Are there well-known classical composers who aren't trained on a particular instrument? An acquaintance is a young singer who's interested in composition (mostly for voice), but in talking to him I get the sense that he feels a little inadequate compared to his fellow students who are accomplished on at least one instrument like piano or violin. Can you give me examples of classical composers whose work is respected but who weren't primarily instrumental players? Modern or otherwise. Thanks!
posted by mediareport on Dec 14, 2009 - 14 answers

Cost- and effort-effective way to end up with a large HD full of lossless classical music, legally. [more inside]
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks on Nov 14, 2009 - 28 answers

I'm looking for other classical music that sounds like the "Majini IX - In Flames" track from Resident Evil 5. [more inside]
posted by Ziggy Zaga on Jul 24, 2009 - 3 answers

I've been trying to branch out my musical tastes, and have started recently to listen to atonal and serialist music (Boulez, Schoenberg, Webern). There is something about it that I like, but I'm not quite sure what it is, and I feel like if I knew more about the music in question I could better appreciate it. [more inside]
posted by Frankieist on Jul 23, 2009 - 16 answers

How do you pronounce composer Charles Wuorinen's name? Which syllable is accented?
posted by mediareport on Jul 16, 2009 - 8 answers

My list of favorite classical composers makes sense to me intuitively but not logically, and I don't know how to continue the list. Can anyone help? [more inside]
posted by quarantine on Jun 5, 2009 - 20 answers

Suggestions for classical guitar tab? [more inside]
posted by starman on May 6, 2009 - 6 answers

Please help me find an online avant-garde classical music site that posted full pieces you could listen to for free. The site let you browse by composer, genre and instruments. I think "america" may be in the URL, but I'm not sure. I do recall that it was almost entirely unusual repertoire 20th century stuff. Does this ring a bell? [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Mar 5, 2009 - 10 answers

Looking for examples of 'happy' and 'sad' renditions of a work within the western classical repertoire. [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Jan 30, 2009 - 9 answers

I want to learn to play the opening bars of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1...without being able to play the piano. [more inside]
posted by spamguy on Aug 6, 2008 - 5 answers

What music written after 1830 is playable by an amateur violinist? [more inside]
posted by spamguy on Jul 7, 2008 - 4 answers

I played a piece in orchestra in high school that I think was named Aces Däd, but I can't seem to find that anywhere. [more inside]
posted by ZaneJ. on Dec 22, 2007 - 6 answers

Please recommend classical music related to Christmas/birth of Jesus - preferably including comments on specific recordings. [more inside]
posted by medusa on Dec 13, 2007 - 12 answers

Where to find encouragement and support for a young composer? [more inside]
posted by grahamwell on Aug 11, 2007 - 2 answers

Name some good online sources for recommendations and also reviews of recorded performances of classical music. [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Aug 2, 2007 - 4 answers

In the summer of 2003, in Berlin, I heard a piece of music for two treble instruments and one bass instrument of the same family (or anyway closely related). In the performance I heard, these were, I think, two oboes and a bassoon—definitely everything involved was a reed instrument. It was a modern piece with lots of dissonant passages. Everything else about it I've completely forgotten. The composer may have been German but may not have been. Can't remember where I heard it. I certainly can't remember what its title was. But maybe one of you knows?
posted by kenko on Mar 3, 2007 - 9 answers

I'd like to learn a classical stringed musical instrument and eventually join an amateur string quartet. I'm an adult with decent musical ability and a good sense of pitch, but no background with stringed (especially bowed) instruments. I'd be equally interested in any of the stringed instruments typically found in a string quartet. Which instrument should I choose? Which instrument would make me most valuable to a potential quartet? Are there more adult amateurs playing one than another? Any advice on learning a stringed instrument as an adult?
posted by dan_of_brainlog on Feb 2, 2007 - 24 answers

I'm trying desperately to remember the name of a piece of music (and its composer). It's a twentieth-century piece, and fairly famous. It's quite soft and mournful and titled something like "Miss ______ Died Today." I've known this for years and it's just slipped out of my head.
posted by Bromius on Dec 17, 2006 - 11 answers

What's the best way to locate scholarly writing and analysis of a given piece of classical music? [more inside]
posted by agropyron on Jul 24, 2006 - 19 answers

Should I finally join ASCAP, despite my misgivings about copyright, the music-licensing industry, and certain practices by ASCAP and similar orgs? Yes, the cash would make a real difference for me, given the way ASCAP handles my genre and given my low income overall. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 18, 2006 - 4 answers

Can anyone recognize this theme(YSI mp3 extract; 1.2MB) from Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo? I have a strong sense that I've heard it appropriated as(or "inspired") some movie's theme, but the IMDb soundtrack search doesn't throw up anything familiar, credited to de Falla.
posted by daksya on Jun 13, 2006 - 1 answer

What are the best books offering analysis of Beethoven's symphonies? Other classical works? [more inside]
posted by agropyron on May 22, 2006 - 16 answers

What other orchestral music should I try next? [more inside]
posted by Jon Mitchell on Apr 16, 2006 - 19 answers

Help me appreciate classical music. [more inside]
posted by synecdoche on Jan 27, 2006 - 25 answers

Inspired by the 250th anniversary of his birth, I want to put together a nice collection of Mozart's music. However, I have no idea where to start. Can anyone recommend favorite recordings of Mozart's music for me to start with?
posted by alms on Jan 27, 2006 - 14 answers

What is the famous piece of demonic-sounding choral and orchestral music that goes ?
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome on Jan 12, 2006 - 15 answers

Recommend unaccompanied brass quintet recordings of Christmas carols on CD. [more inside]
posted by cribcage on Dec 2, 2005 - 3 answers

I feel silly for asking this, because I really feel as though I should know the answer, but what the heck is the music in the link in this FPP?
posted by dersins on Dec 2, 2005 - 6 answers

I want to listen to classical music. [more inside]
posted by dead_ on Nov 18, 2005 - 37 answers

What recordings of Bach are considered essential? Which ones do you think are the best?
posted by ori on Apr 24, 2005 - 21 answers

Question from a musical layman--I just went to a great New Year's classical concert and two things I always wondered about struck me again: 1) Why does an orchestra need a conductor? I know it's for tempo, but most of the time the musicians don't even seem to be looking at the conductor. Would the players be completely lost without him/her? And 2) why do musicians need the sheet music? All other types of musicians don't need sheet music...surely they've memorized the piece they're playing....even I know exactly how, say, Beethoven's 5th sounds like (though I couldn't play it to save my life).

Go easy on me, I know the answers must be painfully obvious to many of you.
posted by zardoz on Jan 1, 2005 - 34 answers

I'm looking for some good Debussy. (MI) [more inside]
posted by Tlogmer on Oct 23, 2004 - 3 answers

I want to learn more about contemporary classical music of the Pärt, Feldman, Glass variety. Anyone have any pointers? {more inside} [more inside]
posted by josh on Sep 29, 2004 - 23 answers

I'd like to get music under-the-hood. I was listening to this CD, on which Leonard Bernstein explains some of the inner workings of Beethoven's 3nd Symphony, and I really enjoyed the explanations. Now, I love music, but only as a lay-person. I can't play an instrument, and I can't read musical notation. But I'd like to be able to listen to a symphony and understand what the composer is doing with harmonics, tempo, overtones and the like. How do I learn this? Are there any good books? Or is the only way to learn it to go to an music school for ten years? I guess the perfect resource would be a book with a CD. In the book, a musical term would be described, and you'd be instructed to play a specific track on the CD to help you understand the concept.
posted by grumblebee on Jul 11, 2004 - 6 answers

What's the best way to build a classical music CD library from scratch? Where the heck do I start? [more] [more inside]
posted by contessa on Dec 12, 2003 - 23 answers