Classical music, anyone?

Eh, just very few and mostly the obvious stuff:

Holst, "The Planets" - a must have, really brilliant. Probably the basis for 95% of the good movie scores.

Prokofiev, "Alexander Nevsky"

Ravel, "Bolero" - I love the way it's so simple and just keeps building; elegant in that it's a simple idea beautifully executed

Mussorgsky, "A Night on Bald Mountain" and "Pictures at an Exhibition" - yeah, "Night" was purchased only because it's just the coolest fucking part in Fantasia, but "Pictures" is EMINENTLY enjoyable; I love the way the main theme keeps recurring to bring you back in each movement, before it heads off in a different direction

Stravinsky, "The Firebird" and "The Rite of Spring" - okay, more Fantasia moments, but worthy ones at that; and I discovered "The Firebird" WELL before Fantasia 2000; as for "Rite" - well, what can you say? It was, in a sense, the heavy metal/punk rock of its time.

Gershwin, "Rhapsody in Blue" - Sheer fucking genius.

Mahler and Copland, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

I like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Yes, I know, how fucking pedestrian.

How can you not love the choral salvo at the end? The dude rocked harder than Zeppelin!

Nothing like a bit of the old Ludwig Van, eh?

I'd reply with a suitable Clockwork Orange quote, but I haven't watched the movie/read the book in aeons.

So...

"Something something, ultra-violence."

Ah hell, close enough for a MB....

Phew, off the hook.

Anyway, back on topic...

Also, whomever did the score for Conan the Barbarian completely ripped off "Jupiter" from The Planets.

Yeah, the Star Wars soundtrack does contain passages from The Planets.

The Undiscovered Country's main titles just about plagiarize Holst. Which performance do you have?

"What you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you got, say, pitiful, portable picnic players. Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angels' trumpets and devils' trombones. You are invited!"

Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmonic (no, really!).

Picked it up for something like 6 bucks and it kicks ass.

Haven't heard it, but von Karajan's conducting of Beethoven's 9th is the definitive version so I'll have to find his Planets suite and give it a listen.

That sounds awesome. Just out of curiosity, how much did that set you back?

You think B’s 9th in 5.1 is good, imagine how it must sound to the conductor! That has to be one of the best experiences in the world.

I’ve been listening to Mahler a lot lately.

I think I'll be the first to admit that I wave my hands around like an idiot when listening to classical.

And don't tell me you don't.

Last year, I bought a box set of the entire BWV catalog, which features recordings of musicians playing on traditional instruments. It's quite lovely. The Goldberg Variations and the St. Matthew Passion are the two recordings I like most in the set.

The last movement of Beethoven's 9th gets all the attention, but I love how bizarre the rest of that symphony is. He was really pushing just how far he could go with dissonance, and some of what's in that symphony is stranger and weirder than a lot of things that count as strange and weird in music today.

I like a lot of his piano sonatas, too. The Moonlight is obviously great, but I love the Appasionata--the Andante con moto in that might be my favorite bit of Beethoven.

More really obvious loves: Bach's Goldberg Variations. Glenn Gould's first recording is the most remarkable, and there is a 2 disc set that features that one plus a lesser-known version he did much later in life; the differences are striking. There's also a new recording--and this one is a must buy--by a pianist named Simone Dinnerstein. She's amazing, and I was fortunate enough to be able to see her perform the variations live in an 80-seat performance space (right before she started selling out the Kennedy Center) and it was probably one of the best concerts I've ever attended.

There's also a new recording of Bach's Art of Fugue by a pianist named Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The Art of Fugue is really strange.

That set must be over a hundred CDs. Madness!

You used to be able to get the "CBS Masterworks" series...which was some rockin awe-inspiring stuff...pretty cheap. Haven't bought anything in fifteen years or so, but I had a few nice ones.

I've always been more of a Romantic fan, and to a lesser degree an Impressionistic afficianado, so my faves were Rachmaninoff and Satie and the like. But Bruckner just freakin BRINGS it. Had a Deautsche Grammophone record of Bruckner played by the Berlin symphony that was marvelous.

Mars is the shit. You ever want to blast your speakers out and fill your home space with music; go with Mars.
To really get it happening when my housemates are out and I have the place to myself for a bit, Make Mine Mahler.

One of my personal favorites is Camille Saint-Saens, who's done some extremely recognizable mood pieces perfect for writing and brainstorming.

It's Halloween time, so enjoy La Danse Macabre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM

And bask in the eerie glory of The Aquarium:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsD0FDLOKGA

Chopin's piano music is breathtaking. Even the Halo guys used it in their commericals.

Beethoven's 5th is one of my favs. Even though most people only know the famous "Ta Ta Ta Taaaaaaa" from the first movement, the rest of piece of just as incredible.