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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
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
Hi Vedric,
When I was in the same spot as you back in the mid-1990's, I came upon a book called "Classical Music" by Phil Goulding which proved to be an invaluable tool for building a collection. It's written for the beginner, and it ranks the top 50 all-time composers (Bach is #1, Borodin is #50) and lists 5 essential compositions by each composer (Expanded lists are also included if you want more than 5 by a particular composer). With the help of this book I built a nice collection of music.
As for specific recommendations, I will throw out a couple of my all-time favorite orchestral pieces:

1) Petrushka - Stravinsky
2) Piano Concerto #5 - Beethoven
3) Christmas Oratorio - Bach
4) A German Requiem - Brahms
5) Slavonic Dances - Dvorak

To find the best loved performances of these and other works, Amazon.com reviews work great. To find the highest quality sound is more difficult. Sites like this one and SA-CD.net work fairly well. Also, certain labels such as Chandos and Hyperion are oriented more towards audiophile recordings, so go with CDs on those labels when you have a choice.

Enjoy the journey!

Tom
classical1
168 posts
 
vedric, another thing you might want to check out before spending to much on cd's is to take from the library a work like mozarts violin concertos and get 2 versions to compare: modern -vs- period piece performances. i spent a bundle when i first started only to later find out i loved period piece performance and have bought a lot of duplicate cds (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).. as you said you like cello, try haydns cello concerto in c. a version with awesome sound is steven isserlis with the chamber orch. of europe. i strongly agree with the advice previously given to use the library.. but i feel npr radio is the best place to get exposure, plus you can always find what was played on their web site. also..when i first got into this, like you, i only wanted the finest sounding DDD recordings (and still generally prefer them), but you will miss some of the greatest played classical music if you don't go the add recordings (pre 1980's).. good luck-- welcome aboard- you'll never look back
tejanolibre's avatar
tejanolibre
2 posts
 
https://www.discogs.com/lists/The-50-Greatest-Composers/1571

awesome list.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
+ 1 There is no better start than the NPR Guide to "Building A Classical CD Collection" by Ted Libbey .

You might not believe it now, but if you really fall in love with Western Civilizations  greatest artistic achievement the sound will become secondary .

sevs
301 posts
 
@schubert , what is your take on "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross??!!
I bought it on the whim because of the obnoxious title, got all pumped up to hate it. Ended up reading thru the night! Love the part where he compares PF to Mahler...!!!??? WTF!!??  
My point is, we all gravitate to Classical sooner or later, thats just how it is. Me struggling with Mahler is my own personal problem, unlike some suggestions on this Forum re Americana singers/songwriters I get a feeling that me "not getting it" is a problem with me, not Mahler. The fact that Bernstein in his "Infinite variety..." split us into 2 categories by our ability to comprehend Mahler bothers me a Lot!! 
To fall in love with  Bruch or Elgar violin concertos is easy, all you have to do is to listen (with Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mendelssohn you do not even need a push!) but how do you "evolve" into Mahler? Or you do not?
Bruckner, King Crimson, and Klaus Schulze are in constant rotation on my stereo, in those rare moments when Family is not in the house (I love my fav tunes served Loud!)

Methinks I can give some pointers towards Faulkner and William Golding readers, you should not get into them until you spent some time with J-P Sartr, Dostoyevsky, maybe Edgar Poe or Bradbury. But what would be the "steps" towards Mahler???


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