Great Classical Music that Doesn't Sound Like Church?

[Alex K]

My favourite 20th century piece of "classical" music is also not church music by a long shot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4po3zSPTexY

Currently I am fascinated by the second English suite, which is also not church music

https://youtu.be/qTJATPRp8a0?t=20m30s

I'm practising this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQK7a05v_Os

[Minimalist]

Let's see how jaded you are about the organ, first.

Try this:







If Bach's little fugue can't revitalize your interest in the hands of a capable organist then we can move on to something else.

Like you said, it'a a bit jaded, but not quite as dull as most of the shit which was written for the tired old 16th Century hymns still heard in churches today.

I suspect you also need to be reminded of what you are fleeing.  Let Eddie Izzard help.

[Rev. Rye]

I do listen to a lot of classical, and I think I can give a few pieces that aren't particularly church-related. Needless to say, I am leaving out quite a bit; indeed, a few favourites have had to be trimmed.

Here's Rye's relatively short guide to non-Churchy Classical music (with exceptionally recommended pieces in parentheses)

Renaissance:

• John Dowland (Airs)
  
• Carlo Gesualdo (Madrigals Books 5 and 6; motherfucker was INSANE)
  
• Monteverdi (L'Orfeo, the first opera)
  

Baroque:

• J.S. Bach (Cello Suites, Violin Sonatas and Partitas, Brandenburgs, Goldberg Variations, Well-Tempered Clavier)
  
• Corelli (Op. 6 Concertos)
  
• Purcell (Dido and Aeneas, Queen Mary's Funeral March)
  
• Vivaldi (Four Seasons)
  

Classical:

• Beethoven (Piano Sonatas esp. 8, 14, 23, 29; Late Quartets [Esp. No. 14, and Grosse Fugue], Symphonies Nos. 5-7 and 9)
  
• Mozart (Horn Concerti, String Quintets, Da Ponte Operas, Magic Flute, Serenades 9-13, Sinfonia Concertante, LAst three symphonies)
  
• Rossini (Overtures)
  

Romantic:

• Borodin (Polovetsian Dances, String Quartet No. 2)
  
• Bruch (Kol Nidrei)
  
• Chopin (Etudes, Nocturnes)
  
• Debussy (La Mer, Suite Bergamasque)
  
• Dvorak (Symphony 9)
  
• Elgar (Cello Concerto, Pomp and Circumstance Marches)
  
• Grieg (Piano Concerto, Peer Gynt suites)
  
• Holst (Planets Suite)
  
• Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsodies, Concerti, Etudes, Liebestraum)
  
• Mussorgsky (Night on Bald Mountain, Pictures at an Exhibition, Boris Godunov)
  
• Satie (Gymnopedies)
  
• Schubert (Lieder, Winterreise, Death and the Maiden, Trout, Unfinished Symphony)
  
• Tchaikovsky (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Violin and Piano Concerti, Symphony No. 6)
  
• Wagner (Any of his operas from Lohengrin on)
  

Fence-Straddlers:

• Korngold (Sea Hawk)
  
• Mahler (Everything, but especially Symphony 8 and Ruckert Lieder)
  
• Ravel (Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, String Quartet, Valse, Bolero)
  
• Rachmaninoff (Piano Concerti)
  

Modern:

• Alban Berg (Wozzeck)
  
• Bela Bartok (Piano Concerti, Music for Celesta Percussion and Strings, Out of Doors)
  
• Pierre Boulez (Marteau sans Mairte) RIP.
  
• Henry Cowell (Piano Pieces)
  
• Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris, Porgy and Bess)
  
• Philip Glass (The entire Portrait Trilogy, Koyaanisqatsi, Music in 12 Parts, Glassworks)
  
• Lang (Little Match Girl Passion)
  
• Ligeti (Etudes, Musica Ricerata)
  
• Messiaen (20 Meditations on the Baby Jesus; don't be turned off by the name)
  
• Orff (Carmina Burana)
  
• Part (Fratres)
  
• Harry Partch (whatever you can find)
  
• Prokofiev (Lt. Kije Suite)
  
• Reich (Music for 18 Instruments, Drumming, Different Trains)
  
• Schoenberg (Pierrot Lunaire)
  
• Shostakovich (Symphonies Nos. 5,7,and 9; String Quartet 8)
  
• Stravinsky (Soldier's Tale, Petrouchka, Firebird, Rite of Spring)
  
• Strauss (Rosenkavalier, Salome, Don Juan, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Tod und Verklarkung, Metamorphosen)
  
• Varese (Everything)
  

Honorary Mention: Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Some may argue whether or not it's classical, but I say it sounds close enough.

Needless to say, this is not even close to comprehensive.

[The Valkyrie]

[Magilla]

I love Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. It is written to evoke images of being in the countryside
(temperate climates), with the sounds of some animals as well as changes of weather included . . .

[abaris]

That's a blast from the past. He made #1 in the USA with that if I'm not mistaken. But you didn't get the whole persona, if you weren't familar with Viennese bored 80ies arrogance, which he cultivated.

But he got one thing right. Mozart wrote more secular pieces than religious ones. And he was the rockstar of his time. Gambler, addict, vulgar and womanizer. Writing for everyone paying the bills. And his output was prolific.