Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Telarc Jazz and Classical Recommendatiions

I am thinking of placing my 1st order with Telarc. I am looking for great instrumental jazz and classical music recordings. I am sure you kind folks would have some excellent suggestions :). I am looking for anywhere between 5-10 c.d's. I am not into vinyl and I do not own a SACD player so those formats are out of the equation.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated

Dr., for a selection of Telarc CDs I'd suggest the following: Barber collection ; Gershwin collection ; Rachmaninoff Concertos ; Vaughan Williams ; Dvorak Slavonic Dances ; Glazunov Seasons ; Rachmaninoff Symphony and Dances ; Ravel collection; Kondonassis harp ; Smetana Ma Vlast .

JohnK

Thank you for taking the time to post. I will put these c.d's on my list :), very interesting selections . Do you have any favorites from that selection?

I notice they are all classical c.d's that you recommended. Are there any jazz c.d's that are worth ordering as well?

Thanks again for your help

I looked through Amazon.com at Telarc's jazz selections as I don't believe that I have any jazz from Telarc. I found a couple of McCoy Tyner CDs and a couple of Dave Brubeck CDs. Both of these musicians are jazz pianists. I have CDs of theirs on other labels, so I could not give you any specific titles but I do enjoy their music. I did not take the time to look at all 400+ choices on Amazon but for my tastes I would stick to classical on Telarc.

Thanks davidsch for your reply

I guess I will stick with the classical recordings from them.

In general what are some good instrumental jazz disks?

I don't know your taste in Jazz, but "Beyond Standard" by Hiromi's Sonicbloom is some pretty darn great comtemporary fusion jazz, and there's actually very little fusion I enjoy; it's one of only a few jazz albums I own recorded for the Telarc label.

I can appreciate anything that sounds good, really does not matter about the genre (except country and rap). As of this moment anything in the jazz or classical realm will do.

Thanks for your suggestion Zhimbo

I used to say anything except country and rap, too, but then I somehow removed that mental block and can now enjoy selected offerings in both of those genres. There was some denial involved, initially, but now I'm a better person for it.

Oh I have listened to my fair share of rap and country. They just do not do anything for me at this stage of my life.

I completely understand. I feel the same way about Raffi now.

I still hold Fred Penner near and dear to my heart

Then you'll enjoy this.

Dr. House,

There is a French jazz pianist, Jacques Loussier, who plays jazz versions of Bach, and he's excellent. The discs are very well recorded--really fine acoustic or electric bass, and the miking of the drum kit is superb. I have two of his CDs--I'm sure they are on the Philips label. I've used them for years for speaker tests because of the great recording of bass, drums and cymbals. The piano sound is first-rate as well. He is technically excellent and I'm sure he studied and played classical Bach for years, then switched to jazz.

All my CDs are in my mega-changers, so remind me and I'll pull the Loussier discs out to tell you the names and disc numbers. It's the Jacques Loussier Trio.

Try some of the Telarc classical samplers. They are very good and present a variety of selections. There is also a Ray Brown (the bassist) anniversary CD set, where he invites a lot of differernt artists to record with him. Also some Oscar Peterson Telarc jazz discs that are quite good.

Regards,

I second the Loussier recommendation. I have the Goldberg Variations disc and it is superbly recorded.

I've never gotten into jazz that much, but in my effort to gain an appreciation for it I'll definitely check Loussier out.

Thanks for your input Alan! I will add those to my list as well:). Good stuff!

Actually these already are my Telarc favorites; I had to make several cuts to get it down to that number. If any further cuts were needed I'd probably stay with discs 2,4,5,6,7 and 8. I didn't include any purely jazz CDs since my own listening is almost entirely classical(together with some of the older Broadway and Hollywood musicals plus some film scores, e.g. Bernard Herrmann for The Day The Earth Stood Still)and my jazz expertise is very limited. Gershwin of course was heavily influenced by the jazz idiom in his music and the suggested disc is a bit jazzier than most since it uses the original jazz band version of Rhapsody in Blue(played by an excellent Canadian pianist, the late William Tritt).

One amendment is that I noticed that just recently Telarc re-packaged its Vaughan Williams material into a 2 CD for the price of one set . Now, in addition to Symphony 2 and Lark, Symphony 5 and the Fantasias are included, making it an even better buy than the listed disc .

Thank you for your insight JohnK. You must have a pretty extensive collection of classical music?

Yeah, have roughly a thousand CDs(which is by no means a huge collection), and about 96% are classical. As mentioned, I also have some of the musicals such as Show Boat, Kismet, Brigadoon, etc. and some of the film scores which can stand by themselves as enjoyable music even if the film itself sucked.

I enjoyed the music from Show Boat quite a bit. "Old Man River" is always a good one. I haven't heard it forever and do have the CD somewhere. Thanks for the reminder John.

PS: After checking, it looks like I even ripped this CD to my network streaming files... queuing it up now!

Jason

Yeah, Jason; thought that was a good idea, so I punched up and just finished one of my Show Boat CDs, my favorite, the McGlinn production . Of course I like Ol' Man River, but to show where my emotions reside, my real favorites are Make Believe, Can't Help Lovin' That Man, You Are Love, and Why Do I Love You.

I have, one, two, oh crap! not that many...

Hi Dr. House,

Telarc jazz update and corrections: the Philips CD is called "Jacques Loussier: The Best of Play Bach" (Philips CD 824 664-2). And the other Loussier CD is not on Philips--it's on Telarc Jazz CD-83474, called "The Bach Book; 40th Anniversary Album Jacques Loussier Trio".

Of the two discs, the Philips CD has more spaciousness in the sound and it's technically a better recording than the Telarc, which is certainly good, but the Philips is truly superb. Musically they're both really fine.

The other Telarc jazz disc is a sampler called "Telarc Jazz: Celebrating 25 years", issued in 2002. It has a variety of different tracks and artists, with some variation in recording quality (interesting in itself) plus some vocals.

Finally, a very early classical Telarc digital recording (1981) that still stands up in sound quality and musical values--a rich mix of Russian, Spanish and French works by Rimsky-Korsakov (Capriccio Espagnol); Turina (Orgia) and Debussy (Iberia) the latter with lots of dramatic Spanish musical flourishes and a good Telarc bass drum. It is Telarc CD-80055 and is wonderfully melodic. I can't imagine anyone not liking it. It features the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Eduardo Mata, conductor.

Alan

Very nice. Thanks Alan!! I will definitely check those out.

Thanks for taking the time do that Alan. I am very intriqued about these disks. These will make a nice present for myself for this coming holiday season :).

Its time to copy and paste all of these wonderful posts from this thread into notepad and print:).

Happy to do it. When I searched for the discs, I got into the music again and compared the two Loussier discs and the others as well.

Regards.

I'll have to refer to this thread when I have some more spending money. Like Sean, I've never really gotten that into jazz, but it's probably worth taking another run at. Classical I have to be in the mood for, but I've enjoyed some of the recordings I've purchased quite a lot.

Hi CV,

You have to be really selective with jazz because there is a lot of really boring stuff, where any sign of the melody is obscured by what I call "aimless noodling".

What's great about the Bach jazz piano discs is that Bach wrote great melodies and Jacques Loussier always keeps the melody prominent. In some ways, I think his jazz treatments of Bach are more enjoyable than the originals. If Bach were alive today, I think he'd approve of Loussier's jazz treatments.

ALan

I listened to some samples last night and I really did enjoy it. Alan, you're right, the typical noodling stuff drives me crazy. My dad listens to jazz and he likes to whistle along, only it sounds like he's whistling to a different song all together. Maybe that's what's turned me off jazz for so long.

Love it!

That's good to know, Alan. Sounds like I'll definitely have to try him out.

You mean improvisation - the core of jazz? But I know what you mean

So here is my list so far (let me know of any further suggestions or any current suggestions to add to this list).

Andre Previn & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra : Everybody's Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasy, Lark Ascending, Symphonies 2 and 5, Greensleeves. Catalog # 80738

Yoel Levi & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra : Dvorak: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 & Op. 72. Catalog # 80497

Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra : Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue, Concerto In F major, "I Got Rhythm" Variations, "Rialto Ripples". Catalog # 80166

David Zinman & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra : Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 & Symphonic Dances. Catalog # 80331

Yoel Levi & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra : Holst: The Planets. 80466

Jesus Lopez-Cobos & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra : Ravel: Bolero, Rapsodie espagnole, La Valse, Alborado del gracioso, Valses nobles et sentimentales.Catalog # 80171

Ray Brown, John Clayton & Christian McBride : SuperBass (Recorded Live At Scullers). Catalog # 83393

Jacques Loussier Trio : The Bach Book. Catalog # 83474
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Where is the best place to order these two albums from?

I could not find the Rimsky-Korsakov et al c.d on the telarc website. Catalog # CD-80055.

Jacques Loussier: The Best of Play Bach" (Philips CD 824 664-2)

Thank again for the awesome suggestions :).

Yeah, Shane, Alan's comment kind of made me wince, too...

Excellent list(but you definitely shouldn't skip the Glazunov disc), including the added Planets by Levi. For choices other than Telarc, I can supply them in almost any number that you might care for.

Yes, the Rimsky disc by Mata has been discontinued by Telarc, but still can be had from several sources. My suggestion would be to use one of the Amazon sellers . I've had very favorable experiences dealing with them, and in particular CDs described as "like new" have in fact been that. You might try one of the offers for around $3(of course, shipping will add substantially). You might also try the same source for the Loussier disc.

Great to know JohnK. I will add that to my list Thank's for that info!:)

The only Telarc I own is this:

Frederick Fennel and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds - Holst: Suite No.1 & 2/Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks/Bach: Fantasia in G

I like it - good music with plenty of dynamics. Amazon US sell it for $9.98

Shane