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

John,
Volume 1 is no slouch either. I have also found that these SACDs just want to be played loud, not something I typically do with classical music. It's the warm rich bass that wants to be heard. And thanks for the link to Dantone's piece as I discovered two more Arts lable recordings (I have 7 SACDs in the Arts lable - the production seems to be better than most). I do indeed like Vivaldi and on the strength of opinions in this thread I went ahead and ordered Janine Jansen in SACD. If I don't like it I have something nice to look at.

I will figure out how to properly hyperlink these to samples, but in the meantime here are a few of my favorite classical pieces:
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra - Albinoni/Pachelbel/Bach/Händel/Corelli/Vivaldi/Purcell (DG)
Yo-Yo Ma - Simply Baroque II: Bach & Boch
Ofra Harnoy - Vivaldi: Cello Concertos Vol. 3
George Frideric Handel - Oboe Concertos - Handel, Mozart, Haydn by Pamela Pecha (Oboe), Paul Freeman - Symphony Orchestra of Russia
Rinaldo Alessandrini; Concerto Italiano - Brandenburg Concertos
Händel — Heinz Holliger; Leppard, English Chamber Orchestra - Händel: Oboe Concertos, Concerto Grosso
Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon & Richard Tognetti - Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World

Thanks for reminding me that I wanted that. My sister owned the CD a long time ago, and I remember being very impressed by it.

I can only hope so John.

I wouldn’t get too wrapped up into that though. Did you actually listen to these two girls? They are quite good. And I doubt that Janine’s appearance is why I like that particular CD. I liked it before I realized it was an attractive women. I just like strings, cello in particular.

I have listened quite a bit more to all the classical CD’s I’ve purchased. I usually have them on random mix via my Slim Devices Duet, and I am continually drawn towards strings. I know for certain that I do not care for the works where there is a lot of brass involved. I like brass, but only if it’s old time jazz and live. They just don’t do it for me in a classical setting. I like the more peaceful string pieces. But, conversely, I like the very dynamic pieces that Mae does. Not her “wanna be a pop star crap”, but the pieces that she does with an orchestra background. You ought to listen to a couple and let me know what you think.

My wife and I and another couple spent yesterday afternoon at the Symphony and coincidentally Vivaldi's Four Seasons began the show. The gentleman whom is normally the concertmaster, Hok Kwan, was solo violin and guest conductor. While he is a very renowned violinist in our part of the country, I'm rather glad he chose to wear cloths.

Mike, listening to just segments of a classical composition meant to be heard in its entirety doesn't allow for really gaining an appreciation of the piece.

Okay, the local library didn't have the "Best of" Vanessa-Mae disc(could have requested it be sent from another library in the state in 3-4 days)but I took out five of her discs that had almost everything that was in "Best". Spent a couple hours tonight listening and the only track that I really enjoyed was the transcription for violin of Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot. This is a glorious melody composed to be sung by a tenor(e.g., Pavorotti), but which has been arranged for orchestra, piano, violin, etc. I believe this is the first time that I heard the violin transcription, and since it was well-played, I enjoyed it, as I said. The two segments from her slight rearrangement of The Four Seasons were interesting enough that I listened to all of it on the rather impertinently titled "The Original Four Seasons" disc. If I wasn't aware of the genuine original and better performances I probably would have been impressed enough to consider buying it. About the other items I have nothing good to say, so I won't describe my impressions.

In summary, she plays well, but that's nothing unusual these days and I won't bother listing the many that I'd view as a bit better. There're several very talented young Asian women playing today who are in the top rank, but judging from what I heard Vanessa-Mae isn't one of them. If you'd like to hear better examples in that specific category, for a beautiful cello disc consider The Swan by Ha-Na Chang. And if "strings" include those on a guitar, there's terrific playing here .

Also keep in mind that string quartets include a cello and if you didn't get my two favorites that I suggested to you a couple months ago(shame on you), you should enjoy the beautiful Debussy and Ravel disc and, as Fred did, this Borodin, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky disc with three favorite quartets.

What were the ones you suggested again John? I thought I bought all the disks you suggested.....

I love Guitar. I'll order your other suggestions as well.

.......I have an open mind.

Mike, I repeated the two string quartet links in my new reply in case you missed them previously(if so, cancel the shame on you). I think that you'd really enjoy those two and the two new cello and guitar discs linked.

Yea, shame on you!

John. So far, the Borodin et el and the Cello disc you recommended have shown of the qualities of my Axiom system more than any other music I have. The first time I listened to the cello concertos was on the cheap micro system I moved to my bedroom. I was very dissapointed. Then I listened on the main system. It was almost like two different discs.

Do you have any recommendations for Bach cello concertos? I have always really loved the bits of what I just learned is part of his cello concerto #1 and would like to pick up a disk that includes this one.

Fred, a clarification: J.S. Bach's most famous cello works are his Suites for solo cello. Are you possibly referring to his solo cello works? His son C.P.E. has some cello concerto works. So at this point I'm not certain which works you're looking for.

You are correct, I was thinking of the solo works. I guess that would rule out a concerto.