Classical Fans, Give me your top 5 (1 Viewer)

[Brian E]

Hi gang,

I'm always looking to add to my music collection. If you could give me your top 5 classical recordings on CD I figure it will make a nice shopping list for a while. Especially interested in Composers I have little or nothing from yet.


Most of what I have now can be seen here...
http://www.brianeberling.com/classical.htm



Thanks!

 

[DanFe]

You are missing Dvorak's symphonies complete. Get Kertesz in a London box.

Mendelssohn's 3rd with Maag.

Rimsky-Korsakov, Scherezade with Reiner Chicago SO on Living Stereo (the SACD might come soon) or Stokowski on Cala.

Tchaikovsky's Symphonies 1-6, Manfred with Jansons on Chandos. If too expensive get at least the Naxos set.

Schubert 9th, no recommendation.

Saint-Saens symphony 3 with Munch on SACD hybrid.

Gee you got some holes in that collection.

You want SACD, too?

 

[Stefan A]

Here are my top 5 favorite pieces of music:

Mahler's 2nd Symphony
Mahler's 3rd Symphony
Stavinsky's Rite of Spring
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique
Tie between Shostokovich's 7th or Sibelius 2nd

My favorite recordings of most classical music tend to be The Chicago Symphony, but they're not for everyone. Also, I should add that on another day, I could pick 5 completely different pieces. But these are the ones that usually come to mind first when this question is asked. I noticed you only have 1 Richard Strauss tone poem on your list. If you like Also Sprach, you will probably like his other tone poems. Same with a lot of the other composers you have on your list that you only have a few pieces. As you well know, composers tend to have a unique writing style. If you really like one of their pieces, chances are you will like others. I suggest starting from there. Investigate other pieces by composers you already like, but not have enough of.

Stefan

 

[Seth--L]

Brahms: Piano Concertos -- Leon Fleisher/George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra (Sony)

Mozart: "Don Giovanni" -- John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists (Archiv)

Schubert: Piano Trios No.1 and No.2 -- Immerseel, Beths, Byslsma (Sony)

Bach: Cantata BWV 63 -- John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists/Monteverdi Choir (Archiv)

Dvorak: String Quartet No.12, "American" -- Juilliard String Quartet (Sony)

 

[Zen Butler]

You could certainly use:

Debussy: La Mer
Saint-Saens: Symp No. 3 (You can get both these on the BSO/Munch RCA Living Stereo, even if you don't have SACD capabilities, the standard Living Stereo cd is still great)

Liszt: Piano Concertos (go with Richter/ on Philips(?)


Schoenberg: Vertlarte Nacht (help w/sp) Karajan/Berlin

Bach: Cello Suites: I love (Casals on EMI), I've heard great things about Schiff.

Rodrigo: Concerto de Aranjuez

 

[Greg Black]

As far as specific CDs and recordings, I can't quite come up with a list, because I have just started discovering the wonderful world of classical music.

However, recently I bought the Deutsche Grammophon boxset of Wilhelm Kempff's recordings of all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas. After listening to many different versions, I found Kempff to be the best to my ears. The remastered set had to be imported from the UK through www.crotchet.co.uk, as it was impossible to find anywhere else.

 

[Brian E]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I always appreciate threads like this as it helps me sort through the 1,000s of options out there when it comes to Classical CD's. I'm not doing High-Rez yet, although I'd look into it again if there is finally a universal player with good bass management. I do have a TT also, but none of my LP's are on my list. I generally pick up 10 or 15 used LP's of whatever the store has at a time since they're so cheap.

I also should mention that besides my list I have the following stuff on order...
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto, Symphony No 5 / Krysa Amadis
Rimsky-korsakov: Sheherazade, Le Coq D'or, Sadko Amadis
Haydn: Symphonies No 94, 100 & 101 Amadis
Schubert: Symphony No 9 "the Great" Amadis
Byron Janis Plays Moussorgsky - Pictures At An Exhibition Mercury
Barber, Meyer: Violin Concertos Sony
Franck, Saint-saëns, Ravel / Sarah Chang, Lars Vogt EMI
Hilary Hahn Plays Bach Sony
Prokofiev, Sibelius: Violin Concertos DG
Classic Library - Brahms: Cello Sonatas RCA
Celibidache - Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 EMI
100 Years Of Strauss Philips
Vivaldi Masterworks (40 CDs) Brilliant
Bach: Complete Works (171 CDs, 2 CD-ROMs) Hannsler (seems good for the $190ish it's costing)

I'd be interested in more Grieg & Berlioz but, I'm not sure where to start.


Thanks again!

 

[Seth--L]

In order of where to start:

Symphonie fantastique -- Gardiner/ORR
Roméo & Juliette -- Gardiner/ORR
Les Troyens -- Gardiner/ORR
Harold En Italie -- Gardiner/ORR
Messe Solennelle -- Gardiner/ORR

 

[Stefan A]

As far as Berlioz, look into The Damnation of Faust and Symphonie Fantastique. Also, get a disk of overtures.

Stefan

 

[Brian E]

Thanks,

Any good Classical duscussion forums out there?

 

[Brian E]

Just ordered this one. BMG has it & I needed to buy a CD for the commitment on my latest sign up with them.

Thanks

 

[Brian E]

Is the Sir Colin Davis/LSO version any good? I can get it for $20ish shipped.

 

[Seth--L]

Yes, it's very fine. However, not only is Gardiner's recording equally superb, but you also can see the opera.

 

[Nick Hallett]

Stefa, I'll second the support of the Chicago SO, especially when Solti was at the helm. (I'm also very fond of Barenboim as well). The guy really new how to beat the crap out of his musicans when the teutonic music needed it.

on that note:

1. Beethovens 9th (Barenboim/Berliner Staatkappele, Teldec[gives Telarc a run for their money in the recording quality dept too]) Surprised no one else has said this one...
2. Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (Solti/CSO, London)
3. Beethoven 5th Piano Concerto, Emporer (Solti/CSO, London)
4. Wagner Der Ring Des Niebelungens - If you have a whole day to kill...
5. Beethoven Egmont Overture (Solti/CSO, London)


Yeah so my tastes arent very diverse on in depth, sue me.

 

[Jan H]

Off the top of my head, a few Grieg recordings I like:

Peer Gynt - Blomstedt, San Francisco, EMI (I think)

Lyric Pieces - The great Emil Gilels performs these beautiful piano miniatures - DG

Songs - Anna Sofie Van Otter - DG

Piano Concerto (together with the Schumann) - Murray Perahia, Concertgebouw, Haitink, Columbia (I think)

 

[Angelo.M]

Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1/Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 (Van Cliburn, RCA)
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Jando, Naxos)
Chopin: Piano Sonatas (Ashkenazy, Decca)
Mozart: Piano Sonatas (Schiff, Decca)
Puccini: Turandot (Sutherland, Pavarotti, Mehta et al, Decca) [if you're including opera]

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Well I've read through your collection's listing, and there seem to be a few bare spots. Here's 5 ideas to fill some of them:

You don't have any Bartok. Try the new hybrid CD/SACD of Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Celeste, and Percussion with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. (RCA Red Seal "Living Stereo") Even Seth-L liked this one!

You don't have any "older music". Try my favorite work from the 1400's, Dufay's Missa L'homme Arme, Oxford Camerata under Summerly (Naxos)

You don't have any Vaughan Williams. Oh dear, decisions, decisions.....try the 2nd Symphony "London" paired with the violin romance The Lark Ascending, Andre Previn and the Royal Philharmonic (Telarc)

You already have 3 copies of Beethoven's 9th, but go ahead and get this set: Charles Munch/great conductors of the 20th century (on IMG Artists, EMI/Decca) For $11 you get a 2 disc set that not only has my favorite copy of the 9th, but also the Bizet Symphony, the Martinu 6th Symphony, and generous selections from Prokovief's Romeo and Juliet. Hey the price is right.

Finally, my favorite opera recording: the Francesco Rossi film version of Bizet's Carmen on DVD-video. Domingo, Migenes-Johnson, et al. in a wonderful "on location" realization of Bizet's opera. (Columbia Tri-star DVD)

 

[Brian E]

Thanks! Yes, I know there are holes & that's why I like threads like this every once & a while. It gives me fresh ideas on things to try. Being that my collection is only about a year old, before that a few Beethoven Symphonies was it, it still very much in progress. I do appreciate all of the suggestions & I am compiling them into a shopping list.

I did just order the new (Archipel) Furtwangler Beethoven 9th from 4/19/1942 (Hilter's birthday concert), that's never been released before. I most interested in the history aspect of this recording I guess. Since Furtwangler was forced to do it, I've read early reviews that call it quite emotional. Plus it was pretty cheap from MDT.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

By the way, where did you get the Hannsler complete Bach set for $190? Amazon at the link you left quotes $1,800!

 

[Brian E]

http://www.zweitausendeins.de

I found out about it when reading some usenet postings. Supposed to be different packaging (4cd's in a special single jewel case). I did see a few people have gotten 2 or 3 mixed up discs they've had to send in for exchange, but for as cheap as this new edition is I can deal with that.