Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Recommendations for ten Classical CD’s?

I’d like to delve into Classical music a bit more than I do (which isn’t much). It’s nice to have it on during quiet get together’s with friends. The problem I have with buying any though is I love some that I hear and absolutely hate others. I just don’t know what to get. I’m not sure what to call what I like, but if it’s any help, my favorite piece is Giovanni Sollima - Sogno ad Occhi Aperti (Daydream) PART 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPf3yqq3-8

Another favorite of mine is pretty much the entire soundtrack for the movie; The Last Mohican. A friend of mine told me that I like “New Classical”, whatever that means.

If I could get a list of ten CD’s to order from Amazon, I’ll get them coming and report back. I’m sure there will be some I like more / less than the others, but that might a good place to start for buying additional CD’s. I prefer Amazon because they don’t screw me with shipping fees.

Know what I'd do? Pandora. Sign up for a free Pandora account and start creating channels of the music/composers/film scores that you like. Let it play, and make notes of what you like. I bet it would find some new stuff for you, and you could then use that to find other CD's.

I know what you mean about the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. That's one of my favorites as well. A very haunting album. If you like that, check out the albums by Clint Mansell, specifically, the soundtracks for Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. They're a little more 'upbeat' than LOTM, but I think they're similarly beautiful.

But as far as straight-up classical goes...
I'm simply in love with Janine Jansen's Four Season's album. I also like Nigel Kennedy's albums as well.

The Planets by Holst is a more modern piece and one of my favorites. I have this album , which I like quite a bit. That's a fun album, with Star Wars and Also Sprach Zarathustra. That's great as an opening piece when demoing your system to others. It sets the mood well.

Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin is also a great piece to have in your music library. Heck, a lot of Gershwin is nice because so much of it is recognizable by a general audience - it works well as 'background' music during a dinner party.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll get many, many more far better suggestions.

Pandora is a great idea Peter. That's definitely a good way to save money buying full albums you might not like. Does Pandora have a good classical library? I admit I've never even tried it with classical music.

Okay Mike, here're ten from Amazon, although some of the items are available at a bit better price elsewhere: Holst, Planets ; Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake ; Dvorak, Cello Concerto ; Respighi, Symphonic Poems ; Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances ; Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe ; Brahms, Hungarian Dances ; Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue ; Smetana, Ma Vlast ; Khachaturian, Spartacus .

Not ten, but some of my favorites...

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5
Beethoven Symphony #7 (as a bonus you get #5 as well!)
Holst - The Planets (The Dutoit recording is far and away my favorite)

Thanks guys!

I've been keeping a spreadsheet with a bunch of audio recommendations posted here that I am interested in. I don't claim to have gotten them all as I often forget to do it but here is the classical Tab I started recording since the first time I asked the same question.

It doesn't copy very well and I don't have time to fix it up but you will notice it starts with who recommended it. That way, if you don't like it, you know who to blame instead of me!!


Submitter Composer Conductor Title
Efalardeau Bach Goebel or Dantone Bach's Brandenburg concertos (with Goebel or Dantone
Efalardeau Bach Harnoncourt Bach's solo cello suites (Harnoncourt, Casal)
Efalardeau Bach Harnoncourt or Leonhardt Bach's cantata (from Teldec with Harnoncourt or Leonhardt)
Mojo Bach Bach and Canadian Brass: Sacred Brass
Efalardeau Bach French suites by Bach (played on cemballo, ideally with Gustav Leonhardt or Tom Koopman)
JohnK Beethoven Gunter Wand Beethoven Symphony No. 9(Wand)
JohnK Beethoven Harnoncourt Beethoven - Nine Symphonies
Spiffnme Beethoven Klieber Beethoven Symphonis 5 & 7
Spiffnme Beethoven Perahai / Haitink Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5
Efalardeau Beethoven Beethoven's string quartet from the middle period (7-11) (Italiano)
Efalardeau Beethoven Middle or late period string quartets by Beethoven (ideally played by Quartetto Italiano)
JohnK Berlioz Munch Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique(Munch)
Efalardeau Borodin Barenboim Borodin's Symphonies 2&3 (Barenboim)
JohnK Brahms Bogar Brahms Hungarian Dances(Bogar)
Efalardeau Brahms Brahms quintet for piano (Grumiaux)
Efalardeau Debussy La Mer and other orchestral work by Debussy
Efalardeau Dukas La Peri Dukas's Symphony (La Peri and L'apprenti sorcier)
JohnK Dvorak Kubelik Dvorak Slavonic Dances(Kubelik)
JohnK Dvorak Pierre Fournier Dvorak: Cello Concerto: (Pierre Fournier )
PeterChenoweth Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin
JohnK Holst Mehta Holst Planets(Mehta)
JohnK Khachaturian Temirkanov Gayaneh & Spartacus Suites
PeterChenoweth Mansel Clint Mansel, soundtracks for "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain."
Efalardeau Mozart Harmoncourt Mozart's Requiem (Harnoncourt)
PeterChenoweth Mozart Sharon Bezaly Mozart Flute Concertos; Rondo; Andante - (Sharon Bezaly)
JohnK Orff Muti Orff Carmina Burana(Muti)
JohnK Prokofiev Ashkenazy Prokofiev Cinderella(Ashkenazy)
JohnK Rachmaninoff Ashkenazy Rachmaninoff Symphonies, etc. (Ashkenazy)
JohnK Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances
JohnK Ravel Dutoit Ravel Daphnis et Chloe(Dutoit)
JohnK Ravel Martinon Ravel: Orchestral Works (Martinon)
JohnK Respighi Batiz Respighi Roman Festivals(Batiz)
JohnK Rimsky-Korsakov Batiz Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade (Batiz)
Efalardeau Schumman Harmoncourt Schumman's Symphonies no 3&4 (Harnoncourt)
Efalardeau Shostakovitch Shostakovitch symphonies
Efalardeau Shubert lieders Schubert's Impromptus for piano or his Moments Musicaux
Efalardeau Shubert Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin or Die Winterise (lieders)
JohnK Smetana Berglund Smetana Ma Vlast(Berglund)
JohnK Stravinski Ozawa Stravinsky Rite of Spring(Ozawa)
JohnK Tchaikovsky Lanchberry Tchaikovsky Swan Lake(Lanchbery)
JohnK Tchaikovsky Muti Tchaikovsky Symphonies, etc.(Muti)
JohnK various Carol Rosenberger Water Music of the Impressionists - Carol Rosenberger
Mark Johnson various Claudio Abbado Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Lieutenant Kij‚ / Abbado
JohnK Various Barber collection (Schippers)
JohnK Various Latin American collection(buy from Amazon seller)
Mojo Various The Quicksilva Collection: Volume 2 Vivaldi, Purcell, Handell
JohnK Various Vocalise
JohnK Vaughan-Williams Bakels Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 2(Bakels)
PeterChenoweth Vivaldi Janine Jansen Vivaldi's Four Seasons - (Janine Jansen)
Efalardeau Vivaldi Concerti by Vivaldi
Efalardeau Zoltan Zoltan Kodaly's sonata pour solo cello opus
Efalardeau El Amor Brujo from Manual de Falla (ideally the 1915 version, but they are all good)

You guys are awesome.

You're referring to the composers, right?

Hey, how did Mark get on that list??