OOh, yay! I don't really like listening to classical music, however, I love playing it! I was trained for five years strictly as a classical pianist.

My favorite piece of classical music is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. I have loved it for years and played it for my final piano recital. Handel's Messiah is amazing as well.

Johann Burgmuller. I've played two or three pieces by him: [i[L'Orage and I can't remember the others but he's amazing!

No interesting stories that I can think of.

Oh, and yes, someone should definetly write a Narnia Symphony. That would be epic!

-what is your favorite piece of classical music?

Peter Maxwell Davies' Farewell to Stromness
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Handel's Messiah
Grainger's Lost Lady Found

... and other specific pieces that have yet to spring to mind.

-who is your favorite composer? I am very fond of Grieg and Dvorak. Also, Vivaldi. John Dowland. Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovitch, Sibelius, Gershwin...

I own that when I hear the name William Walton I think of his film scores before his choral works. I think that's because I notice them more when the local classical music station plays those suites.

As for interesting stories, the best one I can think of is when my little sister was quizzing me about which composers I like, she asked, "Do you like Baldy?" (Vivaldi) and, when I mentioned that I wasn't overfond of Beethoven, she said, "He's not as bad as you try to make him think he is!"

I'm not huge on classical music, but as I just went to a Madison Symphony Orchestra concert, I thought I'd post here! It was stunning, I'd forgotten how great they are. There was a beautiful Dvorak piece (he's on of my favorite CM composers), Beethovens 5th symphony (which was a little boring), and then some Barber. I especially liked that, because they had this amazing, impassioned violinist who was so amazing! His name was Robert Mcduffie - anyone ever heard of him?
Anyway - there's my two bits.

Naming a favorite work is a tough one:

Let's see:

Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 1 "A Sea Symphony"
Bach's Mass in b Minor
Handel's The Messiah
Beethoven's Symphony No. 7
Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs
Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium

Favorite composers are Vaughan Williams, Tallis, Bach, really just about any Renaissance or early Baroque composer as well as late romantics like Mahler, Brahms, and (I have to confess, even though he was a wretched human being) Wagner.

TBG

My favorite composers fall under the Romantic period and in particular my favorite is Mendelssohn. He was a musical genius who is finally getting the recognition that he deserves.

Here's the musical prodigy Sarah Chang performing his Violin Concerto in E Minor with the NY Philharmonic. I can listen to this all day long.

WOW! That's an amazing piece by Mendelssohn. I love the energy, complexity, and the dynamics.

I don't really have a favorite composer. However, one of my recent favorites is Haydn! The wit and playfulness of his songs are amazing!

This a performance of Haydn's Sonata in D Major No.50, Hob. XVI 37 by Brendel.

What is your favorite piece of classical music?
Too many to choose from, so here's my favorites out of pieces I can play:

Rondo Alla Turka by Mozart

La fille aux cheveux de lin by Debussy

Prelude in C sharp minor by Rachmaninov

Who is your favorite composer?
Again, too many to choose from, but I really like Bach, Mozart, Rachmaninov, and Liszt.

Do you have any interesting stories related to your experiences with classical music?
Yes, there was one very short piece I studied where I accidentally learned to play it with the hands switched! (The left hand played the right hand's part, and vice versa.) I didn't realize my error until I was already done learning the piece, and at that point there wasn't much point in learning it the "correct" way. I have forgotten what the piece was called and whole the composer was. I recorded myself playing the piece below, if anyone knows what the piece is, that'd be awesome.

Shouldn't someone write a "Narnia Symphony" or something like that?
I consider Harry Gregson-William's wonderful score for the Walden movies to be a "Narnia Symphony" in a way, but that would be a cool idea. Are there any composers with experience in writing symphonies on here that would like to take a stab at it?

My favorite composers fall under the Romantic period

Ditto! I play some from the Classical period as well but very little from the Baroque period and absolutely nothing from the Modern period. My piano teacher could never get me to play anything Modern. I never liked the way they sounded. I think probably because in the Modern period, the pieces tend to have more accidentals and notes that just don't (in my opinion) fit with the piece. And then of course, there's just the "modern" sound.

Don't get me wrong, I like Modern pieces just fine and even greatly enjoy them when listening to someone else play them well. But I just don't like playing them myself and practicing them. They just grate on me.

minotaurforaslan: that's the Gigue from Bach's Partita #1 in Bflat major. I'm playing it right now, it's a fun piece, and one very easy to reverse the hands on you played it pretty well btw.

My favorite pieces: Beethoven Pathetique Sonata, Anything and everything by Bach, Schubert's Swan Song, Katchaturian's Piano Sonatina, Brahm's Rhapsody in Gminor, Parts of Mozart's Requiem, and on and on and on.

Favorite Composers: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms.

Favorite Performers: Glenn Gould, Freddy Kempf, and more but I can't remember their names right now.

Favorite performers? Bernstein for orchestral. Probably Karl Richter or Frederik Magle for organ. Not sure on other instruments. Academy of St. Martins in the Fields is always a good one.

TBG

I recently heard Lacrymosa by Mozart. What a beautiful piece! I've also always loved Fur Elise by Beethoven.

~Riella

My piano teacher could never get me to play anything Modern. I never liked the way they sounded. I think probably because in the Modern period, the pieces tend to have more accidentals and notes that just don't (in my opinion) fit with the piece. And then of course, there's just the "modern" sound.

I'm glad this thread got revived . And to form a reply to a response I missed months ago ( ) I'm not too fond of Modern myself with very few exceptions. I find Stravinsky to be very energetic but really dark. I don't know if folks consider Holst to be Modern, but I my CD of The Planets stays perpetually near the top of my Classical music playlist.

And though the story may be for children I always felt Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf has a highly melodic and lovely series of themes in it.

I recently heard Lacrymosa by Mozart. What a beautiful piece! I've also always loved Fur Elise by Beethoven.

I like the Fur Elise as well, although I'm kinda partial to Moonlight Sonata too, despite its potential to be kind of creepy.