#mendelssohn is literally SO underrated

[serenade361k]

I’m quite literally obsessed with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto at the moment. Like oh my God I literally can’t listen to anything else.

The emotional intensity, the contrasting parts between passion and tenderness, cruelty and beauty, the enchanting usage of woodwinds in the background, I just can’t. I want to ramble about it for pages but my brain is literally too full and the words just aren’t coming at the tip of my tongue.

A very good interpretation imo, Queen Hilary never disappoints <3

[trewloves]

can you recommend us some classical music bangers?

oh there are SO MANY!! but i’ll try to cut it down to my top few favs. honorable mentions and operas up top, everything else incl. commentary under the cut

honorable mentions: tosca, prokofiev toccata (i love this recording bc the facial expressions in the orchestra when they watch her play…golden), mendelssohn piano trios 1-2, prokofiev 4 études op. 2, turandot, brahms piano trio no. 1 in b major, strauss’s ein heldenleben, ravel’s g major piano concerto, danzón no. 2, libertadores (watch this! the horns stand and i have a french horn kink i guess), and this very important recording of the prelude from bach’s 2nd cello suite played on double bass

my top 10 works that will Make You Feel Something:

10. symphony no. 1 in d minor by gustav mahler is a must, i would be a Bad Music Student if i didn’t list at least one (1) mahler symphony. the recording linked is just the 4th movement, but i wanted a performance where the horns stand bc that is just sexy 

9. piano concerto no. 3 in d minor by sergei rachmaninov is a really major piece in piano repertoire and u can see why

8. piano trio no. 1 in c minor by dmitri shostakovich is definitely one of his lesser-known works but about a minute in there’s an insane metal breakdown and it’s hilarious

7. symphony no. 6 in d minor by jean sibelius is extremely underrated but it leaves you a changed person at the end

6. the young person’s guide to the orchestra by benjamin britten is fantastic, features all the instruments spectacularly, and the fugue at the end (linked) is really worth listening to if nothing else (it was my first orchestral piccolo solo!)

5. le sacre du printemps (the rite of spring) by igor stravinsky absolutely slaps. enough said

4. symphony no. 2 in d major by jean sibelius is honestly one of the most beautiful works ever it is just so gorgeous i was literally crying listening to it this morning!!!!

3. piano concerto no. 2 in c minor by sergei rachmaninov is pretty popular and for good reason

2. symphony no. 8 in g major by antonín dvoràk has a really big flute part and it was the first orchestral excerpt i ever learned and auditioned on so it’s a very very important piece to me and it’s just really beautiful?? (imo better than its more famous successor, the new world symphony)

1. trio élégiaque no. 1 in g minor by sergei rachmaninov is so. freakin. beautiful. just easy to listen to and gorgeous and leaves you so breathless at the end of it. i described it as sexy in a paper for music history once and got full marks