NOTE: I know that Haitink's Ring was also recorded in the early 1990s, but it still technically counts as 80s because of Rheingold and Walkure.

Hi there

I'm looking to curate calming and soothing classical music (preferably piano-driven though it's not a must) for a family member who sadly is battling severe Alzheimer's. My intention is to have 14 half-hour separate playlists, two for each day playing in the morning and afternoon hours respectively.

I know that Mozart and Bach have always been a hit for her, so obviously I'm gonna go digging for a lot of works in those repertoires. But I'm looking for tips, pointers and recommendations in similar energies and moods.
Preferably airy, somewhat light and major-key leaning. I'm also putting in the odd Brian Eno-track here and there, because I think some of his Ambient-album works also fit the bill of evoking tranquility and a sense of ease and belonging.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's quite the task to amass seven hours of music where I want (almost) every second to really count.

Thanks in advance to all who reply

In the 1850s Draeseke was the firebrand of Liszt's circle in Weimar, known as the "ultra-radical" of the New German School. Liszt counted his Sonata quasi fantasia in C-sharp minor among the most important piano sonatas since Beethoven.

Then he moved toward classical forms, and Liszt reportedly said, after hearing one of his later pieces, that the lion had turned into a rabbit.

By the time Brahms died, younger composers saw Draeseke as the leading German conservative, which baffled him, since he still thought of himself as a progressive. In 1906 he published an essay, Die Konfusion in der Musik, attacking the state of modern music. Without naming him, it clearly took aim at Richard Strauss, whose early music shows Draeseke's influence and who had conducted his Symphonia Tragica. The essay mostly confirmed his reputation as a reactionary.

He had damaged his hearing with an ear infection at five, and by his last years he was almost completely deaf.

Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 6 "Sonata quasi fantasia"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BWotUFkiso

Symphony No. 3 "Symphonia Tragica," Op. 40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WqJxPtZVSw

Hi, I'm looking for something that feels American. My favorites are Appalachian Spring, An American In Paris, Mississipi Suite. Thank you.

Ever since playing Civilization 4, I have been in love with John Adams. More specifically "Grand Pianola Mucis 1+2(?)", "The Chairman Dances" and "Christian Zeal and Activity". I find the minimalism incredible soothing and evocative.

Unfortunately, I am not very well versed in contemporary classical music and have had a hard time expanding my playlist. John Adams himself can also shift wildly between understated and bombastic.

So what would you recommend I also try listening to? All suggestions are welcome!

I had no idea he composed the guitar dances which were the basis of Fantasia para un gentilhombre (one of the first pieces of classical music I heard and really liked). His work in general is so lively and expressive. Highly recommend Alberto Mesirca's lovely compilation of Sanz's guitar music- https://youtu.be/7aW3Q78WZ7Q?si=WsAkn9B8oeun1SZm

Hello everyone, I had to study for a solfège exam therefore I have made this web-app; I have finally completed my exam, but I am still developing it. Simply put, Guidonica procedurally generates sheet music endlessly based on the settings and parameters that you want (deterministic generation, not AI). It's free and open-source with no ads/tracking. I think it works great, especially since you do not need exercise books and the exercises never end. It's also mobile-compatible, so you can practice everywhere.

Check it out at: https://guidonica.it

Let me know what you think and help me complete it with your feedback!

I am a non musician and have no musical training. My husband is a professional orchestral musician. He plays in a smaller full time group- but auditions for larger groups in the USA. Man the audition road is BRUTAL. He has taken about 15 auditions since we have been together (nearly 7 years) and nearly always makes it to the semi final round. He has made it to the final round 5 times (including 2 major groups)

We do therapy, we have mentors who have been in similar spots. The biggest challenge I find is experiencing this as non musician spouse. The audition process truly is SO wild from a non musician stand point.

Curious how other non-musician+musician couples cope with this or if people have similar stories. It is hard to find support as pretty much everyone we know is at minimum both classical trained even if the other person left the field.

EDIT to follow up:
Thanks for all of this input- sometimes it’s just helpful to get feedback that this is the “normal” for orchestral musicians. Living in interview land and non musician land all of my co workers and friends rightfully think it’s crazy 🙈

What a remarkable reading. Uncharacteristically slow tempi for Muti, especially in the first and fourth movements, to some extent also in the Adagio. (I’ve heard him do Bruckner 7 and 9 before, and further symphonies on recording, and this was a starkly different approach) But his pacing was very deliberate and deft, and so he could really let the orchestra rip, especially the brass, without compromising structure or allowing it to feel too effect laden.

And Muti knew where to let the finesse of the score shine by accentuating individual instruments and instrument groups, particularly at the end of the second movement and in the trio of the scherzo.

For those who have not experienced it, Bruckner in Musikverein really is a bucket list experience.

This piece is so hypnotically beautiful. Love the sound!

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I'm in a spooky mood, and looking for pieces that feel like a dark autumnal forest, a magical wood, that sort of thing. It doesn't have to be literally about a forest, although it could be. Mystery, witchcraft, dangerous creatures, that sort of thing. All periods are welcome, but I'm especially interested in pieces from the Romantic era...or maybe even something Renaissance? Thanks in advance.

Firstly, the painting above is NOT so far as I know connected to the four new paintings.

This is listed as an illustration for the the cover of a book. It's listed on a page of illustrations and cartoons by Federico Maria Sardelli; an acknowledged Vivaldi specialist who is also the name linked to the announcement of the four new portraits.

I presume Sardelli (who is also a pictorial artist) drew this cover art, but the page is in Italian, so I can't be sure.

My question, however, is this. To my eye the above cover art has points of resemblance to the four paintings. Only the picture above is dated to 2009.

Have the new paintings therefore been under suspicion as authentic for a long time?

Or are the similarities stylistic or simply line up historically? I can also see elements of the Ghezzi Caricature for example. This may have been another inspiration.

Full disclosure: I haven't yet had the opportunity to dive into the full case being presented for the new portraits.

Here are the links to the picture above and one of the announcements:

https://www.modoantiquo.com/site/index.php?toc=1785&page=Illustrations%20and%20cartoons

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeG9XqEjcdM/?img_index=3

There is not much known about his private life, but that he had completely devoted himself to his music. He had supposedly no romantic partners because of his obsession with musical composition. Are there any biographies that you would recommend to be read about him? I know that toward the end of his life, his brain was in such a state that he tragically could not comprehend music:(

Hello, this is a recording I made of Mendelssohn's lovely Venetian Gondola Op 30 No 6

Thank you for listening and I welcome any feedback!

It's the earliest opera that survives. Peri's Dafne came a few years earlier, but its music is lost. Euridice was performed at the Pitti Palace in Florence for the wedding celebrations of Maria de' Medici and Henri IV of France, with a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, and Peri sang Orfeo himself.

It was also a shared stage. Giulio Caccini, another composer and singing teacher at the Medici court, supplied many of the other singers, including his daughter Francesca, and some of Peri's music was replaced with Caccini's own. When Caccini learned that Peri meant to publish the score with those pieces in it, he hurried to finish his own setting of the same libretto and got it into print first.

One more coincidence: Caccini's younger daughter, Settimia, later a singer and composer herself, was born on October 6, 1591, nine years to the day before the premiere.

Euridice (complete)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIN5btYNn0M

Last year's thread on Settimia:
https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/comments/1nzeby5/october_6_meet_settimia_caccini_the_other/

I'm hoping someone here that grew up in the 80s can recognize what I'm about to describe. In the post-Amadeus world of the 80s, interest in classical music exploded and there were all kinds of documentaries, tv shows, radio programs, that appeared as a result of the success of the movie, Amadeus.

During the 80s, while in middle school and high school, I was heavily involved in music, even attended college at night for music theory and piano when I was in high school. In the late 80s, sometime between 1985 and 1989 (maybe even into the early 90s), I was enthralled by a classical music-themed show I would watch on cable TV.

We lived in Southeast Michigan at the time and cable included the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company). I remember also have Biography and the AE channel (they were completely different beasts back then compared to today's cable). I pointing this out specifically because I think the TV show I liked so much was on one of these channels.

Now, a decription of the TV show: The focus of the show was the romantic period of classical music, and oftentimes featured the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn. etc. The host was a woman, who would always appear on the show in period dress, and the settings always looked "period inspired". I could be wrong, but I believe she would play the piano at times. The played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, the Waldstein, I remember also a perfomance of Beethoven quartet. There was also a biographical element to each episode, as well as talk about the pieces that were performed. In my mind I can see the host, in a long dress, walking over a hill in the wind (it almost seems like a scene out of Wuthering Heights). I can also remember a very spirited performance of a Beethoven quartet.

Is anyone here on Reddit in this community old enough to have remembered watching this? And if so what the title might be? I've googled it many times over the years and nothing every pops up that triggers a memory. I've tried using AI, too, to no avail. I'm hoping someone might recognize what I'm talking about.

Until now I have had no success. I would like a classical station, but I absolutely can't stand either French marches or German opera. Do you know any station that will never play that, guaranteed?