D's Classical Music Introduction Thread (Don't Run Away!)

[DesertFly]

Maybe this will get more love here:

Okay, so I'm not actually going to introduce you to classical music in any sort of order, but I am going to put up pieces that I particularly like. Who knows? Maybe someone will find a new favorite composer or piece of music.


To start off, since I'm on somewhat of a Russian kick, and to avoid the ones that everyone's heard of (Beethoven, Bach, Mozart), here's a piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who was one of the Mighty Handful. Festival at Baghdad; The Sea; Shipwreck. This is from his Sheherazade Suite, Opus (which means work) 35.

The Mighty Handful was a group of five Russian composers in the late 19th century, who came together in an attempt to define a uniquely "Russian" style of music. They reflected one of the dominant trends in both music and culture of the Romantic Period, nationalism. Other romantic composers I plan to explore include Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev (a bit of a stretch, yes, but I like his music), and Vaughan Williams, among others.

Also, I'm sorry that all the links are from Wikipedia, but I don't know of any good online musical history sites.