[stevenkelby]

First of all, I HAVE searched religiously, but there is too much for my small brain to comprehend and decide on. I have a little Bach, Tchaikovsky etc, but want your recommendations for the most well recorded classical.

I want a large frequency range up and down, and nothing too, I don't know, gay I guess (no offense to my gay friends!) No swan lake for example.

Not fussy about instruments, love strings, esp, deep bass, but organs, flute, oboe etc are all great.

Breathing, coughing, farting etc annoy me so clean recordings would be preferred.

Chances are I will be buying it from here so if you time, let me know what you recommend and I will return here with my impressions of deal 11 here when they arrive!

http://www.headphile.com/page7.html

Thanks,

Steve.

 

[mbhaub]

For sound/music/performance and no gayness in that order for a beginner:

1) Respighi: Pines of Rome/Roman Festivals/Fountains of Rome. Charles Dutoit with Montreal Symphony on London (or Decca).

2) Saint-Saens: Symphony no. 3 (Organ). Philippe Belanger with Montreal Metro Orch, on a new ATMA sacd. Stunning.

3) Kurt Atterberg: Symphony no. 6 with Hirokami and the Norrkoping Symphony on a marvelously present BIS cd. Really exciting stuff.

I've always thought that setting a beginner on Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and maybe even Tchaikovsky can turn 'em off quickly. This music I list has power, beauty, thrills, and plenty of visceral excitement. And the sound in all is top rate. Try any of these. I know you'll love it.

 

[stevenkelby]

Thank you very much for the advice, I will definetly be getting everything you mention.

Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky don't turn me off but I know exactly what you mean.

Thanks!

 

[puiah11]

Saint-Saens, Kurt Atterberg, and Respighi are either romantic or 20th century? I'm sure you're generalizing the genres.

Here's some suggestions. I suggest you go to amazon and play some samples to see what you like. Here are some diverse suggestions:

Vivaldi - Four Seasons. - this particular recording is groundbreaking.

Mozart - Die Zauberflöte.

Great organ CD.

Another good listen.

 

[Duggeh]

The Telark 1812 Overture is a must have classical disc for the audiophile IMHO. The DVD-A version is supposed to sound the best. The performance is just a little too dry for my emotive needs, but both the surround and stere mixes are superb and the quality of the audio is crystal. It even comes with the famous infinate dynamic range warning sticker, telling you to ascertain a safe playback level in case the cannons blow your speaker cones!

The way that I've been easing myself into classical music, on a half audiophile level because I too am not terribly familiar with the genre, has been with second hand records. I nip into the charity shops around town every so often and scoop up all of the Grammaphon Geschefshaft LPs they have. Classical music doesnt sell nearly so well from these places as pop music, so they are usually about 50pence a record. And because these records tend to be donated from the collection of some old boy who rarely listened to them they are usually in spotless condition.

 

[jandl100]

Yup, getting into classical can be difficult - I've been a fan, for some reason, since I was a toddler. Apparently I drove my parents crazy repeatedly playing a Wagner LP. Ah well - the joys of parenthood.

A CD I've just been listening to is marvellous fun, and stunningly recorded. It's not straight classical, but transcriptions of great music for brass ensemble - well, why not?

It may be tricky to get hold of, though - SUMMIT RECORDS DCD 250 "Ancient Airs for Brass & Organ".

Those brass fanfares and drum thwacks will knock your hat off!

________

For more "normal" music, great performances and great sound, I'd recommend a varied fare of symphonies - see what you like and go on from there :

Shostakovich 10th Symphony conducted by Neeme Jarvi on the Chandos label.

Schubert's 9th symphony - with John Eliot Gardiner on DG

Sibelius symphonies 2 and 5 with Ashkenazy on Decca

.... hmmm ... what's with all the Esses??

Mahler 3rd symphony with Tennstedt on EMI

Vaughan Williams 1st symphony with Slatkin on RCA


I'll come back later with some suggestions for chamber music.

Hope this helps.

 

[Uncle Erik]

You ask for music, but here's a book:

http://shop.npr.org/webapp/wcs/store...3020&langId=-1

The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music is a terrific intro to classical. It gives you background on most of the major composers, performers and music and has suggestions for building a library. It is invaluable. There are many other books available, but this one is accessible, well written and full of good information and opinion. If you're not familiar with NPR, it's National Public Radio, which is sort of the American version of the BBC.

You might also want to check around to see if a local community college (or other school) offers a music appreciation class. You can often audit classes (as opposed to credit) for a low price and not have to bother with the application, etc. You'll get a highly-knowledgeable professor lecturing and often free or heavily discounted tickets to local performances. Classical isn't just about buying a black or silver disc, you need to hear it performed live. Much more exciting and it'll also give you a good benchmark to compare your rig against.

And take your time. There's a lot to explore in classical. You will find what you like, eventually. Also, the recommendations so far are good. Check them out.

 

[stevenkelby]

I appreciate all the excellent advice and am acting on it already!

Classical is a pretty big world, this is going to take a while to get my head around.

Very much enjoying it so far, keep the ideas coming!

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Try the Mahler series conducted by Benjamin Zander (Philharmonia Orchestra) on Telarc. If you have never heard Mahler start with his recording of the 1st Symphony (listen to the symphony 1st, then Songs of a Wayfarer second).

 

[Stephen_Ri]

I'll second Respighi; Pines of Rome/The Birds/Fountains of Rome with Louis Lane conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Telarc is also great.

You may like Mussorsgy's Pictures at an Exhibition; I've got the Szell Cleveland on Sony which is a little noisy, but many other versions exist and some will meet you audiophile requirements.

Borodin's work may interest you; Prince Igor's "Overture," and "In the Steppes of Central Asia" are short pieces that you come to love. You will likely find this on a disc with other Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov revisions/completions/orchestrations. Here again I can only direct you to the music rather than a specific audiophile recording.

If want to try something unique, pick up the mono recording Mahler's 1st and 10th Symphonies conducted by Herman Scherchen on the Westminster Legacy releases--the recording quality is dated but I enjoy the listen and it is nearer the sound you hear when in a concert hall. Certainly Mahler's 1st, as Doc Sarvis mentioned, is a great way to go, whichever recording you choose.

 

[Bunnyears]

If I'm not mistaken, you want good audiophile quality recordings of classical music. Here are a few discs that I find to have both great interpretation and performance along with superb audiophile sound:

Bach: Ouvertures - Maasako Suzuki/Bach Collegium Japan; Bis hybrid/sacd

Corelli: Concerti Grossi - Simon Murphy/New Dutch Academy; Pentatone hybrid/sacd

Händel: Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks - Kevin Mallon/Aradia Consort; Naxos hybrid/sacd

Haydn: Paris Symphonies - Harnocourt/Concentus Musicus Wien; DHM stereo

Mozart: Requiem - Harnoncourt/Concentus Musicus Wien; DHM hybrid/sacd

Mozart: A Little Night Music - Andrew Manze/The English Concert; Harmonia Mundi hybrid/sacd

Beethoven: Complete Sonatas & Variations for Cello - Peter Wispelwey/Dejan Lazic; Channel Classics hybrid/sacd

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Vänskä/Minnesota Symphony Orchestra; Bis hybrid/sacd

Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 - Yefim Bronfman, David Zinman/Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra; Arte Nova Classics stereo

Brahms: Piano Concerto Nos.1 & 2; Waltzes; Handel Variation - Leon Fleisher, George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra; Sony hybrid/sacd

Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas and Trio - David Fröst; Bis hybrid/sacd

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 - Harnoncourt/Wiener Philharmoniker; DHM hybrid/sacd

Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Dumky Trio - Jean-Guihen Queyras, Jirí Belohlávek/Prague Philharmonic Orchestra; Harmonia Mundi hybrid/sacd

Dvorak: Violin Concerto - Akiko Suwanai, Ivan Fischer/Budapest Festival Orchestra; Philips stereo

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - Ivan Fischer/Budapest Symphony Orchestra; Channel Classics hybrid/sacd

Mahler: Symphony No. 6 - Eiji Oué/Fontec hybrid/sacd

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 - Eiji Oué/Fontec hybrid/sacd

Sharon Bezaly/Ronald Brautigam: Masterworks for Flute and Piano; Bis hybrid/sacd


Goodness! There are many more, but these are the ones that come to mind first from my collection.

 

[SeagramSeven]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenkelby /img/forum/go_quote.gif I want a large frequency range up and down, and nothing too, I don't know, gay I guess (no offense to my gay friends!) No swan lake for example.

I like swan lake and I am far from homosexual. Good music is good music. Swan lake is an excellent piece of work.

 

[stevenkelby]

This is great, I'm frantically buying up, but now I'm sorry about my own wallet.

 

[SeagramSeven]

You might change your tune if you heard a great recording of Swan Lake

 

[stevenkelby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeagramSeven /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like swan lake and I am far from homosexual. Good music is good music. Swan lake is an excellent piece of work.

I know swan lake and would enjoy a good recording. What I meant was I don't want anything overly flowery, I guess I meant gay in the traditional, happy sense of the word. Certainly not homophobic!