Classical music for Rockers


I grew up in a non-musical household, so everything I heard was from the radio when my parents weren't listening. I quickly went from AM to FM, and from Pop to the AOR stations in Milwaukee at the time. I was raised (in a sense) on rock and roll radio.

It wasn't till much later that I was introduced to classical music. I have since been adding Bach, Mozart, Tscaikovski, and other to my regular playlist The last two things I bought were Mozart's Requium and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. I hope I spelled those right.

What I am curious about is if there are others out there with the same experience, and if so: What Classical music are you listening to regularly?
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First classical piece after LedZeps, Tulls, Zappas etc I turned on Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" conducted and soloed by Nigel Kennedy. This version of performance stayed the best for me after listening other different performances.
Yesterday I listened to "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovski with only breaks while I flipped over records conducted by G. Rozhdestvenski. Recording was made jointly by Melodia and Columbia labels.
Among the vocal classics I recommend first Beethoven 9th choral symphony. Now I'm "getting high" of Pergolessi -- a least known italian baroque composer who created stunning operas with great music.
Beethoven. The original punk rocker. I particularly recommend the Hammerklavier Sonata, op. 106 but really all the piano concertos, symphonies, everything.
Don't know why, but I think S. Barber makes for a good bridge between rock and classical.
Mahler, pure and simple. I'm an old rocker (music major) who also played percussion/timpani in symphony orchestras. Others to listen to would be Stravinsky, as mentioned above, Shastakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, Bruckner, Wagner (orchestral excerpts at least if you don't get into the opera).

I guess it kinda depends on what kind of rock you liked also, as to whether Bach, Mozart, etc. would do much for you. I listen to these some, but beyond appreciation for their work given the period, sonically they don't do much for me personally. I tend to gravitate towards more modern (verging on atonal) harmonic structures.