Three Classical Music Recommendations For Beginners

By: Cameron R., Grade 11

Most people have heard of Ode to Joy and Vivaldi’s winter. But there are plenty of catchy, head bopping classical music pieces out there which haven’t completely reached the public in the same way “pop” classical has. So I compiled a rudimentary list of great accessible pieces for every classical music novice.

1. Schubert’s 9th symphony “the great”, an absolute masterpiece bridging classical music and romantic music. This symphony has almost everything: the pastoral, the nostalgia, the epic. Schubert’s known for a lot of depressing stuff. This is not that. I consider this work to be a buffed up Beethoven piece, since I can’t find a Beethoven symphony I like quite as much as this one. 
2. Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto, composed as a rise out of a long depression caused by the spectacular failure of his first symphony (which is also quite good!). This piece is a bit more well known, and for good reason. Its second movement contains, in my opinion, some of the finest and most beautiful music ever composed. And the first movement has some really catchy melodies, particularly the iconic chords at the opening. 
3. Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, a Soviet work so popular it earned a standing ovation of over half an hour. Dramatic and awesome for the common man, its journey from tragedy to triumphant is one to be remembered among Beethoven’s 3rd and Mahler’s 2nd. 

I could go on – Tchaikovsky’s 5th, Ravel’s piano concerto, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue are also all great pieces for those starting out – but I could only fit in three, and I found them to be the most fitting. Bon appetit!