[Aong]

First off, im new to claasical music so bear with me, but this may sound like a stupid question, but with probably hundreds of the recorded performance of the same classical pieces, how do you find a good recording/performance? i.e. if i went into a cd store looking for something in particular, is there a way i can tell that the cd is a good recording?

Are there 'certain good labels' i should look out for? any other indicators?

thanks

 

[neil]

A good way to pick out good performances is to look for revered musicians behind the instruments (includes the lead/soloist or the entire orchestra for that matter), and another key might be the conductor.

So maybe people can expound on who they look for in terms of the performance, and which label they look for in terms of the recordings?

Performers I often look out for are Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Itzhak Perlman (violin and conducts as well), Joshua Bell (violin), and Hilary Hahn (violin).

 

[KJ_Palmer]

Also you can read reviews in the (classical) music press, eg. Gramophone, or on the internet. Classics today is a great source for reviews (http://www.classicstoday.com/).
Ask the staff in CD shops if they can recommend anything especially if they seem knowledgable, but take their answers with a pinch of salt. Better to go to specialist classical CD shops if there are any in your area. Trust your own judgement yourself and ask if you can listen to a CD before buying.

 

[Old Pa]

Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide 2002 only lists recordings the Gramaphon editors feel are excellent. They list their annual award winners and their selection of the 100 best classical recordings. It's a Brit publication and that shows, but all of their recommendations that I have aquired have been excellent. AllMusic.com has a classical division which is also most helpful. Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and other hi-fi rags also review classical recordings and select their favorites.

 

[ArChaos]

The Penguin Classical Guide is also a great start-source for finding good reviews and picking performance recommendations. I find helpful looking for preferred soloists, revered orchestras and conductors I already know I like their touch, listening to specialized programs and recommendations on the radio and of course music forums like this one...All in all, finding the *right* interpretation is for me one of the most important things in classical music

 

[Gergor]

Music Guides and magazines are good source for picking CD. I personally subscribe to Gramophone (Though more for the news, interviews than for the reviews). However, music appreciation is a very subjective matter, what's good for the reviewers does not mean it's good for individual listener. My advice to a beginner is not to afraid listening to different performances of the same piece, no matter "good" or "bad". Only by doing this, you'll be able to develop your own ability to tell for yourself what you like or dislike. You may never appreciate how good one performance is unless you have heard a bad one to compare with.

There're certain stores (e.g. Hear Music) that let you listen to any CDs they carry before you buy.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Ask. As in, us. After a while, you will develop a feel for your own favourites. Rarely is any recommended performance bad enough to turn you off from a piece. One usually develops affection for the stylistic choices of the first performance you hear of a piece. For example, when I heard Schubert's 2nd Piano Trio, the one in E flat, I immediately went out and bought the first copy I found. The particular version I bought was a very staid and restrained version of the piece, and to this day, I don't like too much romance introduced into the music of Schubert, as I feel it is just plain wrong.

Of course, it took me several tries to find a version of the Trout Quintet that I liked as much as what I heard on the radio.

Make sure that you ask about the recording quality. Newbies will get turned off by monaural recordings of limited freqency and dynamic range (and, for that matter, limited fidelity), even if the performance may be the most sublime ever (Heifitz notwithstanding). It takes a certain training to hear through the dirty window into the recording, which you will probably eventually develop. I still haven't, and I am by no means a newbie.

 

[stuartr]

When I was learning to appreciate classical music, I found the best way to learn is to go to live performances. They don't have to be amazing, even student performances can be a lot of fun. What this does is allow you to hear the same piece many different ways. As they say above, you will learn how you like certain pieces. Everybody is different: To give you a quick demonstration -- I would not have picked one of the performers that Neil picked, even though they are all three fantastic. My choices would be: Mstislav Rostropovich and Pablo Casals (more passionate less technical than Ma (IMHO)) on violin I like David Oistrakh, and on piano I like Sviatoslav Richter and Yefim Bronfman. All but Bronfman and Rostropovich are dead, which reinforces Dusty's point -- you may be someone for whom recording quality is a big hurdle...you may get over it. I would much rather listen to a Casals recording made in 1929 (yes I have one...) than to a contemporary hack with a perfect recording, but that is just me.
The other great way to learn is to go to your local music library (or even most large libraries) and check out a bunch of recordings of the same piece. Start with the famous concertos for each instrument, and you will quickly find which soloists and orchestras you like. Best of all, you spend no money!
Good luck

 

[Gergor]

Quote:

Originally posted by stuartr ...the best way to learn is to go to live performances...

Totally agree.

 

[neil]

If you're a violin fan, or more specifically, an Itzhak Perlman fan, an album I've had for a while and am enjoying at the moment is Concertos From My Childhood. He plays the violin along with The Julliard Orchestra (conducted by Lawrence Foster). The cover of the CD has a picture of him when he was a wee lad -- looks like a young JFK actually.

I'm listening to it now on a pair of HD-600s and a JMT Maxed out META42 and I think its a fairly well recorded album. It's on the EMI Classics label, recorded in 1999 [DDD]. I just imagine how fantastic it would be to be a part of the Julliard Orchestra and be able to play, and be recorded with the likes of Perlman.

 

[stuartr]

Wouldn't it be even more fun to be Perlman, than you could play with yourself!