert I ever went to was to hear Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto when I was about thirteen. I rarely listen to it now, along with a lot of other pieces which I have "grown out of" - The 1812; Eine Kleine; The Four Seasons; the Planets to name four. But although you leave the pieces behind, you remain faithful to the composers. During a recent discussion with my piano teacher, I happen to say that I didn't care for Mozart's symphonies. I thought he was going to faint away with shock! I had to redeem myself by saying that I loved the operas and the choral music! I love Bach (even jazzed up Bach!), Vaughan Williams, William Walton, Ravel, Debussy..... too many to mention.

I have never forgotten the thrill of hearing a symphony orchestra in the flesh - a schools concert at the Hornsey Town Hall, with the Royal Philharmonic... although now the only oitem I can recall from the programme was the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. THe oboists demonstrated their duets before the piece was played, to show us how the piece was constructed. Magic! That would have been in1951, I should think, so I'm not surprised I can't recall the whole play-list!

My father was good pianist and of course we were expected to play. He was also a terrible teacher and lost patience with the sounds we were producing until we children just gave up. There is lot of piano music where I know every note and still love to hear a piano concert played by a symphony orchestra.

Although I am officially C.of E. I joined the local Catholic Church choir and began 25 years of singing choral music. 4 Times a year we sang a Mass in Latin by Mozart ( who has written about 30) and occasionally Haydn and Palestrina. After months of rehearsing, the High Mass day arrived. The small orchestra and soloists were in place and sometimes I almost had to stop singing when I heard the purity of the soprano voice together with Mozart's music. it was over powering.
I have a season ticket for an evening of chamber music every 6 weeks and if in big city I try to get tickets for a large symphonic work. I don't listen to as much at home but occasionally I listen to Beethoven's piano Sonatas or similar.

I have to agree with you there expat. The Kyrie from Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor, sung by a good soprano, brings tears to your eyes (it can bring tears to your eyes sung by a bad soprano too, I should imagine!). I can't sing - I wish I could. My piano teacher is the musical director of a prestigious local choir, The Sheffield Oratorio. As I had never heard them, he gave me a ticket to hear them sing the above piece (which I knew from a recording). I don't know what I was expecting - after all, they were a local choir, singing in our cathedral, but I was stunned by their performance - as near perfect as anything I had heard and the guest soprano had been a previous winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. I have heard them many times since, singing everything from Bach to John Rutter, and it has been a huge pleasure.

I love Classic Fm and have it on all the time. One of the few things I miss about living near Londnon is being able to go to the Barbican and the Albert Hall and The Coliseum for opera regularly. I have since discovered the theatre and concert hall in Nottingham and have tickets for The Halle and am so looking forward to it. Juts need somewhere to see the ballet now.

Artygran - that is the whole point! Mozart wrote for the human voice, he never demanded too much so that perfection was possible and then the harmonies. wonderful! I was a contralto - I say was because at 65 my voice began to break and not hold the notes so that was that! I sing along with Verdi's Requiem' when I'm alone in the car.

I don't like classical music such as Classic FM as a background and I don't want to hear what the composer thought or did or know whether he had pneumonia etc etc. There are too many people cashing in on the human stories about composer's lives and the truth is Nobody knows!

Artygran you mention a Sheffield Choir. I grew up in Sheffied and when Winston Churchill got the Freedom of the City (of Sheffield) there was a huge choir of school children and we all stood on the stage of the City Hall. I was chosen by my teacher at school and went along to rehearsals. I knew I liked singing but knew nothing about choirs. That started me off. All in all there are not many years of my life when I was not member of a choir.

feetlebaum how nice to hear someone talking about what "classical" really means!

Just a minor hobby-horse of mine, I'm afraid!

All this talk of choirs reminds me of being seventeen and singing in the 5,000-strong choir at Harringay Arena during the Billy Graham meetings there - I know Handel wrote the Hallelujah CHorus for a choir of about 25 - but with 5,000 it was turbo-charged! Then in the 60s, I lived for a while in Cornwall and joined the local Male Voice Choir in Fowey - all very satisfying to someone who was missing the music business!

I was trying to list my top ten Classical Music, however as I progressed I found I could not do justice to those I left out. Does anybody else have the same predicament?

Frequently!

I'm currently enjoying the TV recordings of 'BBC Young Musician of the Year'. Those youngsters are soooo talented.
I have Catch up on Virgin cable so can watch later and skim past all the extraneous chat -just watch the actual performance.Today I watched the piano section -Fantastic!

I love the piano section. I was rivetted by Freddie Kempf's performance in 1992 - he was in his early teens. I have watched him in live performances and bought his CDs since then and he just gets better and better. There have been wonderful percussion finalists, a very young trombonist a few years ago - few could have doubted he would win. It gives you great heart to think that there are so many young people making music. Some years ago I went to the final of The Music for Youth competition at the Albert Hall. The standard was extraordinary and none of the young people taking part were over sixteen - some considerably younger. Music in schools seems to be on the decline these days - I hope we never lose all this wonderful talent.

I saw The Flying Dutchman last night at the Coliesium in London, what a magnificent production, and going to the pre-performance talk earlier in the evening was very helpful. One slight upset people networking during the performance on their i-phones, can't people not live without them?

My Top Fifty Classical Music Pieces.
I have had a go at naming my top fifty pieces and found it quite a challenge. I wonder if anyone else could do it.

50. The Ring-Wagner. (Actually I have never heard this complete, however I would love to one day.)
49. Der Rosenkavalier-Richard Strauss.
48. Finlandia-Sibelius.
47. The Trout Quintet-Schubert.
46. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini-Rachmaninov.
45. Water Music-Handel.
44. Pavane-Ravel.
43. Bolero-Ravel.
42. Swan Lake (ballet)-Tchaikovsky.
41. Violin Concerto No. 4-Mozart.
40. Violin Concerto-Beethoven.
39. Emperor Waltz-Johann Strauss.
38. Symphony in C-Dukas.
37. Peer Gynt Suites 1&2-Grieg.
36. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis-Vaughan Williams.
35. Double Concerto in A minor-Brahms.
34. Romeo and Juliet-Tchaikovsky.
33. Sea Drift-Delius.
32. In a Summer Garden-Delius.
31. The Walk in Paradise Garden-Delius.
30. The Damnation of Faust-Berlioz.
29. Tosca-Puccini.
28. Madam Butterfly-Puccini.
27. Variations on an Original Theme 'Enigma'-Elgar.
26. 'Moonlight' Piano Sonato-Beethoven.
25. Canon and Gigue-Pachelbel.
24. 'Air on a G string-Bach.
23. Peter Grimes-Britten.
22. Scheherazade-Rimsky-Korsakov.
21. The Flying Dutchman-Wagner.
20. Violin Concerto in D-Brahms.
19. Symphony No. 5-Schubert.
18. A Midsummer Night's Dream-Britten.
17. Symphony No. 6-Dvorak.
16. Danse Macabre-Saint-Saens.
15. Fantasia on Greensleeves-Vaughan Williams.
14. Piano Sonato-Dukas.
13. Adagio-Albinoni.
12. The Nutcracker (ballet)-Tchaikovsky.
11. Symphony No. 2 in E minor-Rachmaninov.
10. Piano Concerto in A minor-Grieg.
9. The Four Seasons-Vivaldi.
8. The Sorcerer's Apprentice-Dukas.
7. Symphony No. 5-Beethoven.
6. The Blue Danube-Johann Strauss.
5. 1812 overture-Tchaikovsky.
4. Carnival of the Animals-Saint-Saens.
3. The Planets-Holst.
2. Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale)-Beethoven.
1. Lark Ascending-Vaughan Williams.

I was about 9 or 10 when I asked for Swan Lake for my birthday. My aunt said she couldn't find a recording of it and bought me THE TEDDY BEARS' PICNIC instead. I was mortified! So glad a recorder player reached the final of BBC Young Musician 2012, Now we recorder players won't have to feel we should apologise for not playing a ''real'' instrument.

There has always been classical music in our house, DD is a pianist and also played the violin. Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy in particular remind me of long practise sessions when she was a teenager.

Ian Lark is one of my favourites too, along with the Bruch (sp) violin concerto and Rachmaninov (sp) piano con. no 2.
Puccini is wonderful too.