Your gateway to classical music

Watch how Max Richter created "Blue Notebooks", a record where he has created a new musical language, incorporating the best elements of classical and electronic music. As he explains, this work is "an attempt for music to comment on society, and specifically it's a sort of anti-violence record, it's about political, social, personal brutality and a kind of a protest against that". And he continues "what I wanted to create was something that had a sense of luminosity and sort of brightness, but made from the darkest possible materials, sort of transmuting base metal into gold".

The soundtrack for the "Final Fantasy" video games are as wide reaching as the video games themselves. In this music there are influences from all the spectrum of classical music, from Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Stravinsky to John Williams, James Horner and Hans Zimmer, all of which are topped off by a love of 70s prog rock, jazz, pop and electronica which adds a more modern twist to this type of music. Memorable and catchy melodies is Uematsu's secret of success and this music is definitely one of those.   

"O Albion", is a slow, quiet hymn very much like Elgar's "Nimrod" from the "Enigma Variations", and in the same key. It most probably relates to a white cliff land, its name coming from  the latin "albus" which means white. Moving and mysterious music, which takes you away, by one of the most prominent classical music composers of his generation.

A modern music pop version by Craig Armstrong, accompanying the well-known romantic balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet. The setting begins with Juliet declaring  her love to Romeo, while Romeo remaining hidden and  overhearing her on the balcony. For this part of the story, Armstrong uses solo piano, playing a slow, romantic melody. When Romeo comes out from hiding to declare his love for Juliet, you can listen to the entry of the orchestra, enriching the music as the story now takes a new twist. And then the music further grows as the couple agrees to be married, with several high violin passages being heard, expressing the intense happiness of Romeo and Juliet as they are overcoming the difficulties faced by the two opposing families.

The Glorious Garden is a collection of compositions inspired by poems about  plants and flowers. Composer Debbie Wiseman has transformed these words into music, thus merging music with gardening! As Debbie Wiseman says "The idea was to have the characteristics of the personalities of the flowers, as well as the poetry....so the music tells that story!"

Spiritual, peaceful and ethereal music which makes you feel like you are flying above the clouds. The various layers are accompanied by a soprano gradually soaring voice, which adds a sense of revelation to the music.      

Inspiring and moving, this music really shines in the "Inception" soundtrack,  an exceptional music achievement by Hans Zimmer, which perfectly intertwines with plot, characters and action to create an original and thought-provoking modern film. The music evokes a sense of life, a person's return to reality, and the importance of time in our lives. We should take advantage of time to create purpose in our lives. The music has no tension,  it helps us realize the essence of time but also the difficulty in controlling time in our lives.  

This music, the second movement of the piano concerto by Nigel Hess and commissioned by Prince Charles in memory of his grandmother (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), is a reflection of the love for her family. An extremely romantic piece, which became known by the well-known pianist Lang Lang who performed it for the first time. The pianist has said: "I think the second movement is one of the most beautiful slow movements you can find for the piano."

One of the most played film themes, beautiful and poignant, a colourful mix of classical, jazz and latin. The film is all about passion, romance, hope and nostalgia, and how people may fall in and out of love in different times of their lives, depending on their situations. All these different colors of the movie, together with its bittersweet ending, the regrets and the acceptance of the failed love, successfully merge in the "Epilogue" track, to create a roller-coaster of emotions.

Compelling and sorrowful at the same time, this piece was first played in the film "Amélie", a comedy and depiction of contemporary life in Paris. Its nostalgic hint is also apparent in its name which suggests the revival of a sweet, marking memory from a past summer.  

Built upon repetition of melodic patterns, the melody develops slowly, sometimes holding back and repeating, other times moving forward, but eventually progressing. The phrase "River Flows in You" is quite enigmatic, so the meaning behind the piece is subjective but one could think of the fruition of love, and how it gradually builds up between people, like a river of soaring emotions. 

A mysterious music to accompany a mysterious plot, where a mute woman who is very attached to her piano, but taken away from her, is forced to give piano lessons to a man who will help her earn her piano back, by allowing him to do certain things of sexual nature while she plays.  A strong passionate bond eventually develops between them which exerts on the woman a type of gravitational pull towards death. The music has been named after Emily Dickinson's poem "The Heart asks Pleasure – first" which describes what the heart desires most – pleasure and living life without pain.  The music is dark and enigmatic just like the story, replacing the woman's voice and conveying her thoughts.

Peter Gregson adapted Bach's "Cello Suites" by adding electronic sounds and resonance and the result is a modern version of this masterpiece, which creates a more minimalistic and ambient music. This is a similar work to Max Richter's "Recomposed Four Seasons". As Peter Gregson says “Rather than thinking about Bach’s compositions as a two-dimensional painting, I thought about them as sculpture. So, although the object is the same, if you turn it around and see it from a different angle – shine the light on it in a different way – you get different textures; new shadows, new shapes appear; new pathways through the melodies and harmonies. The result is more like a suite of fantasias on a theme (of the original compositions), but still recognisably the same material... at least I hope so!” 

As the composer Jennifer Higdon has said: "Cathedrals represent a place of beginnings, endings, solitude, fellowship, contemplation, knowledge and growth. As I was writing this piece, I found myself imagining a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky. Because the walls would be transparent, I saw the image of clouds and blueness permeating from the outside of this church. In my mind's eye the listener would enter

from the back of the sanctuary, floating along the corridor amongst giant crystal pillars,

moving in a contemplative stance. The stained glass windows' figures would start moving with song, singing a heavenly music. The listener would float down the aisle, slowly moving upward at first and then progressing at a quicker pace, rising towards an immense ceiling which would open to the sky…as this journey progressed, the speed of the traveler would increase, rushing forward and upward. I wanted to create the sensation of contemplation and quiet peace at the beginning, moving towards the feeling of celebration and ecstatic expansion of the soul, all the while singing along with that heavenly music. " Imagine....

Minimalism in music might sound as something like too "basic" but with the right composer, such as Max Richter, simplicity, a quality inherent to minimalism, can create a direct connection between music and your heart. For some people this music triggers sadness, being beautiful and painful at the same time, for others it brings the realisation of the beauty of life and the importance of living life to the fullest.

Yoshimatsu's music is a revelation. Drawing from a vast range of music influences, including rock and jazz, he composes music which even when is dramatic, it is this kind of soft, distant, nostalgic dream. The composer has named himself the "new lyricist" as he "decries unmusical trends in modern music”. "Memo Flora" is music which makes you feel you are escaping in a dream world. The first movement ("Flowers") "celebrates flowers blooming quietly in a spring field, against a background of shifting colours". The second movement ("Petals") is like "flower petals floating on the water". And it's in the wonderful finale ("Bloom") where "spring speeds away from the spring field, in full bloom".

This piece, arranged either for 12 musicians or for 6 playing against a recording of themselves, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. The 2  sextets are identical and each one is composed of the following 6 instruments: flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin and cello. Doubling the instrumentation was done so that, as in so many of my earlier works, two identical instruments could interlock to produce one overall pattern. Bearing contemporary sounds and rhythm, the music has been inspired by other kinds of music, from rock and jazz to hip­ hop. Through its fractured rhythms and many changes of moods, it offers a look and a listening on duality: confrontation or cooperation? Synchronisation or imitation? Incompatibility or complementarity? 

This engaging amalgamation of different music styles (such as minimalism, classic rock, jazz) and different instruments (flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, and cello) traps the listener in an energetic ambiance music, creating a positive mood. The musicians are extremely talented. As the composer has said: "It’s a music piece that tries to take advantage of their unique skills and personalities". 

Relaxing minimalistic music, using slow contemplative guitars and synthscapes to build a music crescendo and cultivate a feeling of mystery. “To me, this War of the Worlds version is not about an alien invasion, it’s about people,” Martijn said in a statement. “I wanted to translate that with an unpolished, minimalistic score. The DNA of the War of the Worlds score was made before the first frame was shot. I’ve used still images of empty streets and cities and hang them on the wall as an inspiration to create that surrealistic alien feeling.”

Zimmer started composing this music before the creation of the music had even started and with Zimmer not knowing about the plot. The director of the film, Christopher Nolan, had told him: "I am going to give you an envelope with a letter in it. It’s going to tell you the fable at the centre of the story. You work for one day, then play me what you have written”. Zimmer had no idea that the movie would be a science fiction futuristic movie. He wrote a 4-minute piece for piano and organ which was based on the essence of "what is meant to be a father". When he gave Nolan his first draft of composition, Nolan loved it. He said "...now I know what the heart of the story is". So, the movie became something more essential than a simple futuristic and dystopian movie about the end of life on earth, as a result of overpopulation, and humanity searching for a new planet to inhabit. It became the story of the bond between a father and his child and the sacrifices this bond entails. So when you listen to this music, you dive not only into science fiction but also into something more personal and more human.

Despite the challenging combination between heavy metal and classical music, this performance is one of our favorites. This is a hybrid between Rossini's "William Tell Overture" and Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" and is extremely enjoyable!

"Nessum Dorma" from Puccini's opera "Turandot" is one of the most favorites arias. Imagine this aria being played by one of the world's favorite guitarists, Jeff Beck. An interesting blend of opera and rock, especially for those who like both genres of music.  

Inspiring and memorable music composed by Vangelis Papathanasiou for an inspiring and memorable film "The Chariots of Fire". Vangelis' compositions are made with electronic instruments. As he says of his music:  "The source is electronic, but what you do with it is the same as with acoustic instruments. ...Without neglecting the acoustic conventional instruments, I spend a fair amount of time dealing with the electronic sources of sound. But please do not think computers! Computers are extremely helpful and amazing for a multitude of scientific areas, but for me, when it comes to creation, they are insufficient and slow. Therefore all of my efforts are to stay away from that beast."