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Classical fans, I need advice

I need a bit of advice. I've been listening to sample classical recordings (from tower records and amazon) for over 3 months trying to find a place to start. My interest began when I first became entranced by Alison Krauss + Union Station and Nickel Creek. I've gained a new appreciation for classical styles and the violin (fiddle?) in particular.

I listened to: Hilary Hahn - Bach: Violin Concertos on Deutsche Grammophon and enjoyed it. It wasn't too pretty, nor too symphonic. It's intimate and large at the same time. Maybe not quite as romantic as I might prefer but I honestly cannot say without hearing more. Keep in mind I'm not describing the performance here just the music. I'm thinking I will take the plunge with this Hybrid SACD.

Based on this can I be "profiled" and perhaps pointed in a direction? I know these works come from the Baroque period. I also read this in an amazon review "Shortly after Bach's time, the structure of a concerto changed from an ensemble piece for chamber musicians to a piece for soloist and full orchestra. Hence many recordings of these pieces are done by 'name' soloists and 'name' orchestras and lose their intimacy in the process. This recording does not; kudos to DG and Hahn for the choice of the thoroughly musical and consummately professional Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for this disc." I really don't know if this is significant to my enjoyment of what i've heard but I thought I should mention it.

A few other notes about myself. Sound quality is of extreme importance to me. I simply cannot enjoy music on poor recordings. Something else, I really like the song from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack titled "Concerning Hobbits" composed by Howard Shore and performed by the New Zealand S.O. Again I'm not sure if this points me to a specific classical style or period but I figured I would mention it.

Any comments are appreciated
Vedric
vedric
cpdunn99's avatar
cpdunn99
639 posts
 
I agree with Bomarc that you might like Hahn's Beethoven Violin Concerto. For a historical version other than Heifitz (is Perlman in that category yet?!), there's Schneiderhan with Jochum conducting the Berlin Philharmonic (it's on DG).
gileon
45 posts
 
Vedric

That RCA Living Stereo CD of Heifetz playing Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin Concerti is a great recording of a great performance. Some people dislike Heifetz's Mendelssohn (too fast), but I love the way he rips into the notes and yet infuses each note with such gorgeous tone and musicality, especially in the 3rd movement.

Matter of fact, you couldn't go wrong with his recording of Tchaikovsky and Brahms Violin Concerti also on RCA Living Stereo and Bruch's Violin concerto #1, Scottish Fantasy (also by Bruch) and Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto #5 on RCA Victor.

BTW, IMHO, the "right" Beethoven Violin Concerto was recorded by David Oistrakh with Andre Cluytens conducting some French orchestra on Angel/Seraphim label. The only 2 problems are, I think it's out of print and sound quality is not that good (listenable but a bit of a tape hiss and there's a bit too much treble energy). But the performance is simply stunning. Oistrakh lives up to his grandiose reputation on this one.
vedric OP
46 posts
 
I should clarify what I meant by the "right" Beethoven Violin concerto. The three I listed are simply labels known to me. Each has a reputation for quality sound. I figure my best chance to grow within the genre is to get the best recorded sound of works I think I may enjoy first. This will allow me to fully appreciate some of the more complex passages I'm sure to be bombarded with soon. From there I can later work backwards into finding performances I prefer. So when I said "right" I simply meant the best engineered disc. My mistake!
914nut
100 posts
 
Vedric---Yesterday I took the plunge and bought a two-CD set of Alison Krauss+Union Station's live performance in Louisville. The music and recording quality are both great!
Thanks for nudging me in this direction.

I also bought another of the "Bluegrass Picks On...." series. I mentioned before the "Phish" version. This time it's Led Zeppelin. Never having paid much attention to original Phish stuff, I didn't recognize anything, but I remember lots of the LZ tracks from the heady days of their popularity. It's another very good recording.

I'm anxious to hear results of your end of the "dare", heh heh.

BTW---I just thought of another classical piece you might enjoy: Kurt Weill's "Dreigroschenoper Suite" (Three Penny Opera). I have several recordings, but my favorite is by The Chicago Pro Musica on Reference Recordings, the most recent version being in a two-CD set compiling, along with the Weill, music which used to occupy three separate CDs.
Included in the set is the suite from Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat", another of my longtime favorites (I still have the original Columbia mono LP of Stravinsky conducting).
Jim
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
With talk of audio quality and chamber music I must repeat my recommendation of Tacet series of DVD-A discs. (A German audiophile label).

In general, Mozart is the best classical composer to start with. He was the "Pop" composer of his day.

The idea of borrowing from a library and/or listening to classical radio programming is good. So too is going to live concerts, if you can do that.
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