Dawoodcock wrote:
I have a small selection of classical stuff, a little opera and some Gregorian Chant. Sometimes classical music is more soothing than the equivalent in rock music.
Some of my classics were 'discovered' through free CDs on magazines - some years back there was a monthly magazine called Classical CD and as with the ones that come with Mojo and Uncut, it uncovered a few composers I would not otherwise have listened to.
I agree I have found it soothing to listen to while working, I can't stand the radio stations with repetitive adverts. I think it takes longer to get into a piece of classical music, I have to listen to it a few times to appreciate it.
Luke M wrote:
Yes.
Favourite composers? Mahler, Tchaikovksy, Tippett, Bruckner, Berlioz, Prokofiev....
harder to choose a favourite piece, but at the moment Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein in a 1986 recording is hard to beat. There is such sorrow, such passion and despair but beauty and power in this music and this performance that it just moves me in a way that no other music can.
I can't place it from the name, I will track it down and listen to it. I studied Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije at school, it was written as a film score, some of the themes are often played on T.V. especially the Troika around Christmas. I heard the 1812 the other day, it is magnificent.