Classical Music Recommendations
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I have been a casual listener for years, but have never owned any classical discs.
Seeing as 1/2 of the collection at my local library is classical, and there are some connesuers here, I am looking for recommendations.
What is your favourite and why?
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Fred, borrowing CDs from the library is good for getting an idea about the specific music involved, but the performance and the sound quality on the disc are also very important and could lead to disappointment that wouldn't happen with the same music, but better performance and sound. The point is that it isn't helpful sometimes to buy or borrow a disc just because it happens to contain certain musical compositions. Some have scores of different CDs available, and they vary widely in quality, with resulting musical enjoyment also varying. I'll suggest the following specific CDs: The Planets ; Swan Lake ; Symphonic Dances ; Hungarian Dances ; Vocalise ; Stravinsky collection ; Latin American collection(buy from Amazon seller) . These aren't necessarily what are considered the "great" classical compositions, but they're colorful and exciting music(the Moffo CD which includes the Vocalise is the most beautiful vocal collection that I've ever heard)that should appeal to most listeners.
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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Joined: Dec 2007
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As always, I'm posting only half of what I thought.
Yes, I meant pieces that are both well recorded and a good intro to classical.
I have listened to bits of Swan Lake several times and it never turned my crank.
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Joined: Aug 2007
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connoisseur
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connoisseur
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This is a vast question as "classical music" encompasses 1000 years and varies greatly in terms of style and audiences. If you want to have "samplers" and then start narrowing down, I'll try to type a few (going for diversity).
Orchestral work --------------- 1) Bach's Brandenburg concertos (with Goebel or Dantone if possible) 2) Any Mozart's piano concertos (preferably #18 or higher and preferably with Barenboim) 3) Beethoven's symphonies (preferable #3 or higher) 4) Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (Coling Davis or Igor Markevitch) 5) Schumman's Symphonies no 3&4 (Harnoncourt) 6) Borodin's Symphonies 2&3 (Barenboim) 7) Debussy's La Mer (Boulez) 8) Dukas's Symphony (usually comes with La Peri and L'apprenti sorcier)
Chamber Music ------------- 1) Bach's solo cello suites (Harnoncourt, Casal) 2) Mozart's quintet for clarinet and/or trio for clarinet, viola and piano 3) Beethoven's string quartet from the middle period (7-11) (Italiano) 4) Brahms quintet for piano (Grumiaux) 5) Chopin polonaises 6) Schubert's Moments Musicaux
Vocal & Opera ------------- 1) Bach's cantata (any one, ideally from Teldec with Harnoncourt or Leonhardt) 2) Highlights for any opera from Mozart 3) Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin or Die Winterise (lieders) 4) Highlights from Verdi's Il Trovatore 5) Bizet's Carmen (actually there is a fairly good movie) 6) Mozart's Requiem (Harnoncourt)
This is a very, very quickly put together list as I was typing. Once you sample a few things, it gets a lot easier to help with further selection.
See Mojo's signature
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Thank you for your considered response Eric.
Sometimes you don't have, or can't remember the words to describe what you are looking for.
I have been exposed to Orchestral and some chamber music. The orchestral is largely what my parents listened to;most likely Mozart, Bethoven, Bach...
I have very much enjoyed some of the Symphonies I have listened to. I have also enjoyed some pieces for Cello.I really like the sound of the Cello.
At the moment I am listening to Folies, Les Voix Humains picked up based on the piece Les Folies d'Espagne, which I listened to on the radio on a most beautiful winter day while on my way to Axiom for an audition. Oh my. Such a rich sound!!
I had never heard of the Viola da Gambe until I listened to this piece.
I also picked up (from the library) Bach the Cello Suites, Steven Iserlis
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Les Folies d'Espagne is definately everything I remembered it as. This disc is a keeper.
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Fred, the mention of a musical instrument doesn't usually bring a specific recording immediately to mind, but your mention of the cello does here. The Dvorak Cello Concerto is considered by many(including me)to be the finest of the cello concertos, and of course there're several fine recordings available. However, outstanding is the performance by Pierre Fournier on a disc which also includes Bloch's haunting Schelomo and Bruch's Kol Nidrei. And there're practically giving it away!
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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Thanks John. I'll put it on my list
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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I listened to the Bach Cello suites, well disc 1 anyway, tonight. Very nice. I just love the sound of this instrument!
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Classical Music Recommendations
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Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
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I may have to look into that one.
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