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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.


128x128rvpiano
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Thanks, jim, for last 5 years my routine has been to listen to a cantata drinking my coffee right after breakfast , I think it is a factor in me still being alive .I plan, God willing , to spend a few weeks in October in my beloved Berlin for the last time . I will get a room near the main train station and spend a few days in Leipzig, two hours from Berlin, where I hope to just sit and meditate in Bach’s St. Thomas Church .
jim204
881 posts
 
Len ,    Oh how I wish I could travel because Leipzig and Berlin would be top of my list of places to visit. Did you know that the people who were at one time garnering information on Liszt could never ever find the grave of Liszt's son Daniel until low and behold when they were knocking down the Berlin wall that they found Daniel's grave under the wall. Apparently the wall had gone right through the middle of the churchyard. Bloody Russians have no shame. I would love though to go to the Berlin Philharmonie Hall and listen to a full concert, I think then I would be a very happy man indeed. Funnily enough Len my day always starts with some Bach, I am at the moment listening to his keyboard partitas at the moment with Schiff and next week it will be the violin Partitas and Sonatas with one at the start of each morning. I am not ashamed to say that my favourite keyboard piece is the Goldberg Variations , required listening for cleansing the soul. Len I hope you have a wonderful time.
phomchick's avatar
phomchick
209 posts
 
Grand Piano is very hard to record and reproduce, so I’m always looking for recordings that do a good job. Eureka! This recording is the best I’ve ever heard. And bonus points for it being Prokovief.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079JCLZ6G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_C4GoDb0V440S3
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Well, seems great minds do think together(cough, cough) .My fave keyboard pieces of the Great One are the Well Tempered , French Suites and Goldberg’s .
May I ask why you can’t go to Berlin ? There are flights from Glasgow every day, 1 stop wonders on KLM are the best . Berlin is the cheapest major city in western Europe , 2nd biggest city after London and half the price . Metro is outstanding and you can find many hotels within a hundred meters from a station .I usually get one near the the main train station (Hauptbanhof) were one can also go any where on the continent including the bullet train to London on the most reliable national railway this side of Japan .

Of course if health is a problem things are what they are . I lost a few grand
in last 5 years because of not being up to it on the day.
To me the most difficult part of being old is one day you feel find and the next you think you won’t last the day.
jim204
881 posts
 
@Phomchick      That is a superb recording and may I make a few suggestions, go for anything on the BIs Label these are seriously good recordings and I especially like Yevgeny Sudbin these days. To ease you in I would Suggest his Scarlatti Sonatas they are staggeringly good from a technical point of view in fact I don't think I have heard them bettered. After the Scarlatti I would then recommend his duo of Mozart and Beethoven's C Minor Piano Concertos they are outstanding and then to top it all go for his Rachmaninov Piano Concertos they are definitely hard to beat.
Len,   The reason I can't travel is the doc won't let me so I just sit and moan when my wife and daughter go on holiday together.If you believe that you'll believe anything, no I revel in having the house to myself for a time. I can then sit and listen to my headphones to any time in the AM that I choose. I even sometimes sit and listen to Jacobite war songs with the help of Some Cardhu Golden nectar. Happy Days.

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