Listening to Munch conducting Berlioz Requiem.BSO (i think), best orchestra I have ever heard live.
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
One of the best American choirs singing one of the best Scottish songs . Sublime ! https://youtu.be/9PTZG2cHM5g?t=2 (Vaughan Williams Arr.) |
Jcazador I heard Ormandy conduct the Philadelphians in the Berlioz Requiem in Ann Arbor in the late seventies. I was unfamiliar with the piece. My seat was in the balcony and boy was I surprised when the guys sitting two rows in front of me dressed in tuxedos took out their horns and proceeded to blow the roof off the place! |
Mahler, what a nice surprise! I heard Philadelphia Orchestra once, in Philadelphia, Thanksgiving concert, 1960. Tchaikovsky violin concerto was part of the program, featuring Nathan Milstein.In the last movement, Milstein's bow began shedding, and whenever he had a second, he would reach over with his left hand and strip the loose ends. The first violinist stood next to him and offered his bow, Milstein rejected the offer and proceeded. When the piece ended, the crowd erupted in applause, and Milstein was so excited that he reached up to Ormandy (on his pedestal) and nearly dragged him over, as Ormandy was somewhat impaired (hips? maybe). The crowd gasped, and then resumed applause.Remember it like yesterday, that was 60 years ago. |
@jcazador Jeremy i used to love Nathan Milstein and back when I used vinyl I had the main violin concertos and the Bach Sonatas and Partitas and I just loved him. You are talking about the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and the last time I heard it in person was up in Glasgow and it was going to be Ida Haendel playing it. Unfortunately Haendel was ill that night and she was going to be replaced by someone called Nigel Kennedy. Well we sat back and out rolled this little boy to play this tiger of a concerto and all we knew about him at the time was he was a student at the Menuhin School. He dully launched into the work and astonished us with his prowess for a boy he was certainly some player. I am really saddened by what has happened to him over the years because it seems that he squandered his talent but I suppose that is what burnout does to us no matter what you are good at. So sad. |
Konstantin Scherbakov Been listening to his Shostakovich preludes, Liszt and Lyapunov Transcendental Etudes, and now his Rachmaninov, mostly especially the Morceaux de fantaisie (5), for piano, Op. 3 and Variations on a Theme of Chopin, for piano, Op. 22 . As good as it gets. Here is a review (or two): https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-Sonata-Variations-Morceaux-Fantaisie/dp/B06Y18QWFY |
The Russians always say it takes a Russian to play Russian music . After hearing this small but great masterpiece of Rachmaninoff I am inclined to agree . https://youtu.be/XfDreatXYeU |
I heard Milstein in recital months before he died, in Chicago. The outstanding memory is of hom playing the Bach Second Partita (the one with the great Chaconne), simply staggering playing, particularly for an Octagenarian. After he died many CDs were issued on labels such as Doremi of live Milstein concerts through the years, and that Bach Partita was a staple of through the years, so it must have been firmly in his fingers until the end. Milstein DG set of the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas is still my favorites. |
@schubert Len I share your views on Julia Fischer She shares a triumvirate I think with Maxim Vengerov and Leonidas Kavakos and I think those three reign supreme at the moment. Kavakos at the moment has a recording on Idagio of him playing and directing the Beethoven Violin Concerto and at times the playing verges on the impossible with tempos and his control of the orchestra . Have you heard his playing of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in the original manuscript and the revised one, no wonder Sibelius revised it, it must have been the very devil to get your fingers round it. And Julia Fischer who as well as beautiful playing is quite a beauty herself , the Bach unacompanied sonatas and partitas will be at the very top of the pile for quite a time. She is also nearly as good a pianist as she is a fiddler. |
A great case for "less is more" from the most popular classical composer alive .Spiegel It may sound easy but it is very difficult to play . https://youtu.be/FZe3mXlnfNc?t=4 |
No, I haven’t heard him on either Sibelius Jim. Will get after him on that and LvB . Been on a Part , Byrd and Du Fay binge lately . I've always liked Part , but never knew he had a piece with a Scottish tinge . Takes a few listens to get it IMO . https://youtu.be/x3Y77YHGakQ?t=3 |
I hi haven’t heard any Julia Fisher recordings since she left Pentatone, but I have all those recordings and play them in MC constantly. I also got to see her live at the Aspen Music festival back when she was making those Pentatone records, once playing the Brahms Concerto and once in a Mendelssohn Tirol with Muller-Schott and damned if I can remember Pianist now...anyway, in concert she sounds a lot more electric than in the studio |
Schubert Wow, thanks. I am on a search for a flac version of this piece.So beautiful. Story about music and unwell child: When my son (now 6.5, 210 lbs) was very young, he had terrible earaches, agony. We watched. Finally I got out my stand up bass and played really simple tunes, and the sound penetrated his body, and after awhile he stopped struggling, stopped crying, began listening, and finally fell asleep. This happened many times until he finally "outgrew" the problem. Some medication helped too. |
Just my opinion rv, but this is one of the the best recordings of the Master I know about . https://youtu.be/CCVnO6tbYEM?t=4 |
rv, not exactly classical but whats you take on the little lady on the machine gun , aaah piano ? https://youtu.be/1rxYw7Y45Eo?t=3 |
Great piece twoleftears . I’ll watch for Tabakova ! IMO what you hear is the depth of the Orthodox Church, the oldest branch of Christianity .(no, Rome is not) I’m Anglican myself but have been to many Orthodox services . I can honestly say that if you haven’t been to a four hour ,standing up, Orthodox Easter Service you haven’t been to Church . Were I younger I would be Orthodox . Here is what she would have heard as does Part .. https://youtu.be/o81A31hlgEA?t=2 |
She is usually stuck in as a jazz player . IMO she is beyond genre and is just a very creative musician of the highest order. She writes much of her stuff and doesn’t have a phony bone in her body . Check her on this ! https://youtu.be/rCp3qGzkxig?t=3 |
I'm chiming in with a few of my favourite recordings: Mahler Orchesterlieder, Montreal/Nagano/Gerhaher Mahler 5, Berlin/Rattle Mahler 9, Berlin/Abbado Shostakovich 5, Berlin/Bychkov Beethoven Piano Trios--du Pré/Barenboim/Zukerman Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin, Wunderlich/Giesen It's too late for me to go vinyl. I have these and many others on CD. I get them used for 2-6$ a pop at a wonderful place in Montreal. |
I attended a very interesting concert last night in a local venue with a not very sophisticated audience. Royal Philharmonic, Wigglesworth conducting. Soloist was Khatia Buniatishvili, one of my favorite pianists playing Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto, my least favorite concerto in the literature. {That’s the nicest thing I can say about it.) She was brilliant, as was expected. Audience barely applauded enough for her to squeeze out one encore (a ravishingly played Schubert impromptu.) Second half of the program was Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony, in my opinion (possibly aside from Mahler’s,) undoubtably the greatest 20th Century symphony. Performance of the great work was so-so, but to my great surprise, the audience who inappropriately clapped after each movement, was wild with enthusiasm at the end, eliciting several returns to the stage by the conductor.The spontaneous reaction of this audience to Rachmaninoff brought tears to my eyes. |
Glad Ragland that you enjoyed the Concert, RVW. I share your lack of enthusiasm for the Liszt Concerto but fail to have more than a middling interest in the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony. Nice clarinet solo in the slow movement, rocket theme in the start of the scherzo, otherwise not my cup of borscht. Ymmv |
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I have seen significant young classical fans in an audience in only two places , Tokyo and Budapest . In Hungary were at least half the audience . We have two world-class symphonies here in Twin Cities , average age at concerts is well over 70 .Seats are full but that is drawing from a population of 4 million . |