Thread by @drewphish

I was asked by my friend @RJBee_2, who is a self-proclaimed classical music noob, for some suggestions.

This thread is a few of my favorites that I would recommend to get started.

But note there's a million directions you can go with all of this.

Bach's Goldberg Variations is IMO the greatest solo work ever written for any instrument. This is my favorite pianist of all time Glenn Gould's famous recording from 1955.

Here's the same piece by the same pianist 26 years later towards the very end of his career. The difference in interpretation is incredible.

This 1981 recording of the Goldberg Variations by Glenn Gould is equally renowned.

Here's a recording of Mozart's Requiem performed live by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan and also features the  Vienna Singverein choir and four bad ass solo singers.

Mozart died while writing this. It is some heavy shit.

 

Beethoven symphonies transport me to a magical place. My personal favorites are 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. That's more than half of them LOL and I love the other four too.

This movement in particular, the slow movement from Beethoven 7, is beyond words for me.

Here's the full live recording that's pulled from by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

This was the last piece he ever recorded before he died. It was a rainy day at Tanglewood and my 15-year-old ass was there. Intense.

Mahler 2 is my favorite symphony ever written. It's a bit of heavy lifting but OMG so worth it. This is Simon Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1998.

The end of this is the greatest thing ever even dreamed of by a human.

Bartok string quartets are thick and complex and worth the work. Headphones material.

This recording is the famous Juilliard Quarter performing Bartok String Quartet No. 4 in 1963.

Here is my favorite violinist of all time, Jascha Heifetz, performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony.

Richard Strauss' Don Juan is a great example of his tone poems. This Herbert von Karajan conducting I believe the Berlin Philharmonic on a tour of Japan.

The oboe solo that starts just after 7:20 is one of my favorite solos in all of orchestral music.

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was groundbreaking at the time and is one of my favorite pieces to perform. Insanely complex and intense. The precursor to prog rock LOL.

Here's a young-ish Bernstein conducting.

Some of this is real heavy lifting and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone to start out. But I believe people who are used to deep listening can start anywhere.

A few more...

Dvorak Serenade for Wind Instruments, Cello and Bass in D Minor

Metamorphosis by Philip Glass for solo piano which was inspired by the 1915 Franz Kafka short story. Gorgeous.

Yuja Wang performing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2.

The greatest brass quintet of all time:

Empire Brass In Japan (Live at Hitomi Commemoration Auditorium, 1986):

Legend Arthur Rubinstein performing Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Jerusalem Philharmonic Orchestra.

Renowned American soprano Renée Flemming singing Bellini's Casta Diva aria from his opera Norma.

I performed with her earlier this month at the Kennedy Center Honors. I'm sure she added me to her bio afterwards just like I immediately added hers...

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' Finlandia performed at the opening concert of the Helsinki Music Centre.

This was the piece that played over the PA during the Time Machine gag on 12/31/95.

No one around me seemed as excited about that as me.

One of the most intense pieces of music I've ever heard: Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8.

The Kronos Quartet plays the shit out of it.