Your Doors to Classical Music
A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure guide to get started
After numerous (mostly futile) attempts at welcoming my friends and family into, ahem, The Classical Music Listening Community, I learned two things:
- Preconceptions are hard to navigate around. And yeah, stereotypes suck.
- People hesitate to try new things (in other words, everyone is neophobic to an extent).
Along the way, I have been at the receiving end of perhaps 50 different ways to say no. Not kidding. But where has all this led me? If anything, it has given me extra motivation to pen down this piece, as I am, on a pleasant Thursday evening with Beethoven 6 egging me on. [Spoiler alert: Beethoven is not everyone’s favorite composer, and definitely not mine.]
Structure of This Article
I have attempted to split the vast ocean of classical music into a few broad categories. And within each category, I shall pitch my top recommendation, followed by similar works. If you like the first, you’re likely to enjoy the rest. But of course, everyone’s tastes are different, and I’d highly encourage you to check all the pieces out.
My recommended way of reading this article is to skim through the categories and go into the one you think you’d like the most. If that doesn’t work out, maybe check out the other works in the same category, or move on to the next class. I shall create a playlist on Spotify that includes all of my recommendations from this article. Hope you find that useful!
Before moving any further, I would like to set a few things straight. These categories are by no means official or formal. They’re just what I made up in the past hour or so. The different classes, to an extent, coincide with the eras of classical music, but that was not my intention, and they’re not to be confused with. I’m just an avid listener and no expert in the field. All of the below recommendations come from a fraction of the repertoire that is familiar to me. There is so much classical music I’m yet to (but hope to) lay my hands on.
Let’s dive in!
Choose Your Own Adventure!
Door No. 1:
Old school. Posh. You drink tea from silver cutlery with your pinky raised.
This is from the pre-1800 era when music was reserved for the elite (educated, noble, and wealthy). Typically played by small ensembles, the music was lavishly ornamented and rich with tonal counterpoint, often played in the emperors’ chambers and churches.
My top recommendation would be Spring from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Around the 1710s, Vivaldi was among the first people to write music about stuff rather than just write music. And his work The Four Seasons opened up a world of imagination for his contemporaries.
Other recommendations: Minuet by Boccherini, Bach’s Keyboard Concertos and Brandenburg Concerto 1.
Door No 2:
Neat and pleasant. You savor a simple lunch by the fields alongside a stream.
Pieces filled with smooth and straightforward melodies that strictly followed tonal guidelines, with cheerful orchestration. This would be an apt description for many of Mozart’s works and his predecessor Haydn (who wrote a whopping 108 symphonies to go along with 68 string quartets and much more, making him a synonym for ‘prolific’).
My top recommendation would be Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral). This symphony was composed when Beethoven was relaxing in the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of Vienna, and perfectly encapsulates the calm atmosphere. One of my favorite symphonies!
Other pieces you might like are Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and Haydn’s Symphony No. 2. Maybe Brahms’ second symphony as well.
Door No. 3:
Love and romance. Your heart is melting, and you swoon.
Not to be confused with the ‘Romantic Era’ of music, this door opens to pieces that spell out l-o-v-e. With its sweeping melodies and expressive lush harmony, it has all the ingredients to be the background score for your intimate moments. You can find many works of Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, and Schumann fall under this bracket.
My top recommendation would be Movement 2 of Chopin’s Piano Concerto 1. My eyebrows involuntarily dance to this piece because of its delicate nature. Not known to be a master orchestrator (but mind you, Chopin was a wizard at the piano), his two piano concertos are among his very few gifts to the orchestral repertoire.
Other pieces you might like are Movement 2 of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 5, Movement 4 of Mahler’s Symphony 5, and the slow movement from Schumann’s piano quartet.
Door No. 4:
Epic. Massive. Heroic. You are a warrior, and you win.
This is where brass instruments reign, blaring fanfares at a bustling tempo, laden with jumps between assertive intervals like the major 3rd and the perfect 5th. March-like and triumphant, they evoke a sense of pride within yourself with their bold and fierce nature.
My top recommendation would be Movement 4 from Dvorak’s Symphony 9. Composed during the Czech composer’s stay in the United States, he incorporated elements of Czech folk music and sounds inspired by the American countryside in this symphony. This movement, though, is a banger right from its powerful beginning.
Other pieces you might like include Movement 3 from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Movement 3 from Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony.
Door No. 5:
Sad and melancholic. Your life’s downs are much steeper than the ups.
If you don’t want to cry to music, this place is not for you. This style of music where emotion overflows wasn’t typical in the pre-19th century traditional works. As lush cellos and violas belt out melodies dripping with sorrow, you might be forgiven if you start sobbing aloud. Many of Chopin’s piano works fall under this blanket — check them out if you fancy piano stuff.
My top recommendation would be Movement 2 from Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. My favorite composer and my favorite work in all of classical music. Rachmaninoff swiftly glides through keys, imparting heavy emotions and adding a rich texture to the slow and steady melody.
Other pieces you might like include Movement 3 from Brahms’ Third Symphony, Second Movement from Beethoven’s Symphony 7, and Movement 4 from Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony (widely known as his suicide note — he died a mere 9 days after its premiere). Barber’s Adagio for Strings is a must-listen.
Door No. 6:
Dreamy. Heavenly. Ethereal. You are floating under zero gravity amidst the stars.
Some pieces of music transport you to another world, where you feel light as a feather and free of everything. Though no definite pattern is followed by such music, one could argue that they probably share a free-flowing nature, not strictly bound by any rules of harmony or rhythm. It is the sound that matters.
My top recommendation would be Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Debussy is in full flow with his unique soundscape. The middle section is enlightening, with serene strings paddling across the melody. The rise and fall of tension and movement shall take you through a journey unlike any other.
Other pieces you might like include Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe and Movement 2 from Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
Door No. 7:
Weird. Uncanny. Confusing. You run against the crowd during an apocalypse.
Composers discovered advanced and sophisticated ways to go about their music after the turn of the 20th century. Tonality (adherence to a fixed sequence of notes to be used throughout the piece, known as a scale) was not always followed, complex rhythm patterns were becoming more common, and dissonance found an audience. These works are challenging to get into, but they are intriguing.
My top recommendation would be Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Laden with wildly unusual rhythms and dissonant and vague harmony, this work set it up for many composers to follow suit. And it is said that riots erupted during the premiere of this work.
Other pieces you might like include Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht and Debussy’s late piano works.
Conclusion
Phew, that was some ride. I hope I have lent you some direction. Of course, this is just a drop in the ocean, and I am frequently stumbling upon masterpieces by relatively unknown composers. But that’s for another day. For now, my goal is to get classical music to a larger audience, starting with you. Your feedback shall mean the world to me, so please let me know your thoughts on this piece through comments (and recommendations, maybe?). I’m always up for discussion on anything related to classical music.
And as promised, here’s a Spotify playlist of all the works I pitched in this article. In case you missed it, pieces of classical music are often split into ‘movements,’ and different movements of the same piece may or may not be connected. If you like any movement of a work, maybe check out the other movements. Good luck!
