Got my fingers crossed for Met 802 !
Classical Music for Aficionados
I would like to start a thread, similar to Orpheus’ jazz site, for lovers of classical music.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.
I’ll start with a list of CDs. Records to follow in a later post.
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite et. al. DG — Chicago Symphony Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1. Chesky — London Symph. Orch. Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova. Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.
I’ll start with a list of CDs. Records to follow in a later post.
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite et. al. DG — Chicago Symphony Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1. Chesky — London Symph. Orch. Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova. Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.
3,872 responses Add your response
Franz Schubert SYMPHONY NO. 9 Budapest Festival Orchestra Ivan Fischer Channel Classics 2011 SACD Notes: "Ivan Fischer is founder and music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. He has been appointed Principal Conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin starting the season 2012/13." Symphony No. 9 ("Great") in C Major I. Andante - Allegro Ma Non Troppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gcvgZOUk-U II. Andante Con Moto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q1iz_5a58 III. Scherzo. Allegro Vivace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6QcOYHaidQ IV. Allegro Vivace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-DFpwLG5Mk Cheers |
@schubert Yes Len sad to say I have to agree with you regarding the young of today , I was recently in the company of a couple who have a daughter at Glasgow university and was appalled to find out she was studying 12th century stained glass windows. What on earth good will that be to her when there are probably less than 20 places left who have got stained glass left from that period. I too give a donation each year to the RSNO to hopefully keep them floating a wee bit . |
Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 8 Wiener Philharmoniker Carlos Kleiber DG 1979 Notes:"The ethereal quality Kleiber brings to the final pages of the ["Unfinished"] symphony gives his readings a very special poignance unmatched by any other performance I have heard." Stereo Review (1980) Those were the days. SR never steered you wrong on music. Symphony No.8 In B Minor, D.759 "Unfinished" 1. Allegro moderato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHI9yCe8bVg 2. Andante con moto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsxLHZ-Jz74 Cheers |
In the Digital area are the youth have become unable to think for themselves. In USA 40% think vampires are real . Last winter I picked up a girl at the University of Minnesota who had car trouble on a very cold day . Now U of MN is not Oxford but only 10 % of a MN High School class can try to get in and it is good enough to make Times 100 every year. I found her in a row of 13 girls where every single one was on their smart phone and not even looking at another much less speak to them .Robots ! My greatest fear is the virus has put a lot of Classical musicians out of a job . And here both Classical and Jazz together had less than 5% of the audience before that . I do not go to any large group and don’t plan to myself, but I do send good amount to our 2 World Class bands . |
And that is why there will never be anyone from our age to equal him because todays people do not want to work hard other than the special instrumentalists we have today. Todays' composers spend days if not months "composing" a five minute piece of tripe and expect to be exalted to the highest levels for it. It's even so bad now that prior to a concert by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra we are "treated to a piece by a leading female computer games composer" yawn. Heaven help us, there is no future for new classical music. |
Franz Schubert PIANO SONATAS Mitsuko Uchida (piano) Philips 2000 Notes: "Among Schubert's sonatas, D850 is the most brilliant and extrovert. Its opening movement is unusually quick for a composer whose tempo indications characteristically include the qualification "moderato". ...It is clear that Schubert intended the piece to be extremely energetic." Schubert: Piano Sonata No.17 in D, D.850 1. Allegro vivace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl0bk97FuEo 2. Con moto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOE8NOgLlj0 3. Scherzo (Allegro vivace) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQg2D6TPJeA 4. Rondo (Allegro moderato) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmG0GxcMuwc Cheers |
Franz Schubert PIANO SONATAS Mitsuko Uchida (piano) Philips 2000 Notes: "The Sonata in A minor, D784, dates from February 1823. It was Schubert's first piece of it's kind for several years, though just three months earlier he had composed his greatest and most important piano work to date--the "Wanderer" Fantasy. The sonata is as different in character from that work as could be imagined, yet the two have an important feature in common: both seem to be conceived without regard for the limitations of the piano." Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 14 in A Minor, D. 784 1. Allegro giusto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8mVi1pKNaY 2. Andante https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoM4Xs_yN9Y 3. Allegro vivace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5TJx2XZpQ Cheers |
**** One could imagine Rachmaninoff himself playing. **** https://youtu.be/sTUxrPJfpqk https://youtu.be/lRkTOx2WwTU https://youtu.be/ZcG-DnGdWRw https://youtu.be/M8RyWFA7PSY |
Franz Schubert 3 PIANO PIECES Mitsuko Uchida (piano) Philips 1998 Notes: "The Three Pieces D.946 were composed in May 1828 and were the last piano works Schubert wrote before embarking on his final three sonatas. Schubert's autograph lacks the finishing touches he gave his music when preparing it for publication; nor do we know if he intended the pieces to form a coherent group, along the lines of his two sets of impromptus. At any rate Brahms, who first edited them for publication in 1868, gave them the neutral title of Drei Klavierstücke." 3 Piano Pieces, D.946 No.1 in E flat minor (Allegro assai) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VLCaP0vQc No.2 in E flat (Allegretto) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngsHbxQE5-I No.3 in C (Allegro) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51LCccZqHVI Cheers |
Gioachino Rossini
OVERTURES Chicago Symphony Orchestra Fritz Reiner RCA Gold Seal / BMG 1958 / 1990 Notes: Gioacchino Antonio Rossini--child prodigy, boy soprano, composer of almost 40 operas in about 20 years--was born on February 29 (leap-year day, as he was fond of pointing out), 1792 in Pesaro, Italy. Rossini wrote his first opera, 'Demetrio e Polibio', at the age of 16, although it was not produced on stage until four years later at the Teatro Valle in Rome. 'La cambiale di matrimonio' followed in 1810, and after that operas flowed from his pen, never fewer than one a year and sometimes two or three, ending with William Tell, a grand opera first produced in Paris in 1829. After that Rossini composed no more for the stage, although he was to live until 1868. Why a composer of such international fame chose to abandon opera while still in his 30s and at the height of his career is still one of the great mysteries of musicology. La gazza ladra / The Thieving Magpie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JK7cLxxxWs La scala di seta / The Silken Ladder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrugBmgKIIQ La cenerentola / Cinderella https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxobxMdR1AA Guillaume Tell / William Tell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNGz0RL6qo Cheers |
Gioachino Rossini OVERTURES Orpheus Chamber Orchestra DG 1985 Notes: "...many of these masterpieces of wit and rhythmic vitality were performed in versions the composer would hardly have recognized as his own, The basic structure and spirit were still Rossini’s, but the musical details were often drastically transformed." "These overtures embody what Stendhal called Rossini’s "candeur virginale". And their special qualities are immeasurably enhanced when, as here, they are performed by a chamber ensemble using scores faithful to the composer’s intentions." L’italiana in Algeri - Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay9rjkgCmRU Il barbiere di Siviglia - Overture (Sinfonia) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRMpzy6GG4E Il Signor Bruschino - Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLlA4SR8PVQ A Rosette Recording: The penguin guide to Compact Disc. Cheers |
Gioachino Rossini IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA Thomas Allen, Agnes Baltsa Academy of St Martin in the Fields Sir Neville Marriner Philips 1962, 1963 / 1983 (Highlights) Act 1 - No.2 Cavatina: "Largo al factotum" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC4okbDrqNU All`idea in quel Metallo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc7XQ-3EmCQ Act 1 - No.5 Cavatina: "Una voce poco fa" - "Io sono docile" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwJ-IUMZMP4 pace e gioia sia con voi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97nKnplAjQ Finaletto II: "Di sì felice innesto" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anqQU7zp21w Cheers |
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov SCHEHERAZADE Chicago Symphony Orchestra Fritz Reiner RCA Living Stereo / BMG SACD 1960 / 2005 Notes: "Deems Taylor once wrote that thrice-familiar staples of the concert repertoire should periodically be placed under a five-year moratorium, during which time their existence would be conveniently be forgotten. The five-year ban elapsed, one would presumably return to them with ears refreshed and musical appetite eager to relish them again. There are those who argue that 'Scheherazade' merits a moratorium." It seems to have obtained "warhorse" status. Scheherazade, Op. 35: I. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKOAvPxpDu0 II. The Story of the Kalender Prince https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx3keUuPGJ8 III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSllaa15DU IV. Festival at Bagdad - The Sea - The Ship Breaks Against a Cliff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtZ-TlpqSnE Cheers |
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra David Zinman Roberta Alexander (soprano) Philips 1982 Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op.34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln0TXxiOlBg Overture "May Night" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUssA8Y_GSg The Snow Maiden - Suite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lANKe2J3sQ Cheers |
"’Bach is a terminal point. Nothing comes from him,,every thing merely leads up to him." Albert Schweitzer On my monthly run to Barnes and Noble for my Gramophone. I found an absolute treasure , ":Gramophone Presents J.S. Bach" A 98 page book with small print that made much of it a 200 pager ! So much on everything Bach in the manner you would expect from the British Classical Bible, very through, unreal so . Can not even begin to say anything other than for a Bach lover the $25 bucks USA is a gift . |
Maurice Ravel THE PIANO CONCERTOS Pascal Rogé (piano) Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal Charles Dutoit Decca 1983 Notes: "The piano was Ravel’s instrument. When the G major concerto’s first performance was announced for Amsterdam in March 1931, the composer intended to be the soloist. But illness delayed the work’s completion, and by the time of the postponed premiere on 14 January 1932 in Paris, Ravel decided--despite many hours spent practising the studies of Chopin and Liszt -- that the task was beyond him. Accordingly, he asked Marguerite Long to fill the breach and dedicated the concerto to her." Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M. 83 1. Allegramente https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqCKzFcE5CQ 2. Adagio assai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_e4oBU-RoM 3. Presto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOK3Y2oB96Y Cheers |
Maurice Ravel GASPARD de la NUIT Ivo Pogorelich (piano) DG 1983 Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55 1. Ondine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIBOwg8NGmA 2. Le Gibet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvMd03CxPuk 3. Scarbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LACEbWKb1co Cheers |
Maurice Ravel RAVEL’S GREATEST HIT -- THE ULTIMATE BOLERO RCA / BMG 2004 Notes:" "C’est une blague" (it’s a gag), Maurice Ravel once said of his most famous, or infamous, piece. In fact he was proud of BOLERO, which sprang from his own roots in the Basque country on the French-Spanish border." "The Mexican maestro Eduardo Mata brings Spanish grace and languor to his performance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The duration of this track is about ten percent longer than the Boston Symphony one on this disc.....Ravel once created a minor scandal by daring to ask the great conductor Arturo Toscanini not to play this piece too fast, to which the ’maestro ultimo’ replied that the public would not accept it at the slower tempo. But Mata demonstrates that, in performing Bolero, as in making love, slow is beautiful." Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48XnQRmQx0&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i.. Jacques Fray & Mario Braggiotti (pianos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDHhrgPCRwQ&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i... Evelyn Glennie (percussion) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjMLv3rjTCw&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i... Dallas Symphony Orchestra Eduardo mata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpIjhTpRAo&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i... Cheers |
Maurice Ravel
RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE The Cleveland Orchestra Pierre Boulez Sony 1975, 1983 / 2000 SACD Notes:"Ravel's first important orchestral composition, Rapsodie Espagnole, was written in August 1907. First performed in March 1908, at the Colonne Concerts in Paris, it received a cool reception from the boxes and main floor but elicited an excited response from the upper hall. Although Ravel's brilliant orchestration and distinctive sound were present even in this early composition, it was undoubtedly the work's Spanish flavor that gained it lasting popularity." Rapsodie Espagnole, M. 54 I. Prélude à la nuit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxR6I2Au0Wg II. Malagueña https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r82KTIoEbEE III. Habanera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCt5UoPsREs IV. Feria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRAEYx5XdEg Cheers |
Maurice Ravel PAVANE pour une INFANTE DEFUNTE Orchestre de Paris Daniel Barenboim DG 1982 Pavane pour une infante défunte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8gTfv5m8KQ Cheers |
Maurice Ravel LA VALSE (The Waltz) London Symphony Orchestra Pierre Monteux Philips 1962, 1964 / 1995 La Valse, M. 72 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7Khz-h7zA Cheers |
Maurice Ravel BOLERO - DAPHNIS ET CHLOE Orchestre de Paris Daniel Barenboim DG 1982 Notes: "The bolero was originally a brisk Spanish dance, and Chopin's op.19 retains this characteristic tempo. Ravel's piece is much slower than brisk and it may be regarded in two lights -- as a study in orchestration and an essay in the concept of crescendo." "The ballet Daphnis et Chole, which is probably Ravels's masterpiece, was commissioned by Diaghilev..... Ravel started work on it at least three years before the first performance, which was on 8 June 1912. The two orchestral suites, which contain the finest of the music, can be enjoyed without any reference to the scenario of the ballet." Boléro, M. 81 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI73PK06MQc Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.2, M. 57b 1. Lever du jour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0fcMeJ-m0 2. Pantomime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isddTbtxg6o 3. Danse générale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99aRfA-bcs Cheers |
Yes , but this is not the American - Japanese .one but a Bavarian- Japanese one who who grew up in Salzburg . Her tone is nice but just control of her instrument is unreal ! She is the Queen of original violin in Europe . Type up her Bio , it is hard to believe the amount she has done , one of the best I ever read on wiki . If I ever get back to Germany {unlikely) I would go a long way to hear her. Bremen is the most blue collar of all the German cities , a wonder it has such a good little band . |
I have little doubt that Georg Philipp Telemann is one the most neglected , outside Germany, Great composers . This clips of beauty beyond beauty is one that shows how great he was . https://youtu.be/ufGl19HiAC0 https://youtu.be/vFH__jwWwzo |
How a baroque violin concerto should sound . Absolutely magnificent by Midori Sieiler and the Bremer Barockorchester ! https://youtu.be/b42vwZmG6k0 |
Serge Rachmaninoff / Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky PIANO CONCERTOS Martha Argerich (piano) RSO Berlin Riccardo Chailly Symphonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks Kirill Kondrashin Philips Classics 1995 Notes: "...But perhaps the last word should go to the late Eugene List who, after referring to Argerich's capacity, even as a child, to spin off octaves like single notes, went on to salute her as, quite simply, "one of nature's happenings." Rachmaninov: Piano concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgMUgmri1JM Tchaikovsky: Piano concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op.23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMsrELwaj4 Cheers |
Sergei Rachmaninov SYMPHONY NO. 3 Concertgebouw Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy Decca 1983 Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 44 1. Lento - Allegro moderato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iBJYe8Jwzo 2. Adagio ma non troppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epRrFctw6Jw 3. Allegro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBb7MyTxQKU Cheers |
Sergei Rachmaninoff
SYMPHONIC DANCES FOR 2 PIANOS Emanuel Ax (piano) Yefim Bronfman (piano) Sony Classical 2001 Notes: "The fact that Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in the St. Petersburg of czarist Russia and died amidst the palm trees of Beverly Hills, California is curiously apt. Rachmaninoff was what we like to call a "transitional figure"--one foot planted deep in Romanticism, the other reaching toward a somewhat idiosyncratic modernity, making the leap from almost-medieval Russia under the Czar to the flamboyant liberty of the Hollywood Hills." Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos) I. Non allegro "Noon" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhEPbjtJIU II. Andante con moto "Twilight" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH_b5tJEKps III. Lento assai - Allegro vivace "Midnight" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ORC19UnVUw Cheers |
re Bach Goldberg VariationsThis must be one of the most recorded piano compositions.I have recordings by:
gregory sokolov angela hewitt helmut walcha andre gavrilov keith jarrett glenn gould murrary perahia beatrice rana tatiana nicolayeva nicholas angelich vladmir feltsman gustav leonhardt rosalyn tureck zhu xiao-mei peter serkin igor levit stephen hough andrei gavrilov maria yudina maria tipo jeremy denk ekaterina dershavina I freely admit that if you played one of these recordings, I could not tell you which pianist was playing. I cannot name a "favorite".
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Sergei Rachmaninoff PIANOS CONCERTOS Philippe Entremont (piano) New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein Legacy / Sony 1960, 1970 / 2003 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 I. Moderato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nFo3qZZSSw II. Adagio Sostenuto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWaVKQ6rfo III. Allegro scherzando https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5S7b6R2a98 Cheers |
Sergei Rachmaninoff PIANOS CONCERTOS Andre Watts (piano) New York Philharmonic Seiji Ozawa Legacy / Sony 1960, 1970 / 2003 Notes:"An embittered battle for and against Rachmaninoff is raging to this day. While some defend him as the last pure Romantic composer, others agree only too readily with the verdict of Igor Stravinsky, who rejected his countryman's extensive tableau-like compositions as "grandiose film music." The truth lies--as so often with art as with life--somewhere in the middle." Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 I. Allegro ma non tanto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo52-P7TvSg&list=OLAK5uy_kxvGBvq1MS5TnjMcSyXLlcKG75RltQbnM II. Intermezzo. Adagio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZsTV7iQI78&list=OLAK5uy_kxvGBvq1MS5TnjMcSyXLlcKG75RltQbnM&i... III. Finale. Alla breve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1wKhkLUwgE&list=OLAK5uy_kxvGBvq1MS5TnjMcSyXLlcKG75RltQbnM&i... Cheers |
One of the Greatest Artists of the last Century , Wanda Landowski . Her genius shines through these recordings of the 1930"s , https://youtu.be/YV_-OuV2N4U?list=RDYV_-OuV2N4U Her wonderful rendition of Bach’’s Goldburg on the instrument it was written for . https://youtu.be/4jS873pDWNs { this 1933 recording had noise taken out ,bit of her as well} |