Bach, Beethoven, Brahms ( & Mozart ? )

Thanks for the new posts.

Vivaldi is certainly a very good choice. Aside from being a great Composer Vivaldi also served as inspiration for JS.Bach. Vanelau you had mentioned earlier that you play the Violin so of course Vivaldi is a logical choice for you.

Today I've had my Satelite radio on one of the Classical music channels and one of the interesting pieces that was played is Antonio Sallieri's Flute & Oboe Concerto in C Major. Sallieri has been mentioned before in this thread but I do feel that he gets a bit of bad rap because of the " Amadeus " movie; they needed a villian for that film and he was chosen. One tends to forget tho that Sallieri was a gifted Composer in his own right, not that different from Haydn.

Also another beautiful piece of music that was on today is " The Moldau ". I've mentioned this treasure by Smetana before but it is worth repeating the name of this little gem.   

As one listens to Classical music certain compositions seem to stand out over others. The other day Tchaikovsky's Cappriccio Italien was played on my Satellite radio and that has been a favourite of mine for many years. Needless to say they don't write them like that anymore.

I haven't really listened to much Tchaikovsky, but I might start. What are some good starter pieces?

Thanks for the post Vulpes_Vulpes. I would say that there is one piece that one should avoid, namely the Symphony no. 6 in B minor ( a very very sad piece of music often called " Pathetique " ). I try to avoid the # 6 at all costs but everything else is just great, to say the least ( I luv the " 1812 Overture " as my favourite ).   

What's wrong with sad pieces?

Well I guess they are okay for people that like them It is a matter of taste, in my case I just luv Waltzes ( for example ).

Prokofiev's score to the Soviet film, Aleksandr Nevskii, is very good if you are a fan of Tchaikovsky. There are slow and fast versions, I prefer the slow variations as they let you enjoy each note, and the battle scene especially winds up the tension before going berserk at the end!

Thanks for the info Ivandh.

Of course when I think of Tchaikovsky I'm reminded of the fact that he was only 53 when he died. Suppose that he had lived another 10 years or better yet another 20 years ? Sad to think of all of the beautiful music that we missed due to his early death.

So far we have not mentioned very much about singing or about films in this thread. That brought to mind Mario Lanza playing the lead in " The Great Caruso ". I wouldn't mind running across that movie as I'm busy looking thru the DVD discount bins.

Recently I mentioned the loss of Tchaikovsky at a fairly young age, of course there are others that need to be mentioned as well:

Mozart ( 1756 - 1791 )

Schubert ( 1797 - 1828 )

Chopin ( 1810 - 1849 )

When one thinks of all of the beautiful music that was lost due to these very early deaths, truly truly sad.