classical albums
Nov 30, 2001 at 4:11 PM Post #3 of 30
Yeah, that's pretty broad. Do you mean something like the Academy Awards of classical over all time? Just like the movie version, that is really impossible because everything is so incomparable when you are trying to name one best movie. Art films against thrillers and the like. Would you want us to pit symphonies against string quartets and opera?

Well, of course, who can resist the temptation to do this sort of thing? I can complain, but I can't help myself.

OK. The single best classical album is...

Bach's Concerti for Harpsichord(s), Trevor Pinnock as solist with the English Concert on DG Archiv.

Well, it's one I love and listen to perhaps more than any other.

Ask me another day, and I'll give a totally different answer.
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 4:27 AM Post #6 of 30
Quote:

Originally posted by morphsci
Rachmaninov, Symphony #2, Andrew Litton conducting
Rachmaninov, Symphony #3, Andrew Litton conducting


Really? You prefer the symphonies to the piano concertos? Not me, man.

Mine: Dvorak's 9th; Holst's Planets; Mussorgsky's Pictures -- von Karajan is one of my favorite conductors for such bombast.

Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat -- Trio Italiano (?sp) is an excellent rendition of this fine composition. (This is available on DAD.)

Saint-Saens' 2nd Piano Concerto -- the one with Andre Watts on the piano is far and away the best.

Just some that have been in my player a lot recently.
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 8:06 AM Post #8 of 30
I would say, for me, Mstislav Rostropovich's recording of Bach's Cello Suites is the hands down winner. He recorded them in the cathedral in Vezeley (I believe the Basilique Ste-Madeleine), and the acoustics are nearly as incredible as his virtuosity. These recordings were also available on video, where Rostopovich describes each of the suites and offers his (very educated) opinions on them in his characteristic Russian lisp. They are almost impossible to find now...I had to buy mine in England and have them converted to NTSC, which was a pain.
Other excellent recordings:
The Borodin Quartet's series of Shostakovich's complete String Quartets.
The emerson quartet's rendition of Debussy and Ravel's quartets.
The cd of Shostakovich's First Violin and Cello Concerto's as played by David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich.
And Sviatoslav Richter's recording of the Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 8:40 AM Post #10 of 30
The Planets - Gustav Holst, my personal favorite piece of work. Youd better have a system capable of good dynamics though, I learned the hard way.

Beethoven's 9th - Ode to Joy. Need I say more?

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata - the most beautiful, emotional piece of piano music ever

Gerschwin - Rhapsody in Blue - modern classical, it has a somewhat jazzy sound with more use of woodwinds

Bach - Tocatta and Fugue - if you like the organ, you probaly like this, you know the tune, also Fantasia is good, and his 3rd Brandenburg concerto is quite nice

Pachabel's canon is proably one of the most copied pieces of music, quite deservingly so.

Vivaldi's four seasons is beautiful, and while it might be a bit 'lite' for some people, you have to sit back an experience it as a whole, it also helps to imagine what is going on as it goes on, or it will probably drag.

Quite frankly there is no best classical performance, but so much of it is so good that you just need to get something of a type you like, and you will probably like it. If you are just starting though, I would reccomend staying away from Part, he, and some others have a much more abstract style that is harder to get used to.
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 4:16 PM Post #12 of 30
Quote:

Originally posted by DarkAngel
Tchaikovsky


Ah, Tchaikovsky, how could I have forgotten him?
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 4:56 PM Post #13 of 30
Quote:

Originally posted by DustyChalk
Really? You prefer the symphonies to the piano concertos? Not me, man.


Not really I just have not found copies of any of the piano concertos that grab me the way these performances of the symphonies do. It's all good.

Mussorgsky ... that reminds me I kind of like the ELP version of Pictures at an Exhibition. I forgot about it since I only have a vinyl copy and haven't played it in a while. time to do a little dusting.
 
Dec 1, 2001 at 5:50 PM Post #15 of 30
Get Wagners ring cycle conducted by Sir George Solti,
a box set from Decca recorded in the 60s, 16hours of music,
no of genius,
it will blow you mind!
 
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