Rockin' Classical Car Music

[dbrainiak914]

So I got my license yesterday... and a car today.  Sweet!!! My car has a CD player, I actually preferred a tape player because then I could plug my iPod straight in, and the FM transmitter is a hassle.  So I'm off to burning a bunch of CDs. 

What are some great pieces to drive to.  I figure piano solo works don't quite cut it, but piano concerti, those are great.  Especially the Prokofiev's, Liszt, Rachmaninoff.  And some orchestral stuff like Capriccio Espagnol.  What are some great tunes to drive to? 

[quantum]

Boulez Sonatas... install some sub woofers in the trunk and turn the volume to 10.  It will definately rock.   

Some stuff by Ginastera would also be cool. 

[Aziel]

All classical music is as 'gangsta' as it gets.   

[thierry13]

Liszt's Dante sonata in some parts. A lot of prokofiev.

[JCarey]

For me, Gershwin has never failed.

[pita bread]

Kapustin

[jeremyjchilds]

I like any beethoven symphony.

We have a box set and we cycle through them.

[stevie]

alkan - allegro barbaro, full volume, on repeat

[Tash]

as soon as i get a car i plan on blaring out my classical music, hopefully i'll still have my P's on the car to emphasise i'm not some old grandma. in fact i heard someone blaring out pachabel's canon yesterday, but that just didn't cut it for me- like if you were actually into classical music then you wouldn't play that cos in my musically snobbish opinion pieces like that just emphasise your lack of insight into classical music.
so if you want to fully blare some crazy stuff id' think beethoven symphonies, like no.5 and 9 that would be excellent. crazy bartok pieces, orff's carmina burana, bizet carmen would be cool, the minor mozart piano concertos (nos 20 and 24)
OH stravinsky's rite of spring that would be excellent and the symphony of psalms
ahhh can't think what else

[brewtality]

I listen to classical mix-tapes all the time in my car. The last one I made had Rach 1 movt 1, Rach 1 movt 1 (original), Henselt movt 1, Rubinstein 3 movt 1, Chopin 1 movt 2 and Bortkiewicz movt 3, I ended up giving it to my teacher. Now I'm rockin' Allman Brothers. 

[apion]

U gotta crank up Brahms piano concertos. 

I do it every day!

[gkatele]

Great thread!

Here are mine:

Beethoven Symphony #7 - Last Movement
Brahms - German Requiem - "Denn wir haben hie Keine bleibende Statt"
Mahler - Symphony #2 - 1st movement
Mahler - Symphony #1 - 4th movement
Handel - Messiah - Sinfonia
Handel - Water Music
Bach - Goldberg Variations (!)
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - Last 2 movements
Haydn - Military Symphony (#100)
Liszt - Les Preludes
Prokovief - Piano Concerto #3 - 1st movement
Schubert - Symphony #9 - 1st movement
Schumann - Symphony #1 - 1st movement
Sibelius - Symphony #3 - 2nd movement


That  should get you started!   


Drive carefully and have fun. Crank it up to 11!   


George

(gotta love the iPod!)

[musicsdarkangel]

Liszt - Dante Sonata, Sonata in B minor, Totentanz, Mazeppa (along with a few other transcendental etudes

Rachmaninoff - Concertos (as you mentioned), Sonatas no 1 and 2, many of the preludes

Chopin - Scherzo no 1 (only played by Jablonsky)

Mendelsson - concerto in G minor (only played by Serkin)

Barber - Sonata

Prokofiev - Sonatas, Concertos

Busoni - Concerto

Brahms - Concertos

Tchaikovsky - Concerto no 1 (definitely has some rocking)

[brahmsian]

Wagner-Ride of the Valkyries- played as loud as possible
           -Der fielgende hollander- Overture
           -Actually, almost any Orchestral Wagner

Rachmaninoff- Concertos
                     -Sonata No. 2

Liszt-Hungarian Rhapsodies

Alkan-Symphony for Solo Piano

[Appenato]

Black Angels - George Crumb

fiery Chopin ... or Chopin anything...

anything else that's fierce-passion like... or something uniquely beautiful that will have ppl rolling down their windows at stop lights asking "what song is that?" heh...

[Tash]

Wagner-Ride of the Valkyries- played as loud as possible

i second that one that'd be the bomb!!

[mlsmithz]

Wow.  There are so many.  In my case it's usually moments in pieces rather than entire pieces where I crank the volume until my windows start vibrating (which, given my hatred of people who insist on listening to gangsta rap on their car stereos at full volume with the bass cranked to maximum and the windows rolled down, is rather hypocritical of me!).

Moments that leap to mind offhand: Rachmaninov Sonata No.2, the end of the development of the first movement or the slower passage at the end of the finale; Rachmaninov Symphony No.2, the end of the development of the first movement; Mendelssohn Symphony No.4 ('Italian'), the end of the development of the first movement (noticing a pattern yet? ); Mendelssohn Symphony No.3 ('Scottish'), end of the exposition (ha!  Thought I was going to say 'development' didn't you) of the first movement, end of the 'recapitulation' of the second movement; Alkan Overture Op.39 No.11, C minor passage about two-thirds of the way through; Liszt Concerto No.1, lead-in to the 'finale' and coda of the 'finale'; Beethoven Symphony No.7, gradual crescendo in the first section of the second movement; Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1, the last minute or so of the second movement and first iteration of the passacaglia; Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2, the tail end of the first and third movements; Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5, the finale from the beginning of the E minor section through to the final bars; and, most of all, Mahler Symphony No.2, the last three or four minutes of the finale (I start cranking the volume at the beginning of the fugal passage on the words 'Mit Flugeln, die ich mir errungen' and have it at full by the time the whole choir is belting out 'Sterben, werd' ich um zu leben'; it's the only way I know how to replicate the effect of a live rendition of what I consider one of the most transcendent moments in all music: the entrance of the organ).

I know this is skewed more toward symphonies than piano music, but the fact is, as I'm sure most people here will agree, a piano on its own can't quite create the wall of sound an entire orchestra is capable of creating unless it's been prepared for a specific piece.

[fiasco]

Ahhh yeah.  You've hit upon one of my most favorite things ever -- driving fast to hardcore piano music.  Just burnt myself a disk to get me to work and back faster, and it just fits within the 80mins, and is all I listen to in the car anymore. I call it "Piano Loco" (1. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody #15 as performed by Horowitz  (2. Hungarian Rhapsody #2 - Horowitz version performed by Arcadi Volodos (3. Liszt Trans. Etude #2 performed by Claudio Arrau (4. Liszt "Mazeppa" Etude #4 by Arrau (5. Liszt "Wilde Jagd etude performed by Evgeny Kissin (6. Liszt etude #10 - Arrau (7. Liszt "Grand Galop Chromatique" performed by Cziffra (8. Liszt transcription of Beethoven's fifth - 1st movt - by Glenn Gould (9. Beethoven's moonlight sonata 3rd movt (10. Chopin Etude #4 Op10 performed by Tony McAlpine (11. Chopin Revolutionary Etude by Richter (12. Chopin Ocean Etude (13. Horowitz version of Variation's of Bizet's Carmen (14. Mozart's Turkish Waltz Variations performed by Volodos (15. Rachmaninoff prelude in G minor by Horowitz (16. Rach's prelude in C#minor by Hoffman (17. Cziffra's version of "Flight of the Bumbleebee" by Volodos (18. Prokofiev's Tocatta opus 11 by Horowitz.  Get a lawyer for speeding tickets.

[musik_man]

Unfortunately I no longer listen to classical music in the car, simply because I can't hear the music when it gets p, pp, or ppp.  It sucks to only hear half the piece your playing.  Anyone have tips on that?

[fiasco]

My car stereo has a DSP compressor setting, which shortens the dynamic range and brings everything closer to the same volume.  It's a stock model in a 2001 car, so I imagine many stereos would have it.  I never really use it though, because I feel like I'm "cheating" the music somehow.  So I just crank it up.

[Motrax]

Yeah, I just turn the music up real loud so I can hear pianissimos well.

All the previous suggestions are great. I'd like to add Moszkowski's piano concerto, which is a little-known gem. I listen to that one quite a bit.

[gorbee natcase]

rach 3 3rd movement