Classical Music for Aficionados

I've found , after about a dozen amps, that Belles has the goods on what is needed for Classical . Neutrality, clarity , instrumental differrentation, depth
and a tiny dab of warmth .

There were and I ordered 5 CD’s from Amazon I have on Vinyl .
Somebody must agree with me on "The Late LvB Quartets " by the Yale Qt.
A vinyl box is available for only $214 .

The best sounding albums I've ever heard, as in the performance is in my living room, are the Vanguard Classical's from the 50's, 60's . Very close
to live music  The ones with the circle saying"The Bach Guild " are !

I'll have to see if any CD's of them are available .

You made my day rvpiano .
The Frank has always been a favorite of mine , usually have 3-4 different renditions .
I remember the first time I heard this one thinking "so that’s how you do it" !
And I had heard great artists , Menuhin and his sister, do it live .As you
no doubt know, Chung has had many health problems , her technique is nowhere as good as it once was, but hearing her live recently was a masterclass.Still a magnificent musician and damn the technique .
Lupu is Lupu . Like Liszt was Lizst .

P.S. I hope you haven’t forgotten how fine his String Quartet in D is .
Used to have a killer version of that by the Fitzwilliam Qt. on Decca .
 It surely must be one of the hardest Qt's to play in the rep, about like late  LvB .

One of mine as well twoleftears . 117,118 ,119 are comfort food .
 Lupe is at his finest  in  Brahms and Schubert IMO buts he's so good on everything  whose to say .
A fabulous LP I used to have was Lupu doing the piano works of one of  my
very favorite modern composers , Leos Janacek, was to die for but its long
gone .

One that didn't get lost of Janacek's piano music , some of the most original, charming and lyrical music written by any modern composer,
is Rudolf Firkusny playing his 3 most famous pieces on RCA 60147-2RC .
A CD with very good sound that is truly iconic .

Many/most of the CD’s are excellent recordings of great music . The Doc had VERY good taste !

Given that classical music has many different genres within itself I would think you would make more selling one at a time . Few people like all kinds.
One the other hand the market for classical is small and getting smaller and
that might take a long time .
You can just grab a CD and start listening, there are no rules . Most people I know started with Symphonies and moved to
solo piano, string quartets etc. Some do the opposite .
Religious people are often drawn to choir music of a religious bent . IMO the best composers to start with are Mozart, Schubert, Bach , Beethoven ,Tchaikovsky and Monteverdi . If you like solo piano Chopin and Schumann.

If I didn't make it clear the collection is top-notch !
I'd sit on it awhile and see if I get a bite.
If not you can always sell them one at a time .

sevs, you are more than welcome . Does an old mans heart good to read your post !
A composer that is hardly unknown , Ralph Vaughan Williams, IMO still is not recorded or played enough .One of his pieces"The Lark Ascending" if not the most plain beautiful piece ever written is right up there with whatever is .

There are many fine recordings , best deal is Sarah Chang on EMI with Haitink and London SO as 4 other of his most popular works are a bonus .
If you feel like crying{no joke} the recent one with Nicola Benedetti will get you there .

To all , I don’t think Telemann has been mentioned, Bach’s buddy and his near equal wrote about
as much music as anyone has and it’s all worth listening to .A half-dozen
of his works were attributed to Back for several centuries and nobody was the wiser .

A compilation of his best Concertos are on EMI 5 034345-2 with Berlin Baroque Soloists , His One for Oboe d’amore and Viola d’amore is to die for. Sound is excellent, I used this for years as my demo CD for purchases .

November edition of Gramophone has RAVE reviews of  both " A London Symphony "  and "Symphony Antarctica" .
Former on Hyperion with BBC SO/Brabbins , later on Chandos  with Bergen Phil./Sir Andrew Davis . Former "essential listening for all RVW devotees" , later"a distinguished release" .Sound is always good on both labels. Chandos esp.usually has great depth .
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I've never forgotten a quip made by Gramophone reviewer many years ago.
"The difference between RVW and Bartok is the difference between English and Hungarian folk-music " .

I have never seen a Nonesuch CD of that .
Another Ristenpart Nonesuch LP I treasure is Haydn’s Symphonies 7,8, 9
"Morning", "Noon" and "Night " . with lovely Sarre CO . There are vinyl of these on Amazon .
Some of Haydn’s most charming works on any label .

I don't doubt as many atheists listen to religious music as believers terry9 , of course its open to all . I’ve known atheists who live more Christian lives than
most Christians do . The 3 or 4 I’ve known well were all lovers of life who were "jilted " lovers by the evil so called believers cause and the good they don’t do .

I have both the LP and CD of the Yale LvB and IMO $214 is too much .
My LP set is now undergoing cryo at -12F in my MN storage locker, maybe that will change my mind .

sevs, I owned that Delos Hovhaness as well .  Great sound !

There is a fine 30 CD set of RVW on Warner Classics, if memory serves about 60$ on Amazon . Vocals works are excellent .Nothing bad .
Boult, Groves and Handley etc, all noted as RVW approved .
Only drawback is no notes , but there is a rundown of same on Amazon I printed out .

The voice of Janet Baker alone is worth 60$

I believe so craig59, but I have misplaced my cheat sheet and can’t say
for sure, in any event I never heard a bad Boult .
My real man with RVW is Vernon Hadley, nobody did more for English composers..IMO Handley was the most sensitive conductor of RVW and the Warner Classics are heavy on him with RLPO. LPO and others .
I like good sound myself but can, and do at times , listen to a scratchy old
78 if the performance merits it .

Well, the old saw the good is the enemy of the best IMO should be the revised to bad taste is the enemy of everything

I don’t know if it’s true or not but a Professor I had once said ."There will never be another Mozart , no one born in the age of television will ever have his clarity of mind " .

As I said I don’t know, but as someone who was around well before TV (and rock) it rings true for a LOT of things .

I hear that craig59, Hanover/ Goodman is an automatic must buy for me .
I have a 13CD Nimbus set of all Schubert’s Symphonies with Goodman and much of his chamber and piano works . A jewel . N I1766.

No crime , I don't know anything about rock.
Lay back and get the pretty Schubert stuff , that'd how I did it .Start with the "Trout"

Well, Artur Rubinstein said the adagio was the greatest piece ever written
and he wanted it played at his funeral . good enough for me .
I can’t even comment on the Quintet, 2 years ago I heard it played live by players of the St Paul CO , world class all , at the end the gent next to me
said to me that the adagio was written by God for a dying man he loved .

Goodman retired last year at age 65, said he was coming back at 70 after he rested up !
To me he’s a wild man who has everything under control , I love him .

Thanks for the links jkittlesen, never heard of Khatia before , the "Standchen" was lovely .
Wish I knew how to link and those who do would do more of it .
 My old brain just revolts when I try. to.

I'll order that LSO Hickox craig56, Hickox is always good .

I've read  articles that listed  dozens of stuff lifted from Buxtehude by Bach . Not unusual .

IMO, and many others as well, the GREAT Swiss oboist , Heinz Holliger, was the greatest instrumentalist of our time . He played with every good symphony of the world and was the most sought after player in the world .
Also taught music, not just oboe. at a top German conservatory for many years and was/is a composer .
Those who have heard him know what I mean when I say it is hard to believe anyone could play anything that well but for those who haven’t a top choice to hear music played as well as it can be played is.
Telemann/ Concerti per oboe/ Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields under Iona Brown . Phillips 412 879-2 .
It was recorded in 1981 when he was at his pinnacle and has that warm Phillips sound .
Still alive and active at 79 !

I’ve been doing some serious listening to Alwyn the last few days largely because of comments on here .
Of course as a non-musician its hard for me to understand what’s going on
that makes his music so fresh and original .
As best I can understand  he keeps melody and rhythm moving together
nearly all the time, uses 3-4 phrases used by soloists and gives them to whole sections, moves same small bits of music here and there in different
compos , resolves nothing and doesn’t move forward .
What IMO he is trying to do is just make music as beautiful and organic as he can , and he succeeds in that .
His masterpiece is his Harp Concerto which is on Chandos and Naxos .
I have a tendency to get freaky over composers I like but right now I’d put
on a level with Sibelius .

I would really appreciate wiser people correcting me .

No, but same could be said of hundreds at his high level and thousands at well worth listening to level .

I doubt if anyone would not say he is a great composer .
I listen to my favorite work of his , the Masterwork Quintet Op 81 at least once a week and his Mass in D about once a month .The former on a truly great recording, Hyperion CDA 66797 by Gaudier Ensemble , the later on ECM 449508-2
with the wonderful Prague Chamber Choir .
If the Czechs are not the most musical people in the world they are right up there with whoever is .
The pride of Central Europe .

Well newbee, Fisher is among the best , he and his Budapest are world class and he goes for string slides in Slavic music .If you want a superb "New World" check out Marin Alsop with the Baltimore SO on Naxos .

I kinda sort of agree about the Istvan Kertsesv/London SO from the 60"s but he was SO great and SO Czech I’d put him as an exception that proves the rule ! I used to have them on Vinyl, sob. sob .At least they are ADD .

I know a little newbee, but fake a lot . .

Small world !
On my bi-weekly Goodwill vinyl hunt this AM I ran across what looked to be a mint LP of one Alexander Scriabin’s 2 Tone Poems, "The Poem of Ecstasy" Op. 54 and The Poem of Fire : Prometheus Op. 60" .
I enjoyed the former and was downright smitten with the latter !
Heresy I know , but I’d rather listen to Op. 60 than any Mahler Symphony .
I strongly suspect my favorite modern composer , Leos Janacek , was at least a bit influenced by Scriabin , he knew Russian music backwards and forwards, and had the same thing that is required for real musical genius , passion .

I remember liking some of Scriabin"s solo piano I bought back in the 60’s but they are long gone and don’t remember hearing anything else of his .
Played Album twice , pretty sure it was never played, Dallas SO under Donald
Janos, an excellent band and an excellent conductor .
On Candide(one of the better old labels) CE 31039 must be from early 60’s
in the unlikely event you run in to one buy it .
The sound is quite good esp. since is a Dolby, one of the best things I ever bought for $1.99 .

craig58,
 Got an even better deal today !
 Box of Bach Cantatas, the heart of his work, 19 CD's by  one of the best
 original instrument ensembles , Le Petite Bande/ Sigiswald Kuijken  for 43 bucks on Amazon . Had a few of these already, IMO they are among the best around , one voice to a part as you would have heard in Bach's time .
They were going to do all the Bach Cantatas but the label , Accent , was sold .

Only thing that is ultimately necessary is death .

craig59
I understand the OD part , but as a devout Anglican with a good command of German has never happened to me after 50 years  with Bach, esp. the cantatas , to me they are a form of prayer .

Someone who wrote great religious music in English and was born in same year as Bach is , obviously , Handel .
Among people I have known the most neglected of his works are some of his best works , The Chandos Anthems 1-VI .
Chandos Label(no coincidence) has nice box sets for good prices , perhaps the best readily available . After I listened to Vol 1 today, I went and dug out my Volume 1
LP on the Vanguard Everyman Classics label . The Vinyl was so much better the Chandos CD seemed like a toy and I have a modest TT set up .

I think I have said it before but again to all , if you ever run into ANY old Vanguard vinyl just buy it .

One of the foremost pianists alive, Andras Schiff sees either keys or notes in colors . Was a few years ago since I heard the interview, but in any event he see music in color .

I hope our OP hasn't contracted the flu .
The way its raging here in the Twin Cites I would not get on a flu machine
aka airplane unless a close relative had died .
A very close relative that I really loved .

twoleftyears ,

in my lifetime I have had the occasion to hear LARGE audiences cheer for music they never heard before over their favorite music simply because
the artist in the former was authentic and that in later was  not ..
It was a totally spontaneous reaction which convinced me that we humans
are hard-wired to know authenticity when we see or hear same .
And that we get a bit antsy when our culture presents us something we
unconsciously know is not .

How?
Most logical thing when a retired music lover of the 1st order says he will post and does not . Don't do much for a week after you THINK you are all better .
Keep him in your prayers guys .

I read the German blogs and classical reviews primarily in order to retain
my German language skills, such as they are .
.
In last few years the rave revues on the young(ish) Chinese violinist Tang Yang
have been nothing less than spectacular .
I finally broke down and bought her Naxos CD of Saint-Saens "Works for Violin and Orchestra " which are seldom played .
I’ve not heard such perfection of technique combined with unreal sensitivity to the music itself in many a year .
I suspect she doesn’t get much press in US because she was offered scholarships by both Julliard and Curtis at a very young age but turned them down for a German scholarship in Chamber Music .

She still resides in Germany and has 6 recordings on Naxos,,which is a German Firm , I ordered the other 5 today .

There may be a case for early music but by Baroque era it is pretty well known what was what in instruments,and you can hear them today .
My self, I don’t pay much attention to those who say Bach etc would have used this or that modern instrument had it existed in favor of what he did write for those who did exist .
As always to each his own .

Only important thing about the Grammie's was my "home" Band , the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra ,won for Best Chamber Music Recording/ Small  Ensemble .
Schubert's " Death and the Maiden" with Patricia Kopatchinskaja .

Best CO in USA playing in best Hall in USA has the lowest ticket prices of any major orchestra in America AND up to 4 kids get in free with parents .
Also players do about 50 concerts a year free in St. Paul Schools .

So please buy the record .

Thanks . I don't know , just posted right after I got my email as a SPCO
 fund  member . Will order mine tomorrow .

I'd be lying if I said Mahler's Symphonies were down my alley but his vocal
works are .
The greatest recording  I know of is his "Ruckert-Lieder " with the incomparable Janet Baker and the New Philharmonia Orchestra/ Barbirolli .
Warner Classics 566 9812.

To list everyone I like would go into the hundreds/thousands .
 To make it easy for an old man I'll just list my favorite 3 composers of the last century in no particular order .
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Leos Janacek
Bela Bartok

Oh, on a closing note, my candidate for most unappreciated and underplayed Master of the last century is Paul Hindemith .

I have 4 of the last 5 you mentioned kef lover (-the Archduke).
The Bloch/Hanson/ Mercury is my favorite but all 4 are winners .
P.S. I used KEF's for over 20 years .

 One of the composers I have appreciated more and more in my old age is Ravel , and would hate to be without the Munch/BSO as well .

I had 101’s as well .Also 105, 103.2 , 104, and various Q series with Tweeter in the middle , My all time favorite was 104ab .
Also had a huge pair of Brit IMF’s with fab transmission line base that used the most musical
driver line up in history , B139,110 and T-27 !  (sob !)

I was taken by the performance of Adam Fisher and the Dusseldorf Symphony . Fisher handled the over-emotionality and variants that bother me in Mahler very well and it was a live performance from the Dusseldorf
Tonhalle which has very good acoustics .
IMO Fisher is formidable, as good as anyone around .Budapest is the most musical city I know about, fantastic audiences and he is very beloved there , so I’m not alone in that .

I don’t like music that seems "bombastic" for its own sake to ME ,which to me ,Mahler does .
Obviously , says nothing about Mahler and a lot about me .
Janacek, for instance, brings the house down but all in the service of the music and in an organic way and I love him .
A lot of Mahler to me seems to turn back on itself like a dog chasing its tail.
Hard to do that in vocal music , that, and my deep love of the German language make Mahler A-OK in that realm to me .

Of course I’m not a musician and reading Music Theory 101 from The
U of MN bookstore and X thousand liner and program notes is the extent of my musical
education . But we all have to listen with our own ears .

Subjective indeed rvpiano.
To me Brahms is the greatest Symphonist since Mozart .
I listen to at least 1 Brahms symphony a day, every day and never tire of them .
In symphonic  realm only others I can say that about are Mozart and Sibelius .

Small world , I wrote mine on a German subject as well, The Weimar Republic . Slipped in a bit on the Weill/Brecht " Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny " .

I’ve been telling folks for forty years than Haydn’s 6,7, 8 (Le matin;Le midi. Le Soir) are treasures of light and love that are among the most lovely symphonies period . I loved the Max Gobberman LP’s , wish I still had them.
My current go-to is Roy Goodman/Hanover Band on hyperion .

And yes there are several other great symphonists , several hundred. -LOL
Classical Music is like a beautiful beach in the South Pacific in January where the most
beautiful women in the world wait on you hand and foot with a 4 star chef bringing you the best
of food in a fabulous room and the hotel pays you a thousand bucks a day for staying there !

I feel that way too kef lover.
I feel genuine sorrow when I hear/read guys in their 60’s debating which heavy metal band was the greatest .

I never heard a note of Classical till my late 20’s and then
I heard the GREAT Swedish tenor Jussi Borling singing a LvB song on Armed Forces Radio in Vietnam .
It clicked with me like switching on a light in a dark room , true beauty in a place there was none .
Strange , because AFR never played Classical .I sometimes think I was listening to station GOD .

pryso  + kef 

I had a "trick" I used to play on guys ,and gals, over to listen to my system .
As you know , Pavarotti made a career out of" Nessum Dorma" late in life.
I would play the big guys version  and everyone, including me, was  in awe of the great force of nature .
Few minutes later I would put in a CD of Bjorling singing his version and me saying , that was how you sing loud and this is how you sing good .
Usual reply after Bjorling was "Oh !"
Not knocking the big guy , I felt like my brother died  when he passed .

Amen , gdnrbob.
I once sat about 20 ft from Uchida  playing Schubert  at the Marlboro Festival . Her back was to me and it was not a warm day , but her shirt got soaking wet with effort on D960 B flat .
At or near the top of my list  for both  Schubert and Mozart  .

Thanks pryso, it sounds funny but it’s da truth or close to it anyway .

Re; no musical training . In Berlin my neighbor was a player in one of
the best German orchestras , the Berlin R.I.A.S .
My wife was in a near mother-daughter relationship with her.
As we lived only 3 blocks  from their hall I often was privy to conversations
 of many players in her house .
One said to me , "I envy you advanced listeners , I'm too busy listening to how
my part is being played  to just enjoy the music , "

rvpiano, I feel you .
I used to say I have the greatest 15K system in the world and it only cost
me 45K  !

geoffkait , you got that right homey , best voice I ever heard and ALWAYS done with pure class and respect for the music !

Since music is an emotional instinct that sounds pretty normal to me .

As I said , my technical is small but after attending over 2,000 concerts in last 50 years you get a fairly good idea what’s what .
I’ll listen to anybody who plays with passion , and passion can be cold, hot and in between , sometimes a college kid in senior recital is more moving than a world-class jet-set musician who Is mailing it in Twin-Cities .

Not a knock on them , they don’t control the music business etc .