I had wanted to include an link to the finale of Beethoven’s seventh symphony in my initial reply. I have long considered it one of my ultimate musical experiences. Played with an appropriate blend of savagery and joy, it pushes all the right buttons for me. But alas, as mentioned above, the YouTube rendition I favored had disappeared.

Earlier today I chanced upon another excellent interpretation. It is quite fiery indeed. Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFUK1LZsmVU

What will be tackled next? Is it, as I suspect, music from the Romantic period?

Thanks again.
-Decrepit

I too have sought out classical music on YouTube, and am pleasantly surprised by the quantity and quality available. Most of my favorite clips are from the Romantic (or later) period, so I will not link them here.

There are exceptions, one being a marvelous performance of the final movement of Haydn’s symphony 88 performed by the Vienna Philharmonic with Benstein conducting. His choice of encore is quite interesting and, in my opinion, totally convincing.

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

As to Mozart, for me his best works are the operas: Don Giovanni, Magic Flute, and Marriage of Figaro being faves, with Cosi close behind. YouTube contains many good excerpts, this one of the Queen of the Night aria (Magic Flute) being as good as any I’ve heard, and better than most. (You have to sit through a bit of spoken German-language narrative before the music starts.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc

There are quite a few excellent Beethoven clips on YouTube. Sadly my first choice, Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in the finale of the seventh symphony, has vanished. So rather than single out individual pieces I’ll instead link a clip from the BBC “Genius of Beethoven” series, selected because it includes part of the already discussed “Moonlight Sonata”. (The entire series, so far as I can tell, is available.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFT9ZMlSj8M&feature=related

Lastly, I wanna mention that the Berlin Philharmonic has their own YouTube channel containing quite a few previews of recently recorded performances. Lots of good stuff here.

http://www.youtube.com/BerlinPhil#p/u/20/xK7z2NhUrsQ

Decrepit

In Baroque music, the bass part is often a continuo part, which means it’s nothing but accompaniment, often the same note over and over.

Superwench, one of my recent regrets (well, from a few years ago) was not being proactive enough to grab tickets to the Nutcracker when it played just up the street from me. At a theater within walking distance. I’d love to see it, and you can’t beat that kind of convenience. I really wish I’d done it.

Ha! Found it. Enjoy

I love the Canon. If you want to have fun, look on YouTube for a rant by a guitar player about how Pachabel’s Canon followed him around. Of course, I can’t remember his name…and my link to the bit was on my main computer–which died a horrible death yesterday. Sigh. But I’m pretty sure you can find it if you look (and I might go see if I can, too). One of the funniest things I ever heard. (And true too–it shows where the Canon is in lots of modern music.)