Hell yeah to classical. (Except for much contemporary stuff, specifically Glass and Cage. Can't get into them. Koyaatsaqui or whatever left me scratching my head, thinking didn't the dadaists die off 80 years ago?)
Some of my particularly favorite pieces:
Beethoven's 6th (Pastoral)
Dvorak's 9th (New World)
Prokofiev's Cinderalla Suite
Prokofiev's Symphonie Classique
Barber's Adagio for Strings
Tchikovsky's 1812 Overture
Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance
Elgar's Enigma Variations (Particularly Nimrod)
Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2
Stravinksy's Rite of Spring
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilia Ballet (Particularly the Bacchanalia)
Britten's Simply Symphony
Dvorak's Slavic Dances
Respighi's Fantastic Toyshop
Respighi's Pines of Rome / Fountains of Rome
Debussy's Claire de Lune
Ravel's Bolero
Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper
Among many others...
I'm a huge fan of the "the Five" (Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin) and the composers that studied under or were influenced by them (Dukas, Prokofiev, Stravinksy, etc)
Also, I believe that Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is the most elaborate and dramatic piece of classical music there is.
THAT is a masterpiece.
Edited by user 09 July 2009 03:02:45(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified