Classical

One great blog to read that's got fascinating, unique about the reality of classical music lives is the METblog. I was shocked to find that it's a real blog, with interesting information about all aspects of the musicians lives, practices, auditions and opinions on their collaborations--think of how they work together, one on one often, during so many pieces.

A great place to try lots of Baroque music, if you'd like to explore early classical work, is TheBaroqueMusicLibrary. They've got a huge amount of free music to listen to. You can easily play it in your browser. It's quite the great place and an incredible resource for the world.

Anyway, if you are exploring classical for the first time, an easy way to enter it's world is through film scores--many people loved Christopher Nolan's film scores [often done by composer Hans Zimmer]. One film many enjoyed is The Young Victoria, about Queen Victoria, which had a great track 'The First Waltz' by Ilan Esherki. The actual theme is a fantasy from Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore [The Elixir of Love], a comic opera, called 'Della crudele Isolde'.