I don’t know anything about it (I have everything by Beethoven on my iPod, but that’s it), but once in a while I’ll turn on the classical music station (only thing on the radio I’ll voluntarily listen to), and I’ll come across some stuff I find really catchy, yet I never remember the names. Couple weeks back they played something that I vaguely remember the name of. Yet, I believe it had the words “fiery” and “festive” in the title, and maybe either Danish or Polish also. Musically, it sounded like someone was hammering metal in the background. I have a feeling that even for those who know classical music that this will go nowhere.
Things that may lead to a more helpful answer: What was, to the best of your ability, the musical form (opera, symphony, etc), was their a dominate insturment (piano, violin, vocals, etc) or family of insurments (strings, woodwinds, chorus) and how long was the peice? Is there a way you could gauge the time period? Can you describe the “hammering metal” sound in more detail? Was the piece more melodic, rhythmic, tonal? What sound dominited the rhythm, melody, and tonality? What was the tempo fairly consistent, can you describe the tempo?
Also more importantly, did you check the website of the station, or call and ask? Tha would probably be the best way to find out, particularly if you can date (and time) what you listened to.
Off the top of head (and probably wrong) suggestions:
Something from the Stravinsky “Firebird” ballet
Handel’s “Royal Fireworks” music
Or just because you said hammering metal it could be the very famous “Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”; but probably not, as everyone has heard that a thousand times over and the title is nowhere near what you stated.
Symphony, strings, seemed to be around 5 minutes (I know it was no longer than 10), melodic (especially with the “hammering”), the tempo seemed fairly consistent. The hammering noise sounded just like something hitting metal. It didn’t sound like any instrument, but went well with the song.
If it helps I remember the title of it having 3 words.
rite of spring by stravinsky or someone. it was firey and tribaly for classicla music if i remember correctly.
This is the song I was looking for. When I was looking on Google the title was Feuerfest! (Fire Festival Polka, Op. 269) by Josef Strauss.
You could try yes.com in the future. It tells you what was playing on most radio stations during the day(and sometimes give you a youtube link to the song)