Probably because they’re French and not working.
Anyway, after listening to this, I really just want some recommendations for the most awesome classical music people know. Or rather, most awesome orchestral music people know. (Orchestral video game concert is also awesome after all).
But yeah. If they were recommendations of albums, that’d be most excellent.
By classical music, do you mean ACTUAL classical era music, or do you just mean a catch all term for any antiquated music, especially of the variety with strings and winds?
This should be a good start. I tried to give a wide spread of eras and styles.
Albinoni
-Adagio (the one he’s remembered for)
Bach
-Mass in B Minor
-Orchestral Suites, especially 3
-Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring (Cantata 147)
-Toccata in D Minor
Beethoven
-9th Symphony, all movements, but especially 2 and 5.
-7th Symphony, movements 2 and 4.
-Sonata 32 in C Minor
Debussy
-Clair de Lune
-Arabesque No. 1 (as made famous in FF5)
-Reverie
Mozart
-Don Giovanni Overture
-Magic Flute Overture
-Requiem
Shostakovich
-Piano Concertos No. 1-2
-Symphony No. 5
Strauss (J)
-Blue Danube
Strauss ®
-Thus Spake Zarathustra Fanfare
Stravinsky
-Petrushka
-Rake’s Progress
-Rite of Spring
Vivaldi
-Concerto in C Minor (RV 201)
-Concerto in B Major (RV 382)
Wagner
-Die Walkure, Ride of the Valkyries
-Faust Overture
-Flying Dutchman Overture
-Meistersinger Prelude
-Tannhauser Overture and Pilgrim’s Chorus
-Tristan & Isolde Prelude and Love-Death (Mild Und Leise Wie Er Lachelt)
These folks are working actually.
Are you sure you only want orchestral stuff? May I tempt you? Piano (and piano concertos) have got a huge tradition for good reason.
As your link is Eine kleine Nachtmusik, I suppose you want the most famous of the famous? If so, Deutsche Grammophon had released an 8 cd box with some of the most famous symphony excerpts for their 100 years. It’s also helpful for finding out the composers you like.
You can also sample some chamber music (Schubert with Yehudi Menuhin, Bach with Rostropovich) or try out a (condensed?) version of Bach’s Matthäuspassion (orchestra + choir). I’m pretty sure Deutsche Grammophon has a relatively cheap box with all 9 symphonies of Beethoven conducted by Karajan btw.
Anyway, plenty of stuff to choose from. You can listen to youtube for a first opinion and don’t forget to give a listen to Schubert’s 8th. Or Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges. Or actually ask for piano recommendations.
edit: If you are buying at a brick & mortar store, people there are generally happy to flaunt their knowledge in all things classical (it’s better if you have a slight idea of what you want. Symphonies? Arias? etc.) If it’s net, you already know.
If you want good vocal music, some excellent stuff to check out is any opera from George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell, Mozart (my personal favorites are Die Zauberflote and Cosi Fan Tutte), and any songcycle from Robert Schumann.
Here’s a scene from Cosi Fan Tutte that I did in my opera class. I played Ferrando (the male who drinks poison with the white vest thingie).
For more information on the scene, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosi_fan_tutte#Act_1 <— Act 1, Scene 3
Xwing, Rig, SG your recommendations are top notch. Bravissimo 
I would like to suggest a few pieces from the Moguchaya kuchka aka The Mighty Handful aka The Five repertoire.
Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky
How about Flight of the bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov
Or ballet from Borodin
I second that – Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” is an intense and powerful opera.
I also recommend “Andante con moto” from Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, and “Adagio” from Joaquin Rodriquez’s Concierto de Aranjuez. The latter is a beautiful melancholy piece mostly on Spanish guitar.
Thanks. While not a member of The Five, Tchaikovsky [STRIKE]also[/STRIKE] more than deserves a listen. Something like The Swan Lake (though his 1st piano concerto is his work I like best).
I shall give you both.
Beethoven’s 6th Symphony , 1st movement.
FF VII Philharmonic Suite: Part 1, Finale
FF VII - A Foray into the Eastern Horizons
WoW - All Nations Rise
Okami - Celestial Winds From the East
Wild Arms - A Symphonic Tale
Shenmue - Reflections
Parasite Eve - Beauty’s Abomination
FF VII - Daydreaming Again
FF X - How Much Longer
FF VII - Ascension to Cosmo Canyon
Legend of Zelda - Tattered Slippers
Wild Arms - Visions of Kin
Other Albums - OCR Albums
Okay, I was just asking for classical era music to be honest, but anything like it is obviously welcome.
And the piano stuff? that’s totally cool, since I’ll actually be able to listen to that and go “hey wow, I actually know what’s going on here”.
Anyway, these are awesome responses, gonna have to check these out. Though I’m not a complete classical n00b, I have heard some of the most famous, like Ride of the Valkyries and stuff like that. The awesome stuff.
Also, I don’t want the most famous of the famous, but the best of the best would be nice.
Edit: oh, and at that stage they’re totally done with the work. The work is the hours of practice, then you get to play. 
This makes me smile each time.
Especially when they get to “Gypsy.”
There was a video that had “Heaven” from V, but I can’t find it anymore… sad face
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I’m sure there are here greater fans of Classical era music, so I’ll leave recommendations to them. With regard to Mozart, check also his flute pieces, the symphonies and the Barber of Seville. I prefer the music before and after Classicism like Baroque and Romanticism, which tie perfectly in with the piano* stuff. But before that, I forgot mentioning Beethoven’s string quartets (esp. the late ones), though I think I got Schubert’s, right?
If you liked the link I posted you can listen to Bach piano music till you burst. Between Glen Gould and Maria Yudina (how she plays the Goldberg!) you can get the Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue, the Well-Tempered Clavier and the French suites.
As we are talking tastes, I’ll discuss Chopin first. Listen to his Etudes (especially the first set, op.10), the Piano concertos (esp. in B minor), the Polonaises (one of them is the beginning of the airship music in FF6), the Valses (esp. Minutenwalzer) and the Fantasie. If you dig him go to the Preludes and the Mazurkas, but also try the Nocturnes first as many people swear by them. There are many good paianists who play Chopin, but for me the main three are Horowitz (freer/wilder), Richter (controlled outbursts) and Pollini (clarity for the last note).
Okay, Beethoven should (and will probably) be listened to before Chopin, but I got that out of my system. He has great piano pieces, among which the Variations in C and the sonatas (e.g. 32, Moonlight, Pathétique, Apassionata, Waldstein, Hammerklavier). Oh, Rage over a Lost Penny!
Liszt has piece in different style. The Transcedental Etudes, the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the Totentanz do it for me.
Debussy has an amazing sense of melody that’s pretty clear on piano. Start with the preludes and the children’s corner (suite?). His symphonic stuff is also great and some of his stuff has (like Ravel’s) has jazz overtones, but that’s another story.
I’m at a bit of a loss to talk about Schubert, as I enjoy most of his piano music. The Impromptus are a good example.
The Russian composers also knew their piano stuff. The piano concertos of Rachmaninoff and Tschaikovsky, Prokofiev’s sonatas (esp. 6-9) and Scriabin. (By the way composers like Janacek and Bartók -not talking about piano here- often get overlooked.)
Brahms was big on Variations (Paganini, Haydn, Händel) and his Hungarian Dances are a fun listen, even though I prefer his symphonic works.
Though I’m not a fan, Schumann is pretty popular with pieces like the Kinderszenen.
Try listening to different pianists playing pieces you like to get a better sense of how they play it in different ways. I’m not adding now who plays what, but even Richter and Horowitz cover between them many, many composers.
Returning to non-piano music, I can’t finish this without mentioning my favorite Vivaldi’s concertos (ok, some of them got cembalo). And Schubert’s Lieder (Die Forelle, Die schöne Müllerin) deserve a mention. And just because, Alban Berg.
*yeah yeah, no piano back then. Harpsichord & organ.
Okay, that was long.
Ben Houge’s soundtrack to Arcanum:
The only ones I can think of that noone has mentioned yet is Night on Bald Mountain and maybe Phantom of the Opera.
Unfortunately right now I should be dreaming of Turkeys leaping over rivers of Egg Nog and fences made of Pumpkin Pies and landing in a vat of Cranberry Sauce while Squash and Turnip rain down from the clouds of Mashed Potatos so I’m going to leave this thread, make one for the happy turkey day, and call it a night. :booster::spam: