Classical Music Forum banner

What are your favorite genres of classical music?

14K views 52 replies 48 participants last post by  Fabulin 
#1 ·
I know everyone has a different definition for genre, but mine separates genres into the instruments involved, not necessarily into short forms or long forms. Your choices are:

Opera
Symphonic
Chamber music (solo instrument plus accompaniment, duets, trios, quartets, etc.)
Orchestral (anything played by orchestra besides symphonies)
Choral (any work that mainly employs a large ensemble of singers)
Vocal (one or more solo vocalists plus accompaniment)
Keyboard solo
Ballet
Concerto
Avant-Garde (John Cage, minimalism, electronic music, futurism, etc)
Band music (brass bands, wind bands, military bands, etc)
Film music

Here is my list:
1. Keyboard solo. As a pianist, I am most interested in piano works. My favorite works are everything by Chopin, everything by Liszt, all Beethoven sonatas, harpsichord works by Bach, Schubert sonatas/improptus, and various solo works by Ravel. It's the most versatile of instruments, and it has the deepest and most varied repertoire.
2. Symphonic. I like the sound of massed strings and big sounds more than the sound of individual strings, and the symphonic repertoire is huge.
3. Concerto. This is for the Rachmaninoff/Chopin/Tchaikovsky piano concertos mostly.. and Bach's harpsichord concertos get a nod as well.
4. Opera, almost solely for Richard Wagner.
5. Ballet, I dearly love a few choice ballets, mainly those of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Adam, and Delius.
6. Orchestral, for the beautiful tone poems of the late romantics like R. Strauss and Ravel.
7. Chamber music. I have come to appreciate this genre a lot more recently because of its incredible variety and number of timbre possibilities, and for the great chamber works by Schubert, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.
8. Vocal music. I've discovered a few song cycles that are very nice, but I still need to exlore a lot more of this genre before I like it more.
9. Band music. I played in a brass band this past summer and it was fun.. the percussion really gets to shine here. It was kind of a shame that most of their music was made up of arrangements..
10. Choral music. I'll get into it someday.. more fun to sing in it than to listen, I think.
11. Film music. Most of it is too unsophisticated.
12. Avant-Garde. I don't like extremely intellectual music.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
My favourite genre would have to be piano/keyboard music. I'm always searching for piano music by various composers; even the ones who aren't famous for their piano music.
 
#5 ·
Roughly in this order:

Concertos - especially C20th ones
Avant garde (is that a genre?) - Varese, Xenakis, Henze, Penderecki, Lutoslawski, Dutilleux, Part, etc.
Chamber - anything from SQ's to sonatas & quintets, string orchestra, etc
Choral - masses, requiems, non-religious works
Symphonies - again, especially C20th but I also have great admiration for Haydn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky
Film - especially from the '30's - 50's - Walton, Honegger, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams
Opera - again, C20th especially atonal like Berg & Schoenberg but I also like Verdi, Bizet, Puccini, Berlioz
Intstrumental - you guessed it, C20th, but Beethoven also appeals to me here
Songs - Wolf, R Strauss, Mahler
Band - Especially like Hovhaness' wind band symphonies, Mozart's Gran Partita, so I'd like to get more into this genre.

Then all the rest...
 
#6 ·
I'm trying to play fair, but I have to answer "Yes, those are my favorite genres."

Well, okay, I would leave out band music completely, unless it's Holst or some baroque brass ensemble. I would also put vocal soloist and opera at the bottom of the list.
 
#8 ·
meh... I'll just turn it into "do you like?" post, since I don't have any particular favorites.

Opera - I dislike Italian stuff and operettas (and 20th c minimalism) but all the others I do like very much.
Symphonic - yes!
Chamber music - again, yes!
Orchestral - like tone poems? yep.
Choral - masses, requiems, renaissance choral music? I like those.
Vocal - I love Schubert and Grieg.
Keyboard solo - awesome
Ballet - great
Concerto - brilliant!
Avant-Garde - nah, not really.
Band music - it's okay.
Film music - depends... haven't listened to this on much. I suppose you do mean film music by classical composers, not that Zimmer and Shore plagiarism?
 
#9 ·
I like symphonies best, and otherwise purely instrumental music rather than vocal (with some prominent exceptions).
I also like piano concertos and combinations of piano and strings.
 
#10 ·
1. Opera- What is not to love? The merger of theater, literature, symphonic music, the human voice... the drama... the sensuality. I have a fairly broad collection from Monteverdi and Handel through Gluck and Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, etc... Recently I have been listening a good bit to the German romantics: Wagner, Strauss, Korngold, Zemlinski, etc... and have just begun to explore the marvelous world of the Russians. I also recommend the lush work of the Mexican, Daniel Catan... as well as Osvaldo Golijov's work. I do admit to a few blind spots: French opera (beyond Bizet), a great deal of Modernist opera (can't stomache Stravinsky's and Berg's efforts).

2. Choral- The human voice again... often merged with a spirituality that can raise the hairs on the back of the neck. I love everything from Byzantine and medieval chant, to Bach's magnificent cantatas and oratorios as well as the oratorios of Handel; Mozart's Requiem and Great Mass, Haydn's Creation and other masses, on through Elgar, Rachmaninoff, and on to current choral work of Arvo Part, James MacMillian, among others.

3. Vocal- Clearly a pattern involving the human voice here:D. But once again such a breadth... from Sephardic and Arabic chant, the great lieder of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, on through the symphonic songs of Strauss, Zemlinski, Szymanowsky, Chausson, Ravel; the chanson of beautiful French songs of Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Chausson, Hahn on through the songs of Korngold, Shostakovitch, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom, and Osvaldo Golijov.

4. Symphonic- A world unto itself... but perhaps limited it comparison with Opera and Choral... which often employ the symphonic as well.

5. Solo instrumental: Piano primarily... but also violin, cello, etc... Bach's keyboard and organ works as well as his works for solo violin and cello; Handel and Scarlatti's keyboard suites and sonatas, Haydn and Mozart's sonatas... and Beethoven's most of all... not to dismiss Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, and certainly Chopin. And Shostakovitch's Preludes and Fugues! Love them! A great dialog with Bach's Well Tempered Clavier... and Debussy and Faure and Satie! Perhaps I should move solo instrumentals up a notch.

6. Concertos- primarily for piano and violin... but I also couldn't be without Mozart's clarinet concerto (or the works for flute, harp, horn, etc...). Also love the concerti grossi of Bach, Vivaldi, handel, etc...

7. Chamber music- Small instrumental groups are perhaps my least favorite... although I again have exceptions... especially for Mozart and Brahms (especially anything involving the cello or clarinet). I also love Haydn's string quartets, and if I throw jazz into the mix... then small groups are the best.
 
#11 ·
Avant-Garde (John Cage, minimalism, futurism, etc)

I can't even begien to discribe what I like. Maybe what I need is a list of avant garde classics then find samples....

I have been hearing some Sofia Gubaidulina
Quartet #4 (1993)
Kronos Quartet

very excellent.... then some frank zapa....amazing, but the classics seem to have been repressed....where can I get a list?
 
#12 ·
Using your "genres", I would generally rank my interest in them as follows: Symphonic, Orchestral, Chamber Music, Keyboard solo, Concerto, Film music, Vocal, Choral, Band Music, Opera. I have a strong interest in the first five, some in the sixth, then my interest tends to drop off, though there is music I like a lot in all the categories. I'm not sure where to put Avant-Garde, because it includes disparate genres that should not be grouped together, such as musique concrete (what John Cage did) and minimalism. I don't care for John Cage, but I enjoy such minimalists as Nyman and Gorecki.
 
#13 ·
At a push I'd say tone poems and late Classical-to-mid Romantic period symphonies under 40 mins and violin & piano concertos from the same period and ditto for overtures, suites and dances (as in Hungarian, Slavonic etc). In a nutshell around half my 100 or so CM CD collection comprises LvB, Dvorak, Debussy and Tchaikovsky orchestral works.
 
#14 ·
I'm becoming increasingly fascinated by the piano repertoire, albeit somewhat selectively (Ravel, Alkan, Sorabji in particular and branching out from there). I suppose my list would go as follows currently:

1. Vocal/Choral (stuff in the vein of Bach cantatas)
2(tie). Opera (not the Italians so much, but basically yes, opera would come next)
2(tie). Symphony (Bruckner, Sibelius, Mahler, Enescu...)
4. Solo keyboard
5. Orchestral (Sibelius tone poems, Ravel, Debussy, blah blah blah)
6. Chamber
7. Concerto (though only the kind that doesn't show off at the expense of the music. Which is why it's this far down the list, because there aren't many)
8. Film (Lord of the Rings, Joe Hisaishi's scores... there's some good stuff in there)
9. Ballet (if only for Daphnis et Chloe and the Rite of Spring... I don't know much else ballet)
10. Avant-garde (I hate avant-garde being so for the sake of it; it's remarkably annoying to me. That said, there are a few composers with avant-garde tendencies I follow)
 
#15 ·
Opera

1. Symphonic (Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and all the other wonderful composers)
1. Concerto (Here violin and piano dominates followed by cello and then the others)
3. Chamber music (Piano quintets are my favorite, but so many others are wonderful)
4. Orchestral (Bach's suites and Brandenburgs)
5. Keyboard solo (Beethoven and Schubert reign supreme).
6. Choral (I like everything from early choral - Tallis, Palestrina - to Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and on to more modern)
7. Ballet (less interest but Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky are very nice)
8. Vocal (need more exposure here)
9. Opera (love the preludes and overtures, but I have not heard much opera)
10. Avant-Garde (still trying without much luck yet)
11. Band music (little interest)
11. Film music (little interest)
 
#16 · (Edited)
1. Keyboard (Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann; I like the piano, harpsichord and organ)
2. Symphonic (Brahms, Mozart)
3. Chamber (Mozart string ensembles, Brahms, Beethoven, Schoenberg, Schubert, Webern, Berg)
4. Orchestral (preludes and overtures by Wagner, Brahms and Beethoven; Schoenberg)
5. Choral (Bach, Brahms, Webern, Beethoven)
6. Concerto (Brahms, Bach, Schoenberg, some Mozart, some Prokofiev)
7. Vocal (Schumann, Webern, Schubert, Brahms)
8. Opera (Wagner, Schoenberg, Strauss, Bizet, Berg, Mozart, Verdi)

Something like that. (I just haven't got the time to really get into opera - it's frustrating.)
 
#18 ·
Opera first, very very much ahead of the competition.
Then, a distant second: symphonic
3rd - Vocal (cantatas, lieder)
4th - Orchestral (tone poems)
5th - Keybord solos or duos (sonatas for piano, violin/piano sonatas) or concertos
6th - Ballet, as long as I can see it as well

This may be about it. I don't much care for chamber music... I like either the purity of a solo or duo, or the full blown orchestra. Chamber music seems to me like a poor compromise (I know it's heretic to say so, given so many beautiful chamber music pieces, but although I recognize their beauty, I find myself not listening to them). Choral music - same problem, I either like the purity of lieder or cantata, or a full blown opera; purely choral can be boring. Band music? Nah... Film music? Usually, nah... Avant-garde? Well, I do like modernist and contemporary operas but the fractured music usually tires me if I don't have the visual support.
 
#19 ·
1. Vocal/Choral: I want to be a choral conductor, and choral music is so AWESOME!! Songs are very good, too!
2. Opera: I don't know much about opera, but what I've heard is really epic
3. Concerti: Brahmsbrahmsbrahmsbrahmsbrhamsbrhmsbrmsbrhbmrmbrmhsabrmsharbhmsbrhmsarbmhsabrmhabramrbhmar....
4. Symphonic: SibeliusBrahmsMahlerBrucknernaetobhaerluih
5. Chamber: I LOVE playing in small ensembles!
6. Keyboard Solo: I'm a pianist, and a piano can actually quite a lot on its own compared to most other instruments
 
#22 ·
1. Symphonic. This full-bodied exploration of sound is where I get my kicks from. I want to drown in a maelstrom of music.
2. Concerto. I love the conflict between the orchestra and the soloist. But it has to have enough orchestral parts. Too much soloist and it becomes boring for me.
3. Opera. Wagner's operas are the best thing in the world, but there aren't so many of them.
4. Orchestral. Tone poems, ballets... I love these, but they're a bit lighter than symphonies. I prefer my classical music heavy, lumpy and hard to digest.
5. Keyboard solo. I love it, but it has to be thick waves of juicy sound - no space at all, just a full scale invasion of piano music.
6. Choral. This has to have a lot of drama for me to develop interest in it. Many works do have it, though. Those are awesome.

I'd really like to get more into chamber music, but so far I haven't been able to find as much world-shaking drama out of it as I'd like to. Solo vocal music I don't really expect to learn to like. I do listen to weird avant-garde stuffs, but I don't really classify them as classical music so I left them out.
 
#26 ·
Why is symphonic separate from orchestral? Yeah, a lot of orchestral music isn't symphonies, but all symphonies are orchestral.

I like most except opera, which I can't stand, and lieder/cantatas/choral, which I don't like much more than opera. String quartets and similar formations would be lower on the list as well, otherwise I have no preferrence.
 
#27 ·
Joking aside, I've seen you mention quite a few times that you dont find Opera appealing and was curious about what you dislike about it? :).
Opera does'nt come up often in my listening routine but I do like it and think its a beautiful Genre - I would listen to it more perhaps but I want to give it my full attention and am not often in the mood to set aside that much time to listen to it! :(
 
#28 ·
1) Concerto. Especially violin concertos. Love those so much! I love the interplay between the soloist and the orchestra (though I often feel like they only have an accompaniment role here).

2) Symphony. I really love the harmony between the various orchestra sections. There's nothing like listening to one live at a concert and hearing all the various sections interacting with each other. Sometimes it's just bigger than life.

3) Chamber music. Solo violin, violin sonatas, string quartets, etc. Big fan.

4) Orchestral. I enjoy overtures, symphonic poems, variations - though I usually prefer symphonies.

5) Keyboard solo. Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, etc - there's a lot to like!

Haven't heard enough opera/vocal/choral to state my position yet.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top