[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenkelby /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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.

Here are three compelling performances in vibrant Hybrid SACD sound.

Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence and Serenade for Strings (Pentatone); Marco Boni/Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra

Beethoven: Ninth Symphony (Bis); Osmo Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra

JS Bach: Ouvertures (Bis); Masaaki Suzuki/Bach Collegium Japan

 

[Oistrakh]

ginette neveau- Brahms Violin Concerto Recording
Menuhin-Elgar Violin Concerto (the famous one with Elgar conducting)

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL /img/forum/go_quote.gif What is the best recording and/or performance of Violin Concerto in E minor Op.64? This is the piece that finally converted a sceptic

Menuhin's recording with furtwangler
any of the performances in the beginnning of the art of violin dvd are great (Oistrakh, Stern, Kreisler, Milstein, Menuhin, etc). For me, modern violinists don't capture the mood that the oldies did

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Not to stay OT too much here, but on the ballet topic I wanted to mention that Khachaturian's Spartacus is an extrememly powerful ballet - I saw a documentary on K's life that showed scenes from an old Bolshoi production, and it was fantastic. I wish I knew what production it was and whether it was available on DVD. Anyone?

 

[Tyson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, I'm bumping a random thread from the death I'm new to classical. I listen to everything but classical and dance. But now I'm warming to classical I'll definitely try to find the suggestions on page 1 What is the best recording and/or performance of Violin Concerto in E minor Op.64? This is the piece that finally converted a sceptic

Another great recording, perhaps the best overall performance I've heard, is Francescatti & Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra. Good but not great sound quality due to age, but perfectly adequate, IMO.

 

[stevenkelby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ballets gay? Quite a few Russian ballets are themed on war, for example Raymonda, with music by Glazunov.

After further research, I see you are right. I was wrong about ballet, it's not all "gay" by which I mean flowery, light, flutes and piccolos, pooncing around in tights, guys with wigs and all that.

Not that theres any thing wrong with that at all, it's just not for me.

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions so far, have bought a lot and really am enjoying it. No firm favourites yet though.

 

[Purgatos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenkelby /img/forum/go_quote.gif After further research, I see you are right. I was wrong about ballet, it's not all "gay" by which I mean flowery, light, flutes and piccolos, pooncing around in tights, guys with wigs and all that.

People have a lot misconceptions of that sort about Ballet and Opera. I really don't understand why.

I'm not a ballet fan myself, but I don't get the misconception.

 

[stevenkelby]

Yeah I don't know why, just the image we have grown up with I guess. Someone with no exposure to opera or classical other than popular tv really would have a false perception. Like I did.

 

[Sordel]

I'm amazed at the number of posters who dived in without asking the obvious question: what music does the OP (or in this case the subsidiary poster) like already? Coming from rock, jazz and avant garde I have always preferred music with dissonance in it, so obviously Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is one of the first pieces that I'd recommend to someone with a similar background. I'd also try them on Shostakovich, Arvo Part and John Adams.

If someone likes ELP, then maybe some Bach or Mozart would hit the mark better. If someone likes Mike Oldfield, it would be Steve Reich. If someone liked musical theatre it would be the more academic side of Bernstein or Copland. If someone likes acoustic guitar music, there's plenty of that in the classical repertoire.

Starting simply with core repertoire may just confirm a listener's existing prejudices about the canon and their relationship to it.

 

[pataburd]

Try Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, on RCA Living Stereo, performing Offenbach's "Gaite Parisienne." These pieces began to steer me in the direction of "classical" music from the tender age of twelve years. JVC made an XRCD recording of this monumental performance, doing it the justice it rightly deserves.

Also try "1492: Music from the Age of Discovery"--I think it's on the EMI Label: excellent early (pre-Baroque) music and song. I've eventually come to strongly prefer early period music/instrumentation/vocalization/harmonization; although, if push came to shove and I had to pick only one set of discs and one performer, it would be J.S. Bach's Complete Works for Organ, on Archiv, performed by Helmut Walcha. : )

 

[BAwig05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL /img/forum/go_quote.gif Will this do? Only one I can find, but its part of a compilation. What of the others?

Sorry for the delay. That's probably only an excerpt or movement, but looks good for an intro the Vienna Phil!

 

[Ahriman4891]

Can any of the gurus look through this list and say whether any of those recordings are worthy? Some CDs there are as little as $2-$5, which obviously benefits us classical noobs.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman4891 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can any of the gurus look through this list and say whether any of those recordings are worthy? Some CDs there are as little as $2-$5, which obviously benefits us classical noobs.

That Nanut Dvorak looks very interesting.

The Brendel, Kremer Berg also is a fine older recording. Berg, however is a very atonal composer and perhaps would not be a good place for a beginner to start.

I know very little about that Boccherini recording, but Boccherini was an Italian composer of the late Baroque early classical period. In general his music is light and pleasing.

I don't know much about the Bartók recording, but bmg music and yourmusic have the Concerto for Orchestra there by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Orchestra in SACD (older recording -- Living Stereo) as well as the newer and also sensational recording by Paavo Jarvi.

I'm not familiar with the Purcell cd, but it's by Gustav Leonhardt with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment who are highly regarded. I'm not sure if songs and duets of the baroque will be your cup of tea, though. By all means see if you can sample this cd or another cd of the same music at another website before you order it.

 

[BAwig05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears /img/forum/go_quote.gif That Nanut Dvorak looks very interesting. The Brendel, Kremer Berg also is a fine older recording. Berg, however is a very atonal composer and perhaps would not be a good place for a beginner to start. I know very little about that Boccherini recording, but Boccherini was an Italian composer of the late Baroque early classical period. In general his music is light and pleasing. I don't know much about the Bartók recording, but bmg music and yourmusic have the Concerto for Orchestra there by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Orchestra in SACD (older recording -- Living Stereo) as well as the newer and also sensational recording by Paavo Jarvi. I'm not familiar with the Purcell cd, but it's by Gustav Leonhardt with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment who are highly regarded. I'm not sure if songs and duets of the baroque will be your cup of tea, though. By all means see if you can sample this cd or another cd of the same music at another website before you order it.

The Reiner is excellent, and still a standard for the work.

The Purcell, on the other hand, is avalible at a much better price on Virgin Veritas X2, a budget series of early music. I am unsure if Virgin remastered here, but the price 11.98 is better.

As for the Berg, I agree. I am still haviing trouble with Berg 470 cds into collecting, and I find him somewhat inaccessible.

Yo-Yo Ma, I Musici, and Neville Marriner, are all artists that I would look into for beginning a Baroque collection. Ma's "Vivaldi album" and "Simply Baroque" are very interesting intros to both the repetoire and the cello.

Finally, I must recomend the Brilliant Classics label "The Great Piano Concertos" introduces you to a wide variety of Romantic concerto repetoire...the price for 5 CDs is excellent. Other releases in the series, including the "Historic Russian Archives" introduce you to supurb artistry, although the sound may be too dated for some. For me however, Oistrakh and Rostropovich are good enough to forsake good sound for.

 

[Ahriman4891]

Bunnyears, BAwig05, thank you for your recommendations!

Also, I was sampling various CDs there and found the "Famous Marches" to be pretty good as well.

I don't even want to think about how much I've been spending on CDs lately