Need a Primer!

[D+C]

I have recently begun to cultivate an interest in classical music, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to lay the foundations for future appreciation!

I have got going by signing up to BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week Podcast, which I think is the best thing the Beeb do! Each week they produce a one hour show on the life and music of one composer. Last week it was Rachmaninoff, which was wonderful. This has led me to listen to pieces that I hear in snippets on that show in more detail once they have my interest.

So far I have found elements of symphony, piano concerto, choral, chamber music and mass that I can enjoy, but I simply cannot get into opera or anything that sounds like it! I can recognise the skill but I simply cannot enjoy it!

One thing I intend to do is start to play the piano, as a number of people have told me that playing an instrument greatly improves your appreciation of classical music.

Any other ideas as to how to get started?

 

[Beechwell]

The only advice I can think of is to try out as many styles and composers as possible, experiment, see what you like and explore it, ignore what you don't like (at least for now).
Don't force yourself to listen to something that doesn't appeal to you. I cannot stand opera either (I like some music from operas, but wish they could stop the singing and acting). Neither am I a great fan of anything earlier than Beethoven (yes, inlcuding Mozart and Bach). Rather I explored through the romantic period to 20th century composers, even getting a little feel for avantagarde music (like György Ligeti; I still don't get John Cage).
So don't force yourself to like somthing, but keep an open mind. Sometimes you don't like something initially, but discover a completely new access to it a few years later.

Playing an instrument - while imo not strictly necessary - is certainly always a plus. Both to experience playing music yourself, and to enhance you understanding of musical concepts.
Also I can only encourage you to visit classical concerts. It may sound cliché, but it really is a wholly different experience to listening to recordings. The life experience and the spatial dimension of music you can only really get in a concert.

I can't really recommend any specific composers to you. Every one's taste is different. Though if you like Rachmaninoff, it may be worth trying out other romantic Russian composers: Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakowich, Stravinsky (the earlier orchestra works, like Firebird and Sacre Du Printemps, his later work I find rather unaccessible), down to Tschaikovsky.
Or try out other late romantic and 20th century music: Bartók, Vaughn-Williams, Copland, Ravel, Strauss. Maybe even contemporaries like John Rutter and Philip Sparke
Definitely go through all the "standard names" from Bach, Händel, Mozart, Haydn, Bethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Verdi, Mahler,... to get a feel for which area(s) appeal most to you, and continue exploring from there.
For the romantic composers at least I recommend listening to ouvertures to get you started. They are generally short, to the point and hardly ever dull.

The really good thing about classical music is that it is such a large and varied field. In each period there are a lot of hardly-known gems. The "big names" are really only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[rsduncan]

If you play an orchestral musical instrument well, I suggest auditioning with a community symphony orchestra. That will get you hooked on classical music very quickly!!!

 

[EphesiaNZ]

So far I have found elements of symphony, piano concerto, choral, chamber music and mass that I can enjoy, but I simply cannot get into opera or anything that sounds like it! I can recognise the skill but I simply cannot enjoy it!

I grew up listening to classical music as my father enjoyed listening to it. The music he preferred was primarily the popular orchestral stuff from the likes of Beethoven and Mozart etc..

My tastes grew out of that but I attached myself to the authentic/minimalist trends that seemed to blossom in the 1980/90's, especially with the authentic classical music scene due to figures like Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock and others. This gave me a platform to explore more modern composers such as Philip Glass and Henryk Gorecki.

I used to love listening to Radio 3 before I emigrated to NZ but I think the most influential station in the UK at the time was the "new" Classic FM as I found they were more mainstream but at the same time more diverse with their artists.

Opera music will probably come it time, It was the same with me too!