[aos]

Speaking of Grieg, don't foget his piano concerto. If I were ever asked to point to one work to define Romanticism, this would be it. Beautiful and easy on the ears.

 

[ppl]

I would like to sugest the following as Classical music i like the most.
Handel> Water Music Suite. On Origenel Insterments Acdamy of St. martins in the Feilds.

Bach> Mass in B minor.
Brandenberg conchairto
Air on a g string
Arvo part> Te Daium. includes my fav Magnificaught.

Just a few of the ones to really get into Ambient Classical with

 

[fiddler]

Quote:

Vivaldi's 4 Seasons.. hmmm... my favorite has Nigel Kennedy (Violin). I forgot the label...DECCA perhaps... it is the version with the best sound quality.

ACK! Sound quality is what you base your purchases on? If so, you're missing out on some GREAT music.. The greatest violinists that ever lived are mostly long dead (Milstein, Kogan, Oistrach, Heifetz, Elman for example) thus you'll only get to hear them on hissy, mono recordings for the most part.

 

[beowulf]

Quote:

Originally posted by fiddler ACK! Sound quality is what you base your purchases on? If so, you're missing out on some GREAT music.. The greatest violinists that ever lived are mostly long dead (Milstein, Kogan, Oistrach, Heifetz, Elman for example) thus you'll only get to hear them on hissy, mono recordings for the most part.

Not 100% Fiddler, but it has a substantial weight in my decisions. I do know what yo umean, but to be honest, I don't care for the old classics if they sound bad. And I do have lots of "the best ever" old versions of classics.

For instance, I have a very rare limited edition of Callas' Traviata recorded here in Lisbon (that's mono add) sounding better than EMI's version. Everybody loves it... but to me, the sound is so mono, so crappy, so hissy and poppy that I hate it.

I prefer a bad performance with top-notch sound engineering to a great performance with miserable sound.

The trick is of course matching the two... one good example is The Rite of Spring by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Yuri Simonov. Amazing DDD sound, and a great, modern performance with rave reviews.

 

[beowulf]

Quote:

Originally posted by eeyssjr Hi guys, Relaxing, heart-felt and emmotive Classical music. Suggestions?

Well Stephen, given thinking about heart-felt and emmotive I have to urge you to listen to Johann Pachelbel's Canon if you don't know it yet. It matches your description perfectly. It is a rather short piece however.

I like the Taverner Players/Andrew Parrot / EMI version (1988)

 

[fiddler]

Quote:

The Rite of Spring by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Yuri Simonov..

Nah.. Get the one where Igor Stravinsky himself conducts the Columbia Symphony.. The sound quality is tolerable IMO, and you get to hear what Stravinsky really wanted.
Quote:

I have to urge you to listen to Johann Pachelbel's Canon if you don't know it yet...

LOL well there goes your credibility.. Just kidding.

It's just that no classical musician with a right mind would recommend that (it's just heard far too often). Personally, if I was to make a torture tape for somebody, THIS piece would be on it.

(Trust me.. Try locking yourself in a room and listening to that stupid canon in a non-stop loop for a few hours.. you WILL want to kill yourself.)

 

[MessierObject]

Quote:

Originally posted by beowulf ...For instance, I have a very rare limited edition of Callas' Traviata recorded here in Lisbon (that's mono add) sounding better than EMI's version.... I prefer a bad performance with top-notch sound engineering to a great performance with miserable sound.

But, how about great performances in OK sound...?

The recognition of that wonderful recording of Traviata is not limited to the confines of Lisbon... Callas made a few recordings (even more than one of Traviata) that are sooo heartrendingly great that, for most of us who love opera already, the old recorded sound (she hit her peak in the early 50's or so) is the first thing to fade out of awareness as she sings, leaving you with several of the World's Great introductions to opera.

Beowulf, please refresh my memory: is the Lisbon Traviata the one with Alfredo Kraus singing the tenor lead? I've heard one version of that one with semi-decent sound....

In passing, another great Callas recording suitable for falling in love with opera is available in pretty good sound, and may be the easiest-to-get-into opera introduction of all: that's Tosca, on EMI with DiSteffano and Gobbi. It's been available - in vinyl, tape, and/or CD - since the day it was recorded.

 

[XXhalberstramXX]

A great proformance is much higher on my list than a great recording. Sure, it's nice to hear every subtle texture in a piece, but for some works, long gone proformers simply had the best insight into a peice, so much so that it shines through whatever recording warts it's packaged with.

An excellent example of this is either Toscanini or Fricsay's recordings of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (sp?). Both absolutely burn with searing emotional intensity (in very different ways, mind you) but both are in mono and have rather scratchy sound quality. Now, i love great sound as much as the next man, but you'd have to pry my Fricsay recording off my cold dead fingers if you wanted to take it from me. Likewise, Jascha Horenstein's live LSO recording of Mahler's 8th symphony from 1951 has a rather veiled sound, but gives me endless satisfaction, whereas I fall asleep to the likes of Tennesdted or Chailly, despite the massive improvement in sound quality.

This is, however, highly dependent on the peice. I can't imagine my Veljo Tormis CD (Litany to Thunder) without it's absolutely superb sound quality (it's ECM, what else would you expect). This is due to the huge dynamic transients in the music, and the serene quality of many tracks.

All in all, it's the music i'm here for, and I won't hesitate to compromise sound quality for it.

 

[Audio Redneck]

Keep in mind that there are a lot of mono LPs that sound MUCH better than there stereo counter part (this applies to Rock as well as Classical.) I know most of you are talking CD's here, but keep in mind that a lot of CD re-issues are poorly engineered (a pet-peev of mine).

Eeyssjr: Another thing you will want to keep in mind when buying classical music - the label makes a difference.

CD: Telarc tends to be a consistanly good brand in terms of Sound and Performance. Teldec is something you will want to listen to before buying. LaserLight and the other K-Mart $2.99 CD's sucks 9 out of 10 times. Mercury Living Presence re-issues are usually great performances, but the sound is 50/50. Same goes for RCA Red Seal's. And don't base ANY buying decidion on a recommendation of the BMG catalog (can you hear the voice of experience?)

The only exception to the Cheap brands (laserlight) is if you find a place where you can get them for $1.50ea or less, then you might give it a try.

I guess one of my suggestions is to borrow as many CDs as you can. If possible, get two different recordings an labels of any piece. It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

(So what's a Redneck know about classical music anyway?)

 

[MessierObject]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio Redneck Eeyssjr: Another thing you will want to keep in mind when buying classical music - the label makes a difference. ... Mercury Living Presence re-issues are usually great performances, but the sound is 50/50.

Actually, some of the finest audiophile recordings ever made are on Mercury Living Presence.

The CD flavor of the brand started off as a tribute to a great sound engineer who had mastered the originals in the 50's-60's. They were EXTREMELY well-made transfers of terrific recordings of fine performances. The first wave of MLP CDs included items that, in the early 90's, could bring collectors $100 per original LP! (see articles/reviews in The Abso!ute Sound magazine around that time).

Personally, I thought then that these sounded better than any Telarc, or any other labels in the early 90's. They started the wave of audiophile-oriented CDs....with performances mastered in the 50's, ferchryssake!

Since then, some specialist labels (e.g., Pope, Reference Recordings, Chesky) have equalled or exceeded the sonic merits of MLP. More recently, Deutche Grammophone captured some grand performances from vinyl on well-transferred CDs. They have NOT improved on the combination of sound and performance values.

J. Gordon Holt's Law states, "Performance Quality times Sonic Quality = a constant". I don't think he was entirely kidding. Telarc performances tend to be as dull as LaserLight sound. But there have been exceptions; and MLP captured more of those exceptions than others in the business.

 

[beowulf]

Quote:

Originally posted by MessierObject But, how about great performances in OK sound...?

Well, that is acceptable of course.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind listening to stuff that doesn't sound cutting-edge when it comes to sound engineering. I just can't get myself to enjoy poor recordings, and that includes ALL mono recordings I have heard so far, and other recordings with several problems (overload clipping distortion, etc). No matter how fabulous the performance is, it will annoy me.

] Quote:

Beowulf, please refresh my memory: is the Lisbon Traviata the one with Alfredo Kraus singing the tenor lead? I've heard one version of that one with semi-decent sound....

Yes, precisely. Kraus and Callas. Most fans seem to like the sound "for ADD Mono". I have spent some time in other forums listening how that version sounded great and was beautiful before deciding to buy it... and then I couldn't listen to it at all.

I can see what you guys mean. Performance is always first, but to me, it isn't enough just by itself. I need good sound. Callas just lived in the wrong age, she should be alive now recording for SACD.

In any case, it is true that some old works very acceptable sound if you consider the great performance. One example is Callas and Gobbi in EMI's Barbiere...recorded in 58, but stereo and with very decent analog sound.

 

[beowulf]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio Redneck Eeyssjr: Another thing you will want to keep in mind when buying classical music - the label makes a difference. The only exception to the Cheap brands (laserlight) is if you find a place where you can get them for $1.50ea or less, then you might give it a try. I guess one of my suggestions is to borrow as many CDs as you can. If possible, get two different recordings an labels of any piece. It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

That is true, there are huge differences from recording to recording. I have lots of Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, but often the cheaper labels are as satisfying.

I don't agree with you, well, depends on what you mean by cheap, but if you can include Naxos in that, I'd definitely consider them an exception too. Naxos has some pretty good recordings.

One label I found quite interesting is those "Royal Philharmonic Collection" CDs. They are all modern DDD recordings, the CDs are reasonably cheap (around $7 around here) and some of those are really first class perfomances with top-quality sound (example: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring).

 

[MessierObject]

Quote:

Originally posted by beowulf ...Callas just lived in the wrong age, she should be alive now recording for SACD. ...

O yes...and Gigli, and Schippa, and, and, and...

But at least Jussi Bjoerling left us some stereo, and DiStefano while his voice was still there....And Fritz Wunderlich actually left a lot.

But, SACD....Geeeeeeeee......Callas on SACD could have made your heart explode.

No - make that, "...your soul explode".

 

[MattKT]

It is a shame, but Callas does have a few stereo recordings from the end of her career.

 

[FullBright1]