Classical Music

[Saxamaphone]

Originally Posted by PointyHairedJedi

Ahh, so you're a... trombophonist?

Not quite as good as a saxamaphonist.



There's a number of things I could recommend:

Haydn's wonderful - check out any of the string quartets - and the "Surprise Symphony"

Mozart - anything.

Bach's Air on the G String is a very famous work I'm sure you've heard in televison. The fugues and cantats are all classics.

Beethoven - the piano concertos, and of course the symphonies. 5 and 9 especially.

Mahler - Symphonies 1 and 2

Orff - Carmina Burana

Copeland - Appalacian Spring, Rodeo, and Fanfare for the Common Man

Dvorak - Symphony 9 (my personal favorite)

Also, check out: Vivaldi (Four Seasons, any concerto), Handel, Berlioz (Symphony Fantastique), Chopin, Debussy, Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Schostakovich, Stravinski.

And it looks like there's lots of Holst fans here. Jupiter's my favorite.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Well howdy, stranger. Long time no see.

Bach's Air on the G String is a very famous work I'm sure you've heard in televison. The fugues and cantats are all classics.

I concur. D Minor and G Minor are my favourites by virtue of the fact they're the only two I've played.

Wagner's got some good stuff in Tannhauser - there's the passage that everyone knows as Kill Da Wabbit (actually Ride of the Valkyries), and a slower bit in 3/4 time that's done by the French horns but could be covered by the trombones (I have no idea what it's called, but it's part of the overture - I have a two-disc CD set of various overtures).

And of course, there's also the Radetzy March.

[mudshark]

Hey, Sax!

Originally Posted by Saxamaphone

Haydn's wonderful - check out any of the string quartets - and the "Surprise Symphony"

Any of the late symphonies, as well.

Beethoven - the piano concertos, and of course the symphonies. 5 and 9 especially.

And 3, 6, 7 and 8. Especially.

Mahler - Symphonies 1 and 2

And 5. And 9. And Das Lied von der Erde.

Dvorak - Symphony 9 (my personal favorite)

Nice.

Also, check out: Vivaldi (Four Seasons, any concerto), Handel, Berlioz (Symphony Fantastique), Chopin, Debussy, Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Schostakovich, Stravinski.

Other things by Holst besides The Planets (like the two Suites for Military Band, for example), Vaughan-Williams, Stamitz (both of them), Bachs J.C and C.P.E., Carl Maria von Weber, Ravel (!), Schoenberg, Bartok, Prokofiev, Charles Ives, Edgard Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, u.s.w.

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

Wagner's got some good stuff in Tannhauser - there's the passage that everyone knows as Kill Da Wabbit (actually Ride of the Valkyries) ...

That would be Die Walküre, rather than Tannhäuser.

... and a slower bit in 3/4 time that's done by the French horns but could be covered by the trombones (I have no idea what it's called, but it's part of the overture - I have a two-disc CD set of various overtures).

I'm not positive, but I think that you're referring here to Wotan's theme which recurs throughout the Ring cycle, sometimes called in Act III of this opera (sorry, "music drama") "Wotan's Magic Fire Music" -- one of my favorite leitmotifs from the whole sixteen-plus hours of music.

Back to Tannhäuser, though, the Grand Chorus near the end is pretty neat, too.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I'm not positive, but I think that you're referring here to Wotan's theme which recurs throughout the Ring cycle, sometimes called in Act III of this opera

You can hear it in the Kill Da Wabbit short (which is why I thought they were from the same opera) where Bugs is wearing the blonde wig and pointy breastplate, trying to woo Fudd from atop the pudgiest horse I've ever seen.

Other things by Holst besides The Planets (like the two Suites for Military Band, for example)

The first suite (which I played in City Band) got recycled into something called the Hebrides Suite (which I played in high school), by some composer whose name escapes me. The first and fourth movements of the latter were definitely inspired by the Holst piece (you can hear samples here: http://www.ssyo.org/ssyo.org/PERFORMANCE_SAMPLES.htm).

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

You can hear it in the Kill Da Wabbit short (which is why I thought they were from the same opera) where Bugs is wearing the blonde wig and pointy breastplate, trying to woo Fudd from atop the pudgiest horse I've ever seen.

Now I really am going to have to watch that one again -- it's been too many years since the last time.

The first suite (which I played in City Band) got recycled into something called the Hebrides Suite (which I played in high school), by some composer whose name escapes me. The first and fourth movements of the latter were definitely inspired by the Holst piece (you can hear samples here: http://www.ssyo.org/ssyo.org/PERFORMANCE_SAMPLES.htm).

By Clare Grundman, looks like. He's been writing stuff for school bands since long before I started playing in them -- I'd be surprised if you hadn't played at least one piece by him, at some time or other.


EDIT:

I was checking to see if I could find out whether Grundman was still alive. Didn't find anything conclusive, but it turns out he's also a name in crossword-puzzle circles, as evidenced by this book. Heh.

[Celeste]

OMG Sax! Long time no see. ::jumps up and down and waves like crazy::

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by mudshark

EDIT:

I was checking to see if I could find out whether Grundman was still alive.

Hm, seems not.

[Saxamaphone]

In summation: so much music, so little time.

Sad we won't see anything more from Grundman. I liked his stuff. But, I've just been getting exposed to all the band literature this year at college. I always thought it was just a bunch of marches, but that's what I get for playing jazz all in high school.

And thanks for the warm welcome I haven't had the internet for a while, and now I do. So, here I am.