I’ve been reading Alex Ross‘s The Rest is Noise and have realized that I need more classical music in my life. There’s just so much, though, that I don’t know where to start. Any recommendations, friends?
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latterdaybohemian 
While I was working on exams I tuned into alot of avant guard stuff – not classical in the traditional sense, but often has classical influences. Kronos Quartet, Tortoise, Dirty Three, etc.
I feel like I need to go to a classical music “tasting” to figure out what I like better. I seem to be leaning towards the small quartet kinda things rather than the big orchestras…
I’ve also been using liveplasma (http://www.musicplasma.com/) and Pandora to try and explore other new things. And we’re always talking about how scholars “citation chain” to find relevant literature…trying to find the connections between this thing I like and something I might like.
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I’m crazy about Dvorak. Particularly his 4th, 8th, and 9th (The New World Symphony) symphonies, and the Slavic Dances. His style is romantic and emotional. Some of his themes are simply, but as his symphonies wind their way through variations on those themes, a whole range of emotion unfolds, like feeling the impact of a well-told story, without hearing the actual story.
The important thing, I think, about listening to classical music, is to have a clear, well balanced sound system. Good headphones or decently set up speakers. Otherwise, with so much music going on, you’ll miss some of the important movements.
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I second Dvorak. He’s one of my favorite composers. I also like Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites; Holst’s The Planets; Beethoven; Bach; Berlioz; Saint-Saens; Shostakovitch; Carl Orff (O Fortuna of Carmina Burana is one of my favorite songs).
There are SO many movements within classical that it’s ridiculously overwhelming. I have amassed a collection stealing from my school of music friends, and I generally couldn’t tell one from another save a few.
There are a lot of overviewy type sets of CDs… I’d check out some from the library and get a feel for what you like. This set looks fun: Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music
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Mmmm. đŸ™‚
Bach’s Brandenburg’s concertos, in particular (the stories behind them are fascinating).
I definitely second Saint-Saens and Dvorak. Tchaikovsky may not be “highest” art, but beautiful stuff (stay away from the Nutcracker, of course, at least when it’s not Christmas).
Vivaldi, if you don’t already have it – some of the lesser known stuff is stunning. And he was a feisty redhead.
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Um… I like Rachmaninov and Satie. As far as “modern” classical, I dig Morelenbaum and Sakamoto.
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Debussy and Tchaikovsky.
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I echo on Dvorak.
I also really like Holst’s Nine Planets. You can tell that John Williams used them as inspiration for Star Wars. You can hear the Ewoks and Darth Vader.
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Some of my favorite composers/pieces & albums:
Maurice Ravel
Leos Janacek (especially his piano works)
Erik Satie
Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat Major
Felix Mendelsohn (esp. piano trios)
“Morelenbaum and Sakamoto: Casa” (echoing Linda above)
Yo-Yo Ma’s “Obrigado Brasil”
any of Beethoven’s late string quartets
“Appalachia Waltz” (album by Ma, Edgar Meyer & Mark O’Connor)
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Use Pandora to get a good sampling. I spent the morning listening to my Ludwig van Beethoven channel and heard some really nice pieces that were new to me.
http://www.pandora.com
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