I think the biggest problem is classical music translates way more chill over a recording. Live classical music is so much more energetic compared to a recording. Especially an orchestra.
@@birddoesnottalk1032 i dont think they mean energetic in that way🤣😭.. i mean classical music does sound livelier in live concerts. Attended an orchestral performance once, i think its what they mean by that
so true, mixing plays a huge part in multitrack popular music and live music is a whole different thing. live orchestra performances always give me chills
@@ahappyfrenchtoast2669 Someone could be screaming on stage. It wouldn't matter if all you're supposed to do is sit there passive as an audience, simply admiring someone else doing something. That's not exciting. Movies and tv work because you're supposed to identify with the people performing the actions. And fail, no matter how much action and conflict they have, if they can't get the audience to do so. Music to sit still to is, for most, music to sleep to, no matter how interesting that music is for musicians.
Do you know? I am so old I have forgotten what it is like to be young. When I watch you two, it brings back memories of youth.... which I enjoy. So thank you. You both feed off each other's enthusiasm!!
So old???!! The oldest TwoSetter I've come across in the comments is 80! But yeah, there's summat about the energy of young folk though guess Brett'll be giving us his 'I'm so old' when it's his birthday in March!
The funny thing is that I actually listen to these kind of classical music while studying because they keep the rush and focus going, relaxing music tend to make me feel sleepy to be honest
I was driving on a really busy highway one time, and it was raining reaaally badly. So I decided to put on some classical music (my playlist is mainly calming pieces so I didnt really think much about it). However, its just my luck that the first piece to start playing was Holsts Mars, and directly after that Verdi's Dies Irae....I really thought I was going to die that day.
We were in the middle of Hurricane Ike, I was listening to Vocalise, did not realize I had shuffle on, next piece started playing was Dies Irae. I swear up until that moment I had never heard my mother curse. I immediately stopped it and quietly laughed at her who kept shooting daggers my direction. I did not do it intentionally. It took 45 mins for the hurricane to blow over us, we were fine, never lost power or anything but, listening to the wind…holly molly!!!!
Here's a fun fact regarding Holst's Mars - The Bringer of War: In 1969 a young British guitarist was trying to figure out the beginning of that piece from memory after hearing it the night before. While doing that he created a riff by accident that later became the main riff for his band's signature song. The guitarist was Tony Iommi, the band Black Sabbath and the song (also called Black Sabbath) is widely credited to be the first Metal song. So Gustav Holst kinda invented Metal.
I would love for them to dig into heavy metal's origins and how much classical musicians like Holst, Paganini and Wagner influence musicians to this day.
@@goatthulu6662 its because of this, Black Sabbath clearly set the precident of what metal is, and the band clearly showed more classical influence with their music.
My best friend's dad use to wake his kids up every weekend playing 1812 at full volume, the entire house would shake when the canons went off. It was amazing.
My dad has been doing stuff like that since my brother and I were little (, he still does it occasionally even though my brother and I are towards the end of HS now). 🤣
To be honest I have a playlist for "intense" classical music which I listen to when I study Math and Physics. Imagine solving equations as Vivaldi's Winter 1st mvt plays in the background.
In music school I said to my orchestra director, “if Mahler were alive today he would clear out the first few rows for a mosh pit” and he was like, “Yeah”.
Dude funny story. One time I was listening to one of those 'calming music' playlists while trying to fall asleep, and didn't set a sleep timer, so after I dozed off for a while, i wake up with my heart BEATING cause the autoplay turned on Carmina Burana and I felt like i had an anxiety attack in sleep.
0:41 Stravinsky - rite of spring (that’s “rite”) 1:37 Prokofiev - piano sonata No.7, III. Precipitato (listen to Yuja’s version let’s go!!!) 2:48 Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (play with the Canon at 4:02!) 5:06 Holst - the planets, I. Mars, the Bringer of War (makes me decided to wear my Mars TSA today!) 6:23 Dvorak - Symphony No.9, IV. Allergro con fuoco (they have this in One Piece) 7:23 Wagner - ride of the Valkyries (don’t listen to it while studying lol) 8:15 Shostakovich - string quartet No.8 (Twoset introduced me to this piece when they played it in one of their string quartet video!!) 10:20 Vivaldi - winter from the four seasons 11:24 Verdi - Requiem, II. Dies Irae (11:32 you are welcome) 12:17 Beethoven - moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato I love all the little comments you guys made and stories you guys told (related to yourselves or to the composers or the performers). Learned a lot from Twoset like always! Lots of love and respect!!
A few other honorable mentions I'd like to add: Grieg - In the Hall of the Mountain King, Tchaikovsky - Marche slave, Op. 31, TH 45, Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre, Manuel de Falla - Danza ritual del Fuego, Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights.
Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra Bruckner - Te Deum (the whole thing is epic ngl) Khachaturian - Masquerade Waltz Marcel Dupre - Variations sur un Noel pour orgue Boely - Offertoire pour le jour de paques though those last two are organ, so I’m not sure that counts
Pro tip: These pieces cannot be used for studying or reading but it helps to get work done fast (like your assignments, essay writing etc). idk how to explain but the fast pace of the music helps to increase your productivity and performance. so ya try using any of this piece if you have a last minute dateline to complete :)
I used to see classical music as boring, infuriatingly calming/bland music that you'd hear in a bookstore, until I heard certain pieces that moved me to the core. I've been fond of music ever since I was a kid, but I've never experienced this intensity, the overwhelming, raw emotions in other genre; sometimes I even cry uncontrollably while listening. Now, my playlist is 95% classical music, and I have been learning the violin for 6 months so far. Such a strange yet wonderful turn for me. Thank you TwoSet. :)
My first memory of listening to music is of when I was about 4 yrs old. I was in the garden with my grandmother and she was listening to Concierto de Aranjuez with Paco Lucia (flamenco guitar player) my grandmother told me, that I was quietly playing but when the last 3.5 mins started playing, I stopped and sat down next to the record player and tears started running down my face. She picked me up and cradled me in her arms. I did not stop my quiet sobbing until the music stopped. Every time I listen to it (is the second movement by the way, the adagio) those last 3.5 mins make me feel like I am in a maze I can’t get out of and just when I am about to lose my mind and give up, the music reaches its climax and there is a ray hope and I breathe again and dry my tears and listen to it over again because that is just what you do when music moves you like that right? To this day, it holds a special place in my heart. And my favorite way to listen to it, is while galloping on my favorite horse. If you get a chance to listen to it, do. Is a beautiful piece of music.
I've been to an outdoor performance of the 1812 Overture where they used fireworks. It was for 4th July in the US and they timed the fireworks to go off when the cannons are meant to. They were close enough that you could feel the thump in your chest from the blast. It was truly epic.
I played in a quasi-professional orchestra when we performed this piece outdoors with cannons. My stand partner had offered me ear plugs, but I denied them, not realizing that the canons would be so loud. Every time they went off during the piece I jumped out of my chair. 🤣🤣🤣
Yes, I've been to one of these as well, but in the UK and obvs not for 4th July! It is epic though. They also had Beethoven's 5th in the concert - superb!
I think fireworks are a great idea for the 1812 Overture cannons. I have heard lots of (recorded) versions of this where they got modern military howitzers, loaded with high-velocity smokeless powder, to play the cannon parts. They don't sound right. They go off with an earsplitting "CRACK", instead of a deep, visceral "KaBoom". I think Tchaikovsky was probably intending his cannons to be nice basso profundo 1812 black powder cannons whose shots resonate in your chest--as Heather noticed with the black powder fireworks.
As a metalhead, I totally agree that there are some real banging classical pieces, and here are a couple additions to mosh/headbang to: Suppé's Light Cavalry Overture, impossible to listen to without moshing or at least headbanging (especially when 'that' part starts). Strauss' Unter Donner und Blitz, really demands your body to start moving. Khachaturian's Sabre Dance, from Gayane Suite 2, definitely anything but relaxing. Dvorák's 8 Slavonic Dances, Op 46, no 8 in G Minor, hits instantly... and hard..
I just realized I had forgotten the notorious William Tell overture, hopelessly associated with a stupid TV program (and before that, on the radio). Yup, quite the head-banger. But there isn't enough time in one video to cover all that many super lively pieces. (Beethoven symphony #2, #7).. Somebody STOP ME! 😁
0:41 Rite of Spring - Stravinsky 1:38 Piano Sonata No. 7, III. Precipitato - Prokofiev 2:54 1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky 5:05 The Planets, I. Mars, the Bringer of War - Holst 6:23 Symphony No. 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco - Dvorak 7:24 Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner 8:15 String Quartet No. 8 - Shostakovich 10:21 Winter from the Four Seasons - Vivaldi 11:20 Requiem, II. Dies Irae - Verdi 12:17 Moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato - Beethoven
"If you're calm to this I don't know what's wrong with you" Music can invoke calm without being calm itself, I think metal is a great example of this. It's very intense music but that, in a way, is what makes it calming. The music can be intense for me, in a sense, without me having to put energy into being intense. The intensity lets me let out pent up feelings and stress just by listening to it. I'm assuming it's the same with other genres.
Exactly! One of my friends is a fan of the "chill" type music, and once recommended it to me, but it sort of gets on my nerves. I don't even find it calming, let along relax to it. It may sound absurd but I do feel calm while listening to metal and classical music (which are extremely intense and demand my full attention).
I love all the little comments you guys made and stories you guys told (related to yourselves or to the composers or the performers). Learned a lot from Twoset like always! Lots of love and respect!!
Same here, I love how I gain some new knowledges or being reminded of some theories that I almost forgot \(^v^) Even now I still learn something new from twoset, like ‘sul ponticello’, even though I’m not a string player, it’s very aspiring to know that Winter uses this technique to project the ‘chill’ sounds (•O•)
Ahh yes, the Carnival Overture by Dvorak is one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever listened to 😌 Also, being a classical musician, I can’t listen to classical music while studying. It’s perhaps the most distracting of music genres for me lol
Im not a classical musician, but honestly the same T-T i always fantasized on what scene is happening when that part of the piece(?) played, and once i did that, i could do it for like 10 minutes or more T-T
As a metalhead who likes to listen to some classical pieces on occasion, I approve of this list. Holst literally inspired the whole genre, and Rite of Spring is like Meshuggah played with an orchestra.
(I know I've commented this before but I'm gonna keep doing it until Twoset sees it) Hey TwosetViolin, Brandon Acker has told us to tell you that he would love to collab with yall. And frankly, I really want it to happen cuz it would be quite lovely. Brandon's a really well versed classical guitarist who also dives deep into other historical instruments like the lute, theorbo, arabian oud, etc. He is as passionate about classical music as Twoset and alls I'm trying to say is........MAKE THIS HAPPEN. NOW!!!!!!!!
It's a common misconception that the Jaws theme came from Dvorak; John Williams himself said in an interview that it was mostly inspired by Beethoven's 7th.
I would actually listen to the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata while studying or working, it would pump me up and feel this raw determination. On the other hand, I wouldn't listen to the first movement while studying - although I love it - because it is too haunting and sad and would get me in my feels lol.
I sang Verdi's Requiem a few years ago with a choir and man, singing the Dies Irae movement is INTENSE. That entire piece is so wonderful to sing. The energy on stage is insane
I once heard it live - I purchased some of the best seats in the house. I shall never forget the experience (I'm waiting to do it again). The 'Tuba Mirum' was something you will probably only experience fully live in person.
There's a Belgian musical called 14-18 (Studio 100, they tried to make an English version but it didn't have the same magic) where the composer used the piece as a theme. Even that version is intense.
right? i don't understand music like breddie do but this music always makes me feel like crying. like im achieving something i always practice for. if that makes sense
You made me tear up thinking back about the first and only time I'd ever seen the whole Beethoven's 9th live. It was in February 2020 before the lockdown, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Little did we know that it was the last live performance we would see in almost 2 years! It was sooo epic. The orchestra added extra instruments. There were 4 French horns, for example.
I've never seen it performed live. But I have performed it. I was on 2nd trumpet for our orchestra's performance of it in 2018 and it felt like I got done with a full day of emotional work after the concert was over. It's difficult to keep it together as a performer in some spots.
My dad used to play CD with classical music LOUD whenever taking rest(that's the way of his dealing stress lol). One of his favorites started with Carmina Burana. It gave me anxiety even as a kid! Another one scared me was In the Hall of Mountain King😂
My Dad used to work with real cannons and during one 4th of July I got to stand behind the cannons with him as they fired to the 1812 Overture. My feet actually left the ground several times, it was an amazing experience
Ever since Twoset introduced me to classical music, I cannot listen to any classical music playlist while studying anymore (even the calming ones). I always get lost in the music. And for the energetic ones... yeah, I headbang like crazy
Ahh yes. Shostakovich brings back many great memories. Playing this on double bass was torture 😆 It's depressing and chaotic, just how I like it, lol. My high school orchestra played that piece at a competition a decade ago, it was really fun because we learned listening to each other and as a result, grew as a whole.
This is an old comment but I need to say thanks for the William Tell recommendation, I hadn't realized that that Overture was in multiple parts and I agree that middle section sounds intense. It's apocalyptic.
It’s a stereotypical to think that relaxing music helps students study and do homework. It’s actually the opposite. Intensive and fast music helps us to focus more while studying or working. I’ve tried it. It actually works 👍🏻
Yeah I specifically listen to electronic techno sort of stuff (Daft Punk, Caravan Palace etc) when I'm doing homework. Classical music is far too unpredictable and emotional to listen to while trying to concentrate!
@@randomchick1234 Lol that’s not what I meant. There are plenty of fast pieces in classical music too. I listen to them while doing homework and they have worked so good
Brett: "Yeah, try studying to this!" ( 5:28 ) Me, who listens to Liszt, Alkan, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc., everytime I do a project: **nervously stares at my screen**
Some MORE to consider: -Ravel: La Valse (near the end) -Mussorgsky: Pictures at and Exhibition (Baba-Yaga) -Silvestre: Noche de los Mayas -Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, I: Invocation to Veles and Ala (just chaotic) -William Bolcom: Symphony No.5 : IV: Machine -Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 6: IV: Allegro ( kind of atonal but its very nice) -Stravinsky: Petrushka (many jump scares if you’re sleeping)
I do have a few honorable mentions to shed some light on the music I primarily listen to, which is Baroque: Several excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, Solomon, Deborah, Athalia, Judas Maccabaeus, Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Zadok the Priest, and many many other oratorios and choral pieces. And several excerpts from Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Easter AND Christmas Oratorio (primarily Easter), several of his cantatas, Magnificat in D, St. Matthew Passion, and several other orchestral and organ pieces he made. Vivaldi, Purcell, and Telemann have likely all made loud pieces of their own, and giving them a quick (or a long) listen is a good way to keep the work of these composers at least relevant in the classical genre.
You guys are seriously the best. I wish I could just put your channel up on loudspeaker at work. I'm pretty sure all my coworkers are getting sick of hearing me talk about you guys' channel. ❤ Funny coincidence, just yesterday I was walking through my workplace humming music(I think it was Vivaldi's Winter), doing little hand movements, the works. One of my coworkers was like, 'What the heck are you singing over there?' I looked at them with a totally straight face and said 'The Original headbanging music!' (I think they question my sanity now, which makes it even better. 😁)
I am genuinely not a fan of opera music as a standard, but the full Requiem pieces are among those that never fail to get goosebumps out of me. And the Dies Irae is among the top for it. Along with the Lacrimosa.
Also regarding the Moonlight Sonata, I think I often see Valentina Lisitsa in the same light that you see Hilary Hahn in lol. Her fingers glide over the damn keys and it looks like she puts little to no effort in to get the amazing sound she gets out. It never fails to amaze me. Hell, her live performance of La Campanella, her fingers move so fast the camera can only pick up blurs.
One of my favorite pieces that has no chill is the ending of Francesca da Ramini by Tchaikovsky, it’s about souls trapped in hell for lustful sins and their punishment is to live in an eternal hurricane and I think Tchaikovsky captures that very well
That was the last piece I heard in concert before the pandemic. A piece about hell, hurricanes, and being trapped somewhere. *Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?*
My uni orchestra sight read part of Francesca da Ramini but we soon decided it was going to be too hard to learn 😂 Lots of tricky rhythms for sure! I hope to play it someday though because I think it’s a wildly intense but also beautiful orchestral piece
hey and um btw Eddy thank you so much for introducing me to Debussy!! Your love for him made me intrigued and turns out now he's one of my fav composers to listen to, even tho im just starting the journey I get a feeling he will be with me through some good vibes and hard shit Love you guys so much
In college, our choir performed the entirety of Verdi’s Requiem with the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. The Dies Irae was definitely one of the most intense pieces we had ever sung. I remember the first rehearsal with the full orchestra, and the GOOSEBUMPS. Oh my gosh, I will never forget that. So much fun.
Another pieces of music that are also notable for being not exactly calm are: - Listz’s Totenanz - Listz’s Faust-Symphonie, I and III movement - Mahler’s 8 Symphony, I movement - Beethoven’s 6 Symphony, IV movement ( “rain movement”) - Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata - Alkan’s “Chemine du Fer”
I am doing a project on Pacific 231 by Arthur Honnegar. I almost choose a Russian composer by the name of Olga. She was a range composer I think. Or at least her music was her way to say fudge y
Also Marche Slave is crazy. I can only imagine that the high pitched crescendos are the piercing screams and bellowing cries of war against the steady advance of a European battle all part of a greater orchestration of death which is war. The insanity of the brutality driving forward the onslaught of the European war machine, culminating later in nearly apocalyptic eruptions.
4:40 the cannons of Tchaikovsky's time didn't have fuses that you light like for dynamite, they had a kind of plug that you would pull and it would immediately fire
Some more to consider: -Strauss: Salóme (Opera) -Ligeti: Etudes Nr.13 “Les E’scalier diable” -Messiaen: Turangaîlia Symphonie -Penderecki: Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima - Borodin: Polovtsian Dances, General Dance, Allegro
Thank you for sharing those pieces. While watching I was a little bit disappointed that almost all the pieces mentioned in the video are like better known pieces.
13:20 Valentina Lisitsa: This is literally the performance that made me make up my mind and start to study piano in a concervatory. I was 14 when I heard it. She is my favourite performer, I practically stalked her after hearing this and I'm in love with all her recordings. Even today, I still study piano because I dream to play like her. Thank you Valentina for all the inspiration you gave me!
Valentinas technicality is matched by very few, but her playing is sometimes dry. She is still my favorite pianist, the only recording of hers i actually dislike is chppin etude op 10 no 8.
Great list! A few others come to mind: - Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, General Dance Allegro - Mussorsky’s Night on Bald Mountain - Stravinsky’s Petrushka (I find the whole piece disturbing)
@@anisanancy6459 Yes! Pure menace. There’s a fantastic RUclips documentary called Shostakovich vs Stalin that highlights his amazing and courageous response to tyranny.
- Shostakovich Symphony no 10, 2nd mvt (search for the one conducted by Dudamel at the Proms with a Venezuelan youth orchestra, its wild) - Prokofiev cantata "They are seven" (for the dissonances) - Chopin 24 Preludes, the 24th in d minor - Bartók Bear Dance from Ten Easy Pieces I'm sure we can go on for hours extending the list....
Funnily enough, i used strong classical music for studying 😂 notably like Danse Macabre and Dance of The Knights. This vid surely adds some to the list. Nailed it!
I'm one of those people that studies with classical music and I have like more than half of the pieces in my playlist xD And actually it's the wildness and tension in the pieces that really calms me down and lets me focus
I recommend the finale to the Firebird by Stravinsky, 7 Romanian Folk Dances by Bartok, and because I cannot leave out one of my all time favourite operas, the Act 1 finale from the Barber of Seville by Rossini. A demonstration that music doesn't have to be dark and heavy to be epic! We have Onegin and the Ring for that ;)
When I saw the title of this video I was like “Verdi’s Dies Irae has to be on here.” I’ve sung it with my choir twice and it’s so much better live, it felt like the ground was shaking. One of the other very much not relaxing pieces I’ve sung with my choir is the Battle on the Ice movement from Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev. There are parts of that where we were literally screaming and we were still drowned out by the orchestra 😂 Great stuff.
That movement from Nevkys' cantata is epic. I sang it with my choir many years ago and we could feel the stage floor trembling under our feet! Magnificent!
I actually was forced to listen to pretty much all these pieces when I was younger while I was studying. My father really believed that classical music whether intense or peaceful sounding would help me focus on my math.... I can say it never helped lmfao But overall I loved listening to every piece, it inspired me to sing opera music
I used to think classical music is boring but after discovering you two and actually listening to it I found out I really like it and honestly I love violin it sounds so...cool
I love the emotions in classical music. To be able to have a whole orchestra making an environment feel so emotional and atmospheric. The ambience of a live orchestra playing music is so epic. I hope everyone gets the chance to see it again soon safely! 💜
My personal favorite non-relaxed piece is the Infernal Dance of Kaschei part of the Firebird Suite. The part before it is all calm, relaxed, lulls you into a sense of safety and then BAM that orchestral hit comes, the brass take up the melody, and it's all foreboding and evil and stuff.
I thought for sure they'd mention the Firebird Suite. I've played that piece before and that BAM! surprised me even when was playing it. It still gets me when I listen to it.
Shostakovich's 8th quartet , as author himself writes to his friend, screenwriter and literature and theatrical reviewer Isaac Glikman is something that can be signed like "Dedicated to the memory of the author of this quartet" while he works for score to movie about events of eastern front of WW2 . It's about pangs of creativity.
so um a while back i found this piece written by ravel called "La Valse" and I swear it is a gem hidden under so many others, and seeing how it's so underrated for a piece so emotional and even "schizophrenic" I might add, I simply cannot recommend it enough to you guys, and I hope if there is ever another video of the same caliber coming from TwoSet, I hope they feature this piece. thank you for your time reading this
Thank you for this tip! Don't know how I missed this piece, absolutely loved it. Ravel is a chameleon composer, if I heard this piece not knowing who wrote it I wouldn't have guessed it. Must be a nightmare to rehearse..
I was thinking about this Piece the whole Video! It keeps blowing me away. Makes you feel absolutely hyped and scared at the same time and the Rhythm changes in the end are just mad
“La Valse” is one of my favorites! Another underrated Ravel piece is his “Frontispice” for solo piano. He wrote it in 1917 after his service in WWI and right after his mother died. You can hear the agony and grief within the music. Plus, the last few measures truly have an eerie “Olivier Messiaen” feel to them. Also, “not calming” pieces by Ravel: His Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and the 2nd Movement to his String Quartet in F Major.
So, is it weird that I literally studied for my final exams last semester to almost all of these pieces? There's something about the music that is calming while still driving me forward.
Verdi - Dies Irae is the one I immediately thought of! I have a classicals music playlist where it's right at the beginning and I can't imagine doing anything else while listening, least of all study or read! In general I think the pieces with choir parts ae impossible to just have on in the background...
I mean, most people who say Classical music is relaxing can't even tell the difference between actual Classical music and just New Age/Indie Film OST lol
In the Scheherazade recording by Leif Segerstam and the Galician symphonic orchestra they also had a bit where all musicians start screaming simulating like a cavalry charge. It sounds really impressive. Great video guys!
bold of you to assume that i don't sleep to all these pieces - no but seriously i really do and yes, i do go see a therapist regularly these are literally in my sleep playlist, send help well not all but i have 1812 overture, the planets, I. mars bringer of war, ride of the Valkyries, string quartet no.8 by Shostakovich, winter is my favorite of the four seasons so of course but i also but summer bc i can,of course i have dies irae and moonlight sonata, III.
I am so happy i am a part of this community right now and i can share this journey in real time with you guys I mean, watching older stuff is great and since august i've been trying to catch up but it's just not the same as knowing that what you say in your videos is actually happening right now, seing your videos minutes after posting, liking your insta photos and seeing you evolving, growing and having good time right now, commenting on your tiktoks and getting all the interactions with the community, it's really cool and i'm very very very grateful
I can strongly recommend also listening to Yuja Wang's Prokofiev Toccata (in the recording on RUclips, she plays it as an encore after a concerto with the Berlin Phil). It`s insane.
*short summary* "Classical music is calming and relaxing" Stravinsky: sacrificing rituals Prokofiev: racing games Holst and Wagner: war flashbacks Vivaldi: freezing to the bone Dvorak: final boss fight Shostakovich: i hate myself quartet Beethoven: i wanna die sonata Verdi: dies irae (do i even have to say more) Tchaikovsky: a freaking CANNON
00:42 Stravinsky - Rite of Spring 01:38 Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No. 7, III, Precipitato 02:54 Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture 05:05 Holst - The Planets I. Mars, the Bringer of War 06:22 Dvorak - Symphony no. 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco 07:22 Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries 08:12 Shostakovich - String Quartet no. 8 10:19 Vivaldi - Winter of the Four Seasons 11:21 Verdi - Requiem, II. Dies Irae 12:15 Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato
Two set inspired me to practice more and just recently, i got a violin because of them and am looking up to them as my ultimate goal, whether its 10, 20, 30 years or more. I love their style of making videos combining comedy, personal experiences, and interesting historic facts. I adore them. Keep it up guys!
I'm just wondering what % of their 3.5M subscribers have taken up the violin (or other instrument) cos of them, myself now included. I'm keeping a tally out of interest and you're No:174 so far! My progress is slow so looking to 15yrs before I'm any way decent!
@@joksanrentas2228 So you're now No:175! Hope you're progressing well. I'm still on 2nd finger and now have small callouses on my 2 fingers. (I do practice quite a lot!) But still loving it. At least I can play the right notes now but so often sound like crap!
My suggestions: - Elgar Symphony 1, 2nd movement - Shostakovich Symphony 10, 2nd movement - Grieg Piano Concerto, 3rd movement - Mahler Symphony 5, 1st movement - Gershwin Piano Concerto, 3st movement
@@stephenpastena8583 This seems to be correct. I checked Polish-speaking sources (Penderecki was Polish and I speak the language). Basically, in 1959 he won a 2-month stipend in Italy in a composition competition. He went there in December 1959 and came back with a draft of a piece, which he then completed over the following year. Initially he simply called it 8’37’, after its length. He sent it to the Fitelberg Competition in 1960 (and won). When in 1961 it was supposed to be sent to Paris to the Tribune Internationale des Compositeurs UNESCO (as the winner of the Fitelberg Competition), the director of the Polish Radio, Roman Jasiński, who were to take the composition there, suggested changing the title. After a consideration Penderecki decided to dedicate the piece to the victims of Hiroshima.
For anyone who doesn't know, cannons were discharged with long stick on fire that were placed into a hole on top of the back end of the cannon, which would set it off, and that's how you can time the cannon to the beat.
The fact that they've put Precipitato in this this list makes me love TwoSet even more! Also, check out Prokofiev's Suggestion diabolique, 'cause, you know, nothing says calming and relaxing more then mentioning THE DEVIL
I was going to be very upset if Verdi's Requiem was not on here, hahahahaha. If you've never heard it in person, it's got to be one of the most exhilarating pieces ever written.
I was waiting for Dvorak 9! So glad it made the list. I would like to submit Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain and Hut of Baba Yaga & Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition for honorable mention. Thanks for another great video!
I was thinking of the original version of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, which is much more chaotic than the Rimsky-Korsakov version most people are familiar with
I think the biggest problem is classical music translates way more chill over a recording. Live classical music is so much more energetic compared to a recording. Especially an orchestra.
True. And playing it is just the upmost experience, I got shills and goosebumps playing some symphonies.
Energetic how? Nobody moves their heads everyone sits still in their seats
@@birddoesnottalk1032 i dont think they mean energetic in that way🤣😭.. i mean classical music does sound livelier in live concerts. Attended an orchestral performance once, i think its what they mean by that
so true, mixing plays a huge part in multitrack popular music and live music is a whole different thing. live orchestra performances always give me chills
@@ahappyfrenchtoast2669 Someone could be screaming on stage. It wouldn't matter if all you're supposed to do is sit there passive as an audience, simply admiring someone else doing something. That's not exciting. Movies and tv work because you're supposed to identify with the people performing the actions. And fail, no matter how much action and conflict they have, if they can't get the audience to do so. Music to sit still to is, for most, music to sleep to, no matter how interesting that music is for musicians.
Do you know? I am so old I have forgotten what it is like to be young. When I watch you two, it brings back memories of youth.... which I enjoy. So thank you. You both feed off each other's enthusiasm!!
Great comment 😊
💜
So old???!! The oldest TwoSetter I've come across in the comments is 80! But yeah, there's summat about the energy of young folk though guess Brett'll be giving us his 'I'm so old' when it's his birthday in March!
@Tetrahedral Soul Yeah I know but Brett will be first to hit 30...
Same!
The funny thing is that I actually listen to these kind of classical music while studying because they keep the rush and focus going, relaxing music tend to make me feel sleepy to be honest
I'm gonna make a wild guess: you have ADHD, right?
Same better when coding too
SAME
Same. I studied to a chemistry exam while listening to Verdi's Dies Irae
Dope name
I was driving on a really busy highway one time, and it was raining reaaally badly. So I decided to put on some classical music (my playlist is mainly calming pieces so I didnt really think much about it). However, its just my luck that the first piece to start playing was Holsts Mars, and directly after that Verdi's Dies Irae....I really thought I was going to die that day.
Lol 😂
Epic drive!
We were in the middle of Hurricane Ike, I was listening to Vocalise, did not realize I had shuffle on, next piece started playing was Dies Irae. I swear up until that moment I had never heard my mother curse. I immediately stopped it and quietly laughed at her who kept shooting daggers my direction. I did not do it intentionally. It took 45 mins for the hurricane to blow over us, we were fine, never lost power or anything but, listening to the wind…holly molly!!!!
My playlist is also mostly classical lol ;btw hope ur ok)
Try Louis Vierne's toccata
Here's a fun fact regarding Holst's Mars - The Bringer of War: In 1969 a young British guitarist was trying to figure out the beginning of that piece from memory after hearing it the night before. While doing that he created a riff by accident that later became the main riff for his band's signature song. The guitarist was Tony Iommi, the band Black Sabbath and the song (also called Black Sabbath) is widely credited to be the first Metal song. So Gustav Holst kinda invented Metal.
I would love for them to dig into heavy metal's origins and how much classical musicians like Holst, Paganini and Wagner influence musicians to this day.
@@goatthulu6662 its because of this, Black Sabbath clearly set the precident of what metal is, and the band clearly showed more classical influence with their music.
He's also the guy who invented the "banned by the church" myth
@@LynnHermione Tritone bad
Love this info!
My best friend's dad use to wake his kids up every weekend playing 1812 at full volume, the entire house would shake when the canons went off. It was amazing.
DUDEE lmaooooo🤣🤣🤣🤣
My dad has been doing stuff like that since my brother and I were little (, he still does it occasionally even though my brother and I are towards the end of HS now). 🤣
LOL
LOL! I used to wake up my students at band camp by blasting Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. I found it woke them up in a hurry!
@@fantomhalo3938 LOL 😂my mom does something similar but with comedy videos
To be honest I have a playlist for "intense" classical music which I listen to when I study Math and Physics. Imagine solving equations as Vivaldi's Winter 1st mvt plays in the background.
I do that too, it feels awesome.
Yasss 👌
Zero - Keiki Kobayashi for me
Oh im an architecture student and i always need an “intense” playlist when i run my freaking brain out over a project 😂
Or the 3rd movement of Summer. That shit is INTENSE
In music school I said to my orchestra director, “if Mahler were alive today he would clear out the first few rows for a mosh pit” and he was like, “Yeah”.
The most not calming piece ever, in my opinion, is Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna. It's simply epic ;)
I LOVE THAT PIECE!!!
Lemme listen
Dude funny story. One time I was listening to one of those 'calming music' playlists while trying to fall asleep, and didn't set a sleep timer, so after I dozed off for a while, i wake up with my heart BEATING cause the autoplay turned on Carmina Burana and I felt like i had an anxiety attack in sleep.
@IsCarKeys why
Symphony No. 1 in D minor "the Gothic" by Havergal Brian is even more "not calming"
I could never study with classical music, I'll be too busy enjoying it
I can't too. I always have urge to move around when listening to epic pieces.
@Elijah Kim they mentioned people use it to study so was just stating my experience
Yahh same :)
ikr
Totally true!!
0:41 Stravinsky - rite of spring (that’s “rite”)
1:37 Prokofiev - piano sonata No.7, III. Precipitato (listen to Yuja’s version let’s go!!!)
2:48 Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (play with the Canon at 4:02!)
5:06 Holst - the planets, I. Mars, the Bringer of War (makes me decided to wear my Mars TSA today!)
6:23 Dvorak - Symphony No.9, IV. Allergro con fuoco (they have this in One Piece)
7:23 Wagner - ride of the Valkyries (don’t listen to it while studying lol)
8:15 Shostakovich - string quartet No.8 (Twoset introduced me to this piece when they played it in one of their string quartet video!!)
10:20 Vivaldi - winter from the four seasons
11:24 Verdi - Requiem, II. Dies Irae (11:32 you are welcome)
12:17 Beethoven - moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato
I love all the little comments you guys made and stories you guys told (related to yourselves or to the composers or the performers). Learned a lot from Twoset like always! Lots of love and respect!!
You clip it good bro :)
thanks!!
Small typo *no.8 not 3 :)
@@bobdathang3229 Corrected, thanks!! Too early in the morning lol
@@FLOrtE_SUS Thanks! Twoset did a good job choosing the pieces lol
A few other honorable mentions I'd like to add:
Grieg - In the Hall of the Mountain King,
Tchaikovsky - Marche slave, Op. 31, TH 45,
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre,
Manuel de Falla - Danza ritual del Fuego,
Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights.
Don't forget Chernabog!
Dance of the Knights is such an epic piece!! They all are, but recently dance of the knights is my favourite!
Ah yes, "the anxiety song"
Prokofiev: Scythian suite "Dance of the pagan monster"
Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain
Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Bruckner - Te Deum (the whole thing is epic ngl)
Khachaturian - Masquerade Waltz
Marcel Dupre - Variations sur un Noel pour orgue
Boely - Offertoire pour le jour de paques
though those last two are organ, so I’m not sure that counts
Pro tip: These pieces cannot be used for studying or reading but it helps to get work done fast (like your assignments, essay writing etc). idk how to explain but the fast pace of the music helps to increase your productivity and performance. so ya try using any of this piece if you have a last minute dateline to complete :)
it really makes me work fast and concentrate. this is what i listen to at the office
wouldn’t you just drop your work and stand up to dance instead?
I like to write so it helps when writing specific plots or scenes
@@trishaong338 high five 🙌🏼
@@jytwang that happens as well 🤭
I used to see classical music as boring, infuriatingly calming/bland music that you'd hear in a bookstore, until I heard certain pieces that moved me to the core. I've been fond of music ever since I was a kid, but I've never experienced this intensity, the overwhelming, raw emotions in other genre; sometimes I even cry uncontrollably while listening. Now, my playlist is 95% classical music, and I have been learning the violin for 6 months so far. Such a strange yet wonderful turn for me. Thank you TwoSet. :)
welcome to the classical gang :)
My first memory of listening to music is of when I was about 4 yrs old. I was in the garden with my grandmother and she was listening to Concierto de Aranjuez with Paco Lucia (flamenco guitar player) my grandmother told me, that I was quietly playing but when the last 3.5 mins started playing, I stopped and sat down next to the record player and tears started running down my face. She picked me up and cradled me in her arms. I did not stop my quiet sobbing until the music stopped.
Every time I listen to it (is the second movement by the way, the adagio) those last 3.5 mins make me feel like I am in a maze I can’t get out of and just when I am about to lose my mind and give up, the music reaches its climax and there is a ray hope and I breathe again and dry my tears and listen to it over again because that is just what you do when music moves you like that right?
To this day, it holds a special place in my heart. And my favorite way to listen to it, is while galloping on my favorite horse. If you get a chance to listen to it, do. Is a beautiful piece of music.
lol???? glad you are not part of 4 chords = not boring gang
@@ryzikx Andalusian cadence too good
So cool! I hope you keep studying. I mean, practicing.
Believe it or not, I have studied for my Calculus exam to "Mars", "Symphony no. 9" and a lot of the other pieces on this list. It works!
Same, I can testify
Same. Mars brings the hype back when I'm just about to get sleepy from all the readings lol
There are entire playlists on RUclips full of the most hectic classical pieces for when you're working on a deadline...
And they are AWESOME!!!
Calculus is indeed a boss fight, speaking as someone who tried pre calc and immediately said nope
I love how Eddy explains the history of the pieces. I want to learn moreeee
Ikr
Same
Same
I wish he'd continue his other yt channel. He's a good teacher
Correction, professor Eddy.
I've been to an outdoor performance of the 1812 Overture where they used fireworks. It was for 4th July in the US and they timed the fireworks to go off when the cannons are meant to. They were close enough that you could feel the thump in your chest from the blast. It was truly epic.
I played in a quasi-professional orchestra when we performed this piece outdoors with cannons. My stand partner had offered me ear plugs, but I denied them, not realizing that the canons would be so loud. Every time they went off during the piece I jumped out of my chair. 🤣🤣🤣
Yes, I've been to one of these as well, but in the UK and obvs not for 4th July!
It is epic though. They also had Beethoven's 5th in the concert - superb!
I think fireworks are a great idea for the 1812 Overture cannons. I have heard lots of (recorded) versions of this where they got modern military howitzers, loaded with high-velocity smokeless powder, to play the cannon parts. They don't sound right. They go off with an earsplitting "CRACK", instead of a deep, visceral "KaBoom". I think Tchaikovsky was probably intending his cannons to be nice basso profundo 1812 black powder cannons whose shots resonate in your chest--as Heather noticed with the black powder fireworks.
Bro how did twoset discover my Spotify playlist???????
As a metalhead, I totally agree that there are some real banging classical pieces, and here are a couple additions to mosh/headbang to:
Suppé's Light Cavalry Overture, impossible to listen to without moshing or at least headbanging (especially when 'that' part starts).
Strauss' Unter Donner und Blitz, really demands your body to start moving.
Khachaturian's Sabre Dance, from Gayane Suite 2, definitely anything but relaxing.
Dvorák's 8 Slavonic Dances, Op 46, no 8 in G Minor, hits instantly... and hard..
I just realized I had forgotten the notorious William Tell overture, hopelessly associated with a stupid TV program (and before that, on the radio). Yup, quite the head-banger. But there isn't enough time in one video to cover all that many super lively pieces. (Beethoven symphony #2, #7).. Somebody STOP ME! 😁
oh man the #8 got that hemiola
same!! I am originally a metalhead who delved into classical too!
0:41 Rite of Spring - Stravinsky
1:38 Piano Sonata No. 7, III. Precipitato - Prokofiev
2:54 1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky
5:05 The Planets, I. Mars, the Bringer of War - Holst
6:23 Symphony No. 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco - Dvorak
7:24 Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
8:15 String Quartet No. 8 - Shostakovich
10:21 Winter from the Four Seasons - Vivaldi
11:20 Requiem, II. Dies Irae - Verdi
12:17 Moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato - Beethoven
💋
Thanks mate
Thank you🙇🏻♀️!
it quite surprises me they didn't include Penderecki's threnody to the victim of Hiroshima
Tbf second movement of vivaldi’s winter is the sort of music I’d study to
That interpretation of Shostakovich 8 is just HAUNTING. I really wish there was a full recording of that interpretation
What I see : Food that I ordered
What the delivery person sees : 11:32
"If you're calm to this I don't know what's wrong with you"
Music can invoke calm without being calm itself, I think metal is a great example of this. It's very intense music but that, in a way, is what makes it calming. The music can be intense for me, in a sense, without me having to put energy into being intense. The intensity lets me let out pent up feelings and stress just by listening to it. I'm assuming it's the same with other genres.
same. intense music lets me release the suppressed, even buried emotions inside, which brings some kind of relief
SAMEEEEEEE Shostakovich legit calms me down
Exactly! One of my friends is a fan of the "chill" type music, and once recommended it to me, but it sort of gets on my nerves. I don't even find it calming, let along relax to it. It may sound absurd but I do feel calm while listening to metal and classical music (which are extremely intense and demand my full attention).
In the Hall of the Mountain King is a personal not-calming favorite of mine
And Requiem will forever be a badass tune~
Lol which part? The opening of the Requiem is one of my top 5 favorite music segments...EVER.
I love all the little comments you guys made and stories you guys told (related to yourselves or to the composers or the performers). Learned a lot from Twoset like always! Lots of love and respect!!
yesss, background and personnal stories really complement the rank 👏❤
Same here, I love how I gain some new knowledges or being reminded of some theories that I almost forgot \(^v^) Even now I still learn something new from twoset, like ‘sul ponticello’, even though I’m not a string player, it’s very aspiring to know that Winter uses this technique to project the ‘chill’ sounds (•O•)
@@ciel-101 Same!! And also each time we know a little bit more about them!
@@ciel-101 ....non musician...sounds like a mushroom, so all good
Ahh yes, the Carnival Overture by Dvorak is one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever listened to 😌
Also, being a classical musician, I can’t listen to classical music while studying. It’s perhaps the most distracting of music genres for me lol
yeah same, sometimes i start thinking about what's happening in the music, or even thinking "i should try to learn this one"
@@cer371 The exact same things come to my mind lmaoo
Same ahah
the first violin part of Carnival Overture is a freaking concerto 🙃
Im not a classical musician, but honestly the same T-T i always fantasized on what scene is happening when that part of the piece(?) played, and once i did that, i could do it for like 10 minutes or more T-T
As a metalhead who likes to listen to some classical pieces on occasion, I approve of this list. Holst literally inspired the whole genre, and Rite of Spring is like Meshuggah played with an orchestra.
I love classical music too. When metal uses counterpoint right it HITS
(I know I've commented this before but I'm gonna keep doing it until Twoset sees it)
Hey TwosetViolin,
Brandon Acker has told us to tell you that he would love to collab with yall. And frankly, I really want it to happen cuz it would be quite lovely.
Brandon's a really well versed classical guitarist who also dives deep into other historical instruments like the lute, theorbo, arabian oud, etc.
He is as passionate about classical music as Twoset and alls I'm trying to say is........MAKE THIS HAPPEN. NOW!!!!!!!!
Try to post this in the twoset reddit, maybe they'll see it there
Hope they can collab🥺
Classical Guitar Gang United!!!!!!
OMG YES I NEED THIS
It's a common misconception that the Jaws theme came from Dvorak; John Williams himself said in an interview that it was mostly inspired by Beethoven's 7th.
I would actually listen to the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata while studying or working, it would pump me up and feel this raw determination. On the other hand, I wouldn't listen to the first movement while studying - although I love it - because it is too haunting and sad and would get me in my feels lol.
I sang Verdi's Requiem a few years ago with a choir and man, singing the Dies Irae movement is INTENSE. That entire piece is so wonderful to sing. The energy on stage is insane
One of my favorite pieces
I once heard it live - I purchased some of the best seats in the house. I shall never forget the experience (I'm waiting to do it again). The 'Tuba Mirum' was something you will probably only experience fully live in person.
@@Sathrandur Listen to Verdi's Tuba Mirum is at the top of my wishes list
Same. It's not the hardest peice, but the intensity means you have to be super-focussed. Terrifying and magnificent at the same time.
There's a Belgian musical called 14-18 (Studio 100, they tried to make an English version but it didn't have the same magic) where the composer used the piece as a theme. Even that version is intense.
Fun fact! Shostakovich string quartet no. 8 is one of my go to pieces when I drive because it puts me in high alert haha. I absolutely love the piece
Relatable
we have some video clips of this piece where we used a trombone instead of a cello if you're interested in watching :D (it was so much fun!!)
I was having a bad day. I practiced my part in the Shostakovich quartet. I felt better. So cathartic.
I love that they’re giving background information as well to really set the context for which these pieces were premiered
I know it wasn't mentioned but I got so overwhelmed listening to Beethoven 9th live that I CRIED. It was so EPIC and majestic.
right? i don't understand music like breddie do but this music always makes me feel like crying. like im achieving something i always practice for. if that makes sense
You made me tear up thinking back about the first and only time I'd ever seen the whole Beethoven's 9th live. It was in February 2020 before the lockdown, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Little did we know that it was the last live performance we would see in almost 2 years! It was sooo epic. The orchestra added extra instruments. There were 4 French horns, for example.
Same here, exact same feeling, somehow its always Beethoven and Brahms. Soooo emotionally overwhelming
Epic is the best word for the 9th
I've never seen it performed live.
But I have performed it. I was on 2nd trumpet for our orchestra's performance of it in 2018 and it felt like I got done with a full day of emotional work after the concert was over. It's difficult to keep it together as a performer in some spots.
1812 recording looks like a last night of the Proms so crowd would be relaxed
The only time where it's not sacreligious to clap in middle of a performance is when it's 1812 Overture and nobody can hear themselves
My dad used to play CD with classical music LOUD whenever taking rest(that's the way of his dealing stress lol). One of his favorites started with Carmina Burana. It gave me anxiety even as a kid!
Another one scared me was In the Hall of Mountain King😂
oh yeah I forgot about Carmina Burana 😂😂😂
Two pieces that should totally be on this list 😂
@@rindodenervoso6475 they have a video of scariest music that they made around Halloween. It’s got carmina Burana and Hallo the Mountain King
@@susanbryant6516 thanks for pointing that out 😉
My Dad used to work with real cannons and during one 4th of July I got to stand behind the cannons with him as they fired to the 1812 Overture. My feet actually left the ground several times, it was an amazing experience
Ever since Twoset introduced me to classical music, I cannot listen to any classical music playlist while studying anymore (even the calming ones). I always get lost in the music. And for the energetic ones... yeah, I headbang like crazy
Ahh yes. Shostakovich brings back many great memories. Playing this on double bass was torture 😆
It's depressing and chaotic, just how I like it, lol.
My high school orchestra played that piece at a competition a decade ago, it was really fun because we learned listening to each other and as a result, grew as a whole.
What part did you play on double bass? I'm so confused, cause it's not an orchesteral piece, it's a quartet and also there is no double bass in it.
@@dingdongsilver4783 yea i am too
@@dingdongsilver4783I guess it could be the chamber symphony version arranged by Barshai?
I'd like to add Prokofiev Dance of the Knights. That piece will shake your bowels if you're hearing it performed in-person
Haven’t seen the video yet
Guessing: Rite of Spring
big bran
For making any school presentation related to history I always use "Ride of the Valkyries" for background music. And my teacher loves it.
noice
I Love Valkyries
9/8 is an interesting signature
Sadly, the Nazis used to play it while they massacred thousands in their gas chambers
The Dies Irae in Mozart's requiem is pretty intense, and the second movement of the William Tell Overture is quite frightening as well.
also confutatis
@@minnieyuyantung confutatis is balanced out nicely by Lacrimosa
But really just imagine The Requiem coming from a fun cool chill guy
Yeah. Been using Dies Irae as my phone alarm for more than three years and it never fails to wake me up.
This is an old comment but I need to say thanks for the William Tell recommendation, I hadn't realized that that Overture was in multiple parts and I agree that middle section sounds intense. It's apocalyptic.
It’s a stereotypical to think that relaxing music helps students study and do homework. It’s actually the opposite. Intensive and fast music helps us to focus more while studying or working. I’ve tried it. It actually works 👍🏻
Yeah I specifically listen to electronic techno sort of stuff (Daft Punk, Caravan Palace etc) when I'm doing homework. Classical music is far too unpredictable and emotional to listen to while trying to concentrate!
@@randomchick1234 Lol that’s not what I meant. There are plenty of fast pieces in classical music too. I listen to them while doing homework and they have worked so good
Brett: "Yeah, try studying to this!" ( 5:28 )
Me, who listens to Liszt, Alkan, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc., everytime I do a project: **nervously stares at my screen**
Some MORE to consider:
-Ravel: La Valse (near the end)
-Mussorgsky: Pictures at and Exhibition (Baba-Yaga)
-Silvestre: Noche de los Mayas
-Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, I: Invocation to Veles and Ala (just chaotic)
-William Bolcom: Symphony No.5 : IV: Machine
-Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 6: IV: Allegro ( kind of atonal but its very nice)
-Stravinsky: Petrushka (many jump scares if you’re sleeping)
Btw im a kid so I don’t have that much knowledge. Do take a listen to these pieces.
also the second movement from prokofievs first violin concerto. its so insane that i hated it the first time i heard it but now i love it
I do have a few honorable mentions to shed some light on the music I primarily listen to, which is Baroque:
Several excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, Solomon, Deborah, Athalia, Judas Maccabaeus, Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Zadok the Priest, and many many other oratorios and choral pieces.
And several excerpts from Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Easter AND Christmas Oratorio (primarily Easter), several of his cantatas, Magnificat in D, St. Matthew Passion, and several other orchestral and organ pieces he made.
Vivaldi, Purcell, and Telemann have likely all made loud pieces of their own, and giving them a quick (or a long) listen is a good way to keep the work of these composers at least relevant in the classical genre.
Another honorable mention:
Several pieces by Hector Berlioz, especially The Damnation of Faust and Symphonie Fantastique
I love twoset videos 😂 whenever I need more classical music, you guys always have SO much
Zadok the Priest is forever giggles for me because of that rubber duck standup video
Royer - Le Vertigo very intense french baroque
@@russellswashbuckler wow that got kinda metal 😆
You guys are seriously the best. I wish I could just put your channel up on loudspeaker at work. I'm pretty sure all my coworkers are getting sick of hearing me talk about you guys' channel. ❤
Funny coincidence, just yesterday I was walking through my workplace humming music(I think it was Vivaldi's Winter), doing little hand movements, the works. One of my coworkers was like, 'What the heck are you singing over there?' I looked at them with a totally straight face and said 'The Original headbanging music!' (I think they question my sanity now, which makes it even better. 😁)
I am genuinely not a fan of opera music as a standard, but the full Requiem pieces are among those that never fail to get goosebumps out of me. And the Dies Irae is among the top for it. Along with the Lacrimosa.
Also regarding the Moonlight Sonata, I think I often see Valentina Lisitsa in the same light that you see Hilary Hahn in lol. Her fingers glide over the damn keys and it looks like she puts little to no effort in to get the amazing sound she gets out. It never fails to amaze me. Hell, her live performance of La Campanella, her fingers move so fast the camera can only pick up blurs.
One of my favorite pieces that has no chill is the ending of Francesca da Ramini by Tchaikovsky, it’s about souls trapped in hell for lustful sins and their punishment is to live in an eternal hurricane and I think Tchaikovsky captures that very well
Lordy. As someone who is still recovering from the two hurricanes that hit in 2020, that is a fantastic punishment for hell. 😓
That was the last piece I heard in concert before the pandemic. A piece about hell, hurricanes, and being trapped somewhere.
*Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?*
I played Francessca da Rimini in youth orchestra. Honestly life changing experience
My uni orchestra sight read part of Francesca da Ramini but we soon decided it was going to be too hard to learn 😂 Lots of tricky rhythms for sure! I hope to play it someday though because I think it’s a wildly intense but also beautiful orchestral piece
Damn, incredible to think Tchaikovsky wrote a piece about New Orleans.
hey and um btw Eddy thank you so much for introducing me to Debussy!! Your love for him made me intrigued and turns out now he's one of my fav composers to listen to, even tho im just starting the journey I get a feeling he will be with me through some good vibes and hard shit
Love you guys so much
In college, our choir performed the entirety of Verdi’s Requiem with the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. The Dies Irae was definitely one of the most intense pieces we had ever sung. I remember the first rehearsal with the full orchestra, and the GOOSEBUMPS. Oh my gosh, I will never forget that. So much fun.
Another pieces of music that are also notable for being not exactly calm are:
- Listz’s Totenanz
- Listz’s Faust-Symphonie, I and III movement
- Mahler’s 8 Symphony, I movement
- Beethoven’s 6 Symphony, IV movement ( “rain movement”)
- Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata
- Alkan’s “Chemine du Fer”
I would go with a lot of Alkan’s pieces could go here
Alkan, a deep cut!
Le Chemin de Fer... What a notoriousky difficult piece.
I am doing a project on Pacific 231 by Arthur Honnegar.
I almost choose a Russian composer by the name of Olga. She was a range composer I think. Or at least her music was her way to say fudge y
Had to scroll too deep for Liszt. No one told him music should be calming :D
It’s just wonderful to see and hear a person like Janine Jansen transform so much of her own emotions into music. Got goosebumps too from that. 😊
8:20 Does she really play like that every week of the month?
@@matseriksson8177 every week of the month, every day of the week and every 40 hours a day 😊😂
Also Marche Slave is crazy. I can only imagine that the high pitched crescendos are the piercing screams and bellowing cries of war against the steady advance of a European battle all part of a greater orchestration of death which is war. The insanity of the brutality driving forward the onslaught of the European war machine, culminating later in nearly apocalyptic eruptions.
4:40 the cannons of Tchaikovsky's time didn't have fuses that you light like for dynamite, they had a kind of plug that you would pull and it would immediately fire
Some more to consider:
-Strauss: Salóme (Opera)
-Ligeti: Etudes Nr.13 “Les E’scalier diable”
-Messiaen: Turangaîlia Symphonie
-Penderecki: Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima
- Borodin: Polovtsian Dances, General Dance, Allegro
Devil's trill.. if you know the story and can visualise the themes of suicide and the devil, man it's so tough to be calm during it
That Penderecki piece is so fcking horrifying, you can almost hear the screaming people as the bomb dropped
Thank you for sharing those pieces. While watching I was a little bit disappointed that almost all the pieces mentioned in the video are like better known pieces.
Well, they already reacted to Penderecki on a video when they visited Poland
I want to add to you beautiful list Hall of the mountain king. I dare anyone to study while this is playing.
"Be ready to be not relaxed and calm": my brain to me every morning when I wake up lol
13:20 Valentina Lisitsa: This is literally the performance that made me make up my mind and start to study piano in a concervatory. I was 14 when I heard it. She is my favourite performer, I practically stalked her after hearing this and I'm in love with all her recordings. Even today, I still study piano because I dream to play like her. Thank you Valentina for all the inspiration you gave me!
I came to the comments just to find out who this woman is! Never heard anything so astonishing before. What a powerhouse!
@@snowyminnesota6028 yessss, she is a godess when playing the piano!
That's my favorite piece of classical music and she plays it better than anybody.
Valentina Lisitsa is a beast
Valentinas technicality is matched by very few, but her playing is sometimes dry. She is still my favorite pianist, the only recording of hers i actually dislike is chppin etude op 10 no 8.
Great list! A few others come to mind:
- Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, General Dance Allegro
- Mussorsky’s Night on Bald Mountain
- Stravinsky’s Petrushka (I find the whole piece disturbing)
Shostakovich's symphony no 8 3rd movt.
Yes I completely agree! Night on Bald Mountain definitely not a study fall asleep to piece 😁👍🏽
@@anisanancy6459 Yes! Pure menace. There’s a fantastic RUclips documentary called Shostakovich vs Stalin that highlights his amazing and courageous response to tyranny.
Would recommend Khachaturian's Gayaneh and Spartacus as well
- Shostakovich Symphony no 10, 2nd mvt (search for the one conducted by Dudamel at the Proms with a Venezuelan youth orchestra, its wild)
- Prokofiev cantata "They are seven" (for the dissonances)
- Chopin 24 Preludes, the 24th in d minor
- Bartók Bear Dance from Ten Easy Pieces
I'm sure we can go on for hours extending the list....
The second movement of the Moonlight Sonata is forgotten just like a middle child.
Funnily enough, i used strong classical music for studying 😂 notably like Danse Macabre and Dance of The Knights. This vid surely adds some to the list. Nailed it!
same
I'm one of those people that studies with classical music and I have like more than half of the pieces in my playlist xD
And actually it's the wildness and tension in the pieces that really calms me down and lets me focus
I know right. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but something about intense music helps me focus.
I recommend the finale to the Firebird by Stravinsky, 7 Romanian Folk Dances by Bartok, and because I cannot leave out one of my all time favourite operas, the Act 1 finale from the Barber of Seville by Rossini. A demonstration that music doesn't have to be dark and heavy to be epic! We have Onegin and the Ring for that ;)
When I saw the title of this video I was like “Verdi’s Dies Irae has to be on here.” I’ve sung it with my choir twice and it’s so much better live, it felt like the ground was shaking.
One of the other very much not relaxing pieces I’ve sung with my choir is the Battle on the Ice movement from Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev. There are parts of that where we were literally screaming and we were still drowned out by the orchestra 😂 Great stuff.
That movement from Nevkys' cantata is epic. I sang it with my choir many years ago and we could feel the stage floor trembling under our feet! Magnificent!
I was so disappointed not seeing Verdi in there ngl
I actually was forced to listen to pretty much all these pieces when I was younger while I was studying. My father really believed that classical music whether intense or peaceful sounding would help me focus on my math.... I can say it never helped lmfao
But overall I loved listening to every piece, it inspired me to sing opera music
I would like to inform everyone that I do in fact relax to the rite of spring, and I have many, many issues
The conductor of Holst's Mars is sooo fitting for this piece! She looks like a starwars villain🤩.
She is Susanna Mälkki, a brilliant Finnish conductor 😁 (And now all the Finns know where to meet to put up a party when Finland gets mentioned 😉)
@@pasiholtta oh good to know! Thx! She seems to be brilliant!
I used to think classical music is boring but after discovering you two and actually listening to it I found out I really like it and honestly I love violin it sounds so...cool
I love the emotions in classical music. To be able to have a whole orchestra making an environment feel so emotional and atmospheric.
The ambience of a live orchestra playing music is so epic. I hope everyone gets the chance to see it again soon safely! 💜
My personal favorite non-relaxed piece is the Infernal Dance of Kaschei part of the Firebird Suite. The part before it is all calm, relaxed, lulls you into a sense of safety and then BAM that orchestral hit comes, the brass take up the melody, and it's all foreboding and evil and stuff.
I thought for sure they'd mention the Firebird Suite. I've played that piece before and that BAM! surprised me even when was playing it. It still gets me when I listen to it.
As a metal head this is just what I was looking for in classical these pieces are great!
6:27 Dvorak Symphony 9 (not Jaws)
8:19 Shostakovich Quartet 8
performed by Janine Jansen (1st violin), Mischa Maisky (Cello), Sarah McElravy (2nd violin) and Julian Rachlin (Viola)
10:20 Vivaldi's Winter
10:35 (still Winter) phrasing
11:23 Dies Irae epicness
12:49 Moonlight Sonata III
13:25 4mil Mendelssohn
I would argue it's at least "also" Mischa's Quartet
Shostakovich's 8th quartet , as author himself writes to his friend, screenwriter and literature and theatrical reviewer Isaac Glikman is something that can be signed like "Dedicated to the memory of the author of this quartet" while he works for score to movie about events of eastern front of WW2 . It's about pangs of creativity.
so um a while back i found this piece written by ravel called "La Valse" and I swear it is a gem hidden under so many others, and seeing how it's so underrated for a piece so emotional and even "schizophrenic" I might add, I simply cannot recommend it enough to you guys, and I hope if there is ever another video of the same caliber coming from TwoSet, I hope they feature this piece. thank you for your time reading this
those glissandos tho
Thank you for this tip! Don't know how I missed this piece, absolutely loved it. Ravel is a chameleon composer, if I heard this piece not knowing who wrote it I wouldn't have guessed it. Must be a nightmare to rehearse..
La Valse is definitely one of my current favorite pieces, even to study to.
I was thinking about this Piece the whole Video! It keeps blowing me away. Makes you feel absolutely hyped and scared at the same time and the Rhythm changes in the end are just mad
“La Valse” is one of my favorites! Another underrated Ravel piece is his “Frontispice” for solo piano. He wrote it in 1917 after his service in WWI and right after his mother died. You can hear the agony and grief within the music. Plus, the last few measures truly have an eerie “Olivier Messiaen” feel to them.
Also, “not calming” pieces by Ravel: His Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and the 2nd Movement to his String Quartet in F Major.
So, is it weird that I literally studied for my final exams last semester to almost all of these pieces? There's something about the music that is calming while still driving me forward.
I know it’s all a joke, but I feel like standing up for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It is a beautiful piece in it self
Yeah 😂 it's hated jokingly but we all know vivaldi made an absolute banger, no matter how overplayed
You can enjoy the subtleties of different versions. Who was playing in this video? I would like to hear it, please!
Yes, four seasons is so good! I listen to it every night, it's amazing.
@@edtufic Janine Jansen
Thank you @Dorcas Dupe
Me: searches for relaxing classical music to study
Also Me: not studying but just trying to find the name of the piece
My dad has fired (played? lol) the cannon for the 1812 overture before!
Verdi - Dies Irae is the one I immediately thought of! I have a classicals music playlist where it's right at the beginning and I can't imagine doing anything else while listening, least of all study or read! In general I think the pieces with choir parts ae impossible to just have on in the background...
Anything with vocals is impossible to zone out too. Especially as a singer I'm automatically hyper attentive.
Listen to Teodor curentzis recording
I don't know, the Fauré Requiem is a pretty chill affair
As someone said "they sacrificed a virgin pagan to the pagan gods or something" -totally not TwoSetViolin
I mean, most people who say Classical music is relaxing can't even tell the difference between actual Classical music and just New Age/Indie Film OST lol
These pieces will go straight to my morning playlist
Edit: The canon sure feels like the drop in EDM hahahahaha also \m/ HOLST \m/
In the Scheherazade recording by Leif Segerstam and the Galician symphonic orchestra they also had a bit where all musicians start screaming simulating like a cavalry charge. It sounds really impressive. Great video guys!
bold of you to assume that i don't sleep to all these pieces - no but seriously i really do and yes, i do go see a therapist regularly
these are literally in my sleep playlist, send help well not all but i have 1812 overture, the planets, I. mars bringer of war, ride of the Valkyries, string quartet no.8 by Shostakovich, winter is my favorite of the four seasons so of course but i also but summer bc i can,of course i have dies irae and moonlight sonata, III.
I am so happy i am a part of this community right now and i can share this journey in real time with you guys
I mean, watching older stuff is great and since august i've been trying to catch up but it's just not the same as knowing that what you say in your videos is actually happening right now, seing your videos minutes after posting, liking your insta photos and seeing you evolving, growing and having good time right now, commenting on your tiktoks and getting all the interactions with the community, it's really cool and i'm very very very grateful
Omg a fellow swiftie😆btw you have 13 likes and I didnt want to ruin it
@@Hey-ng3rx hiiii!!
@@alexiab2815 well then I will like it😌
@@Hey-ng3rx
I can strongly recommend also listening to Yuja Wang's Prokofiev Toccata (in the recording on RUclips, she plays it as an encore after a concerto with the Berlin Phil). It`s insane.
Yes! Keeps your heartbeat up for a while...
I can proudly say that I have studied to all of the pieces in this list.
*short summary*
"Classical music is calming and relaxing"
Stravinsky: sacrificing rituals
Prokofiev: racing games
Holst and Wagner: war flashbacks
Vivaldi: freezing to the bone
Dvorak: final boss fight
Shostakovich: i hate myself quartet
Beethoven: i wanna die sonata
Verdi: dies irae (do i even have to say more)
Tchaikovsky: a freaking CANNON
00:42 Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
01:38 Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No. 7, III, Precipitato
02:54 Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
05:05 Holst - The Planets I. Mars, the Bringer of War
06:22 Dvorak - Symphony no. 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco
07:22 Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
08:12 Shostakovich - String Quartet no. 8
10:19 Vivaldi - Winter of the Four Seasons
11:21 Verdi - Requiem, II. Dies Irae
12:15 Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata, III. Presto agitato
I am but a simple person. I hear the Rite of Spring. I see dinosaurs fighting to the death in the rain before dying in an apocalyptic earthquake.
Two set inspired me to practice more and just recently, i got a violin because of them and am looking up to them as my ultimate goal, whether its 10, 20, 30 years or more. I love their style of making videos combining comedy, personal experiences, and interesting historic facts. I adore them. Keep it up guys!
I also have started playing the violin scince 1month, Good lucl
Hermione you will get there for sure! I mean, it gotta be easier than learning magic and dealing with Voldemort right!?
I'm just wondering what % of their 3.5M subscribers have taken up the violin (or other instrument) cos of them, myself now included. I'm keeping a tally out of interest and you're No:174 so far! My progress is slow so looking to 15yrs before I'm any way decent!
@@wakingtheworld I started violin 2 years ago because of TwoSet :)
@@joksanrentas2228 So you're now No:175! Hope you're progressing well. I'm still on 2nd finger and now have small callouses on my 2 fingers. (I do practice quite a lot!) But still loving it. At least I can play the right notes now but so often sound like crap!
My suggestions:
- Elgar Symphony 1, 2nd movement
- Shostakovich Symphony 10, 2nd movement
- Grieg Piano Concerto, 3rd movement
- Mahler Symphony 5, 1st movement
- Gershwin Piano Concerto, 3st movement
"- Shostakovich Symphony 10, 2nd movement"
You misspelled Symphony 11*, 2nd Movement.
@@PanchromaticNoise No, Symphony 10 is correct, go check it out
The most anti-calm piece I've ever heard is Threnody (for the victims of Hiroshima) by Penderecki. Guaranteed to raise every hair on your body.
Fun fact: it was written before the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan.
@@katherinemurphy2762 Source? A quick Google search told me it was composed in 1960 and premiered the following year.
@@stephenpastena8583 My source is my music professor in college who shared this fact when we were studying 20th century music.
@@stephenpastena8583 This seems to be correct. I checked Polish-speaking sources (Penderecki was Polish and I speak the language). Basically, in 1959 he won a 2-month stipend in Italy in a composition competition. He went there in December 1959 and came back with a draft of a piece, which he then completed over the following year. Initially he simply called it 8’37’, after its length. He sent it to the Fitelberg Competition in 1960 (and won). When in 1961 it was supposed to be sent to Paris to the Tribune Internationale des Compositeurs UNESCO (as the winner of the Fitelberg Competition), the director of the Polish Radio, Roman Jasiński, who were to take the composition there, suggested changing the title. After a consideration Penderecki decided to dedicate the piece to the victims of Hiroshima.
For anyone who doesn't know, cannons were discharged with long stick on fire that were placed into a hole on top of the back end of the cannon, which would set it off, and that's how you can time the cannon to the beat.
The fact that they've put Precipitato in this this list makes me love TwoSet even more!
Also, check out Prokofiev's Suggestion diabolique, 'cause, you know, nothing says calming and relaxing more then mentioning THE DEVIL
I was going to be very upset if Verdi's Requiem was not on here, hahahahaha. If you've never heard it in person, it's got to be one of the most exhilarating pieces ever written.
I was waiting for Dvorak 9! So glad it made the list. I would like to submit Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain and Hut of Baba Yaga & Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition for honorable mention. Thanks for another great video!
I was thinking of the original version of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, which is much more chaotic than the Rimsky-Korsakov version most people are familiar with
That entire symphony is probably my favorite