Recommended Recordings of Classical Music
- Thread starter derbeder
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I have a version of Karajan conducting Holst's Planets that I rather enjoy. Beautiful, bombastic, and a pleasure to listen to. Great soundfield and depth.
Other stuff:
Charles Ives - Three Places in New England/The Unanswered Question/A Set of Pieces/Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting" Set No. 1 - performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. My composition teacher, Noel Zahler, had something to do with this recording (he's written some academic pieces about The Unanswered Question), though I can't recall what. I bought it for TUQ and was not disappointed. Though, it's a piece best experienced live (there's directions for the horn player to be behind the audience, for example).
Arnold Schoenberg - Piano Works - performed by Glenn Gould. As I recall, Schoenberg purists feel like Gould softens the music by playing it more freely than intended. My feelingis that he makes it very musical. Gould is kind of odd, though, and every now and then you hear a grunt or two while he plays.
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony 2 & 3 - Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the LSO with the London Voices. The 2nd just slays me. Amazing build-up, and the choir is stunning.
Other stuff:
Charles Ives - Three Places in New England/The Unanswered Question/A Set of Pieces/Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting" Set No. 1 - performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. My composition teacher, Noel Zahler, had something to do with this recording (he's written some academic pieces about The Unanswered Question), though I can't recall what. I bought it for TUQ and was not disappointed. Though, it's a piece best experienced live (there's directions for the horn player to be behind the audience, for example).
Arnold Schoenberg - Piano Works - performed by Glenn Gould. As I recall, Schoenberg purists feel like Gould softens the music by playing it more freely than intended. My feelingis that he makes it very musical. Gould is kind of odd, though, and every now and then you hear a grunt or two while he plays.
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony 2 & 3 - Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the LSO with the London Voices. The 2nd just slays me. Amazing build-up, and the choir is stunning.
Under Fabio biondi's direction Europa Galante has become one of the top baroque ensembles (they also play some works from the classical era as in here) and their performance on this cd is unmistakable. Boccherini is a somewhat neglected Italian composer from the classical era and he has left about a hundred string quintets and quartets and many cello concertos and symphonies, but these works are not often performed all too often. Yet some of his quartets can match some of Haydn's best. The quintets on the album (for 2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos - a somewhat unusual combination) are among Boccherini's more outstanding works. Also included is the famous Menuet from the String Quintet op.11/5, which many of you will probably recognize.
I should also recommend Boccherini's Guitar Quintets. The one recording I have is a 3-cd set from Artaria Quartet and Richard Savino (originally out from Harmonia Mundi, now reissued).
Ligeti unfortunately passed away two months ago. He was one of the most important composers of the post-WWII era. Three of Ligeti's compositions, Atmospheres for Orchestra and Lux Aeterna for 16 solo voices, and Requiem have been used to great effect in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. These works have become very famous because they are featured in some of the key moments in the movie. Lux Aeterna and especially Requiem are electrifying and should definitely be heard.
Ligeti's chamber works are of great variety and among his best is his String Quartet no.2. Arditti Quartet's recording of the work is essential. Also important are his Etudes for Piano, in three books. These are very inventive works for the piano and very difficult to perform. Frederic Ullen (especially on this recording has done a fine job with them.
Ligeti's chamber works are of great variety and among his best is his String Quartet no.2. Arditti Quartet's recording of the work is essential. Also important are his Etudes for Piano, in three books. These are very inventive works for the piano and very difficult to perform. Frederic Ullen (especially on this recording has done a fine job with them.
Hubster
...
It has been some time since I have investigated a new Baroque composer.
The French, with my love of the Viola Da Gamba, has for some time been my favourite area of the Baroque period. The French composers wrote with a certain warmth and texture which imo Italian and German composers could not match.
I find that this style highlights the Gamba's capability and characteristics like no other music does (with the exception of 15th Century religious music).
Having concentrated on Lully, Marais and Ste Colombe for some time, the composer in question this time is François Couperin.
I knew that Couperin was a virtuoso player of the harpsichord, and this was a big reason to hunt him down (the harpsichord is second to the Gamba in my list of favoured instruments).
Having recently being exploring the world of Lully's music for King Louis XIV in the height of his power, which is so "over the top" and decorative (only comparible to Italian Baroque imo), heading into Couperin's world was almost a shock: like Marais, Couperin's music does not decorate loudly, but speaks more subtle tones.
The Sun King's dying embers are well expressed in Couperin's music. Memories and fragments of majesty occasionally surface throughout smooth texturing and phrasing, and beautiful, long clean bowstrokes of the Gamba.
It's a texturous delight which makes my skin crawl. Fantastic, especially considering the somewhat "seperated" execution of voices in some pieces. So imaginative
Couperin excudes calm and peace, his work being "aural poems within poems". It is thoughtful French Baroque.
I cannot recommend this recording highly enough. Derbeder, you know what to do mate
EDIT: expecting a copy of some Monteverdi soon, with singing by none other than Emma Kirkby! Should be fantastic.
The French, with my love of the Viola Da Gamba, has for some time been my favourite area of the Baroque period. The French composers wrote with a certain warmth and texture which imo Italian and German composers could not match.
I find that this style highlights the Gamba's capability and characteristics like no other music does (with the exception of 15th Century religious music).
Having concentrated on Lully, Marais and Ste Colombe for some time, the composer in question this time is François Couperin.
I knew that Couperin was a virtuoso player of the harpsichord, and this was a big reason to hunt him down (the harpsichord is second to the Gamba in my list of favoured instruments).
Having recently being exploring the world of Lully's music for King Louis XIV in the height of his power, which is so "over the top" and decorative (only comparible to Italian Baroque imo), heading into Couperin's world was almost a shock: like Marais, Couperin's music does not decorate loudly, but speaks more subtle tones.
The Sun King's dying embers are well expressed in Couperin's music. Memories and fragments of majesty occasionally surface throughout smooth texturing and phrasing, and beautiful, long clean bowstrokes of the Gamba.
It's a texturous delight which makes my skin crawl. Fantastic, especially considering the somewhat "seperated" execution of voices in some pieces. So imaginative
Couperin excudes calm and peace, his work being "aural poems within poems". It is thoughtful French Baroque.
I cannot recommend this recording highly enough. Derbeder, you know what to do mate
EDIT: expecting a copy of some Monteverdi soon, with singing by none other than Emma Kirkby! Should be fantastic.
This is a good collection of Monteverdi madrigals performed by The Consort of Musicke and Emma Kirkby with some other singers. My favorite madrigal, Tempro La Cetra is on this album. Kirkby also sings on this recording of Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo with London Baroque, which is commonly considered to be the first opera. The best parts of the opera are when she is singing. Overall, it is something that an enthusiast of renaissance and baroque music should know, but it is obvious that not everything has fit into place with the structure of an opera so it can become less engaging on repeated listens. The madrigals, however, are short and tasty. Excluding the superb Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610, Monteverdi's greatest achievements are these madrigals. The Vespers is a must-listen. There are a number of good recordings of the work, one of the best I have heard is this one, with the Taverner Consort (including Emma Kirkby and Nigel Rogers singing solo parts) under the direction of Andrew Parrott.
Hubster
...
I am kicking myself in some ways:
About 2 years ago, our local opera company, Pinchgut Opera, performed L'Orfeo. They are renowned for being very creative on small budgets, and boast fantastic musicians all on period instruments. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough knowledge to appreciate it at the time, so I passed it up.
I was lucky enough to catch them the next year performing Rameau's "Dardanus", a fantastic opera.
My exposure to Monteverdi is limited thus far, so you can imagine, combined with Emma's beautiful voice, how much I'm looking forward to acquiring this.
You know, I have to say, I fucking *LOVE* earlier music. Early Music, Baroque... they just reduce to you to a pulp. It's constant awe.
About 2 years ago, our local opera company, Pinchgut Opera, performed L'Orfeo. They are renowned for being very creative on small budgets, and boast fantastic musicians all on period instruments. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough knowledge to appreciate it at the time, so I passed it up.
I was lucky enough to catch them the next year performing Rameau's "Dardanus", a fantastic opera.
My exposure to Monteverdi is limited thus far, so you can imagine, combined with Emma's beautiful voice, how much I'm looking forward to acquiring this.
You know, I have to say, I fucking *LOVE* earlier music. Early Music, Baroque... they just reduce to you to a pulp. It's constant awe.
Hubster
...
This time I will suggest a recording of music from 12th century France. The composer is called Perotin. Very little is known about Perotin, though it is commonly thought that he was at the Notre Dame cathedral. Along with other anonymous composers of church music in Paris around that time, he composed the first known polyphonic music. The style is called organum, and the compositions are for 2, 3 or 4 male voices. The music on this recording is therefore of major historial importance, as it documents a most crucial event in western music history. Earlier music, including Gregorian chants, had been monophonic. The music itself is not very deeply emotional compared to later liturgical music, but it is well worth listening.
The Hilliard Ensemble is very reliable in their performances of early music and they do not disappoint here either.
People who enjoy contemporary composers like Steve Reich and Arvo Part may also enjoy this recording.
metal_wrath
I dip my forefinger...
what are some good recommendations for piano based Chamber music
currently I have been listening to the Jean Phillipe-Rameau works for solo Keyboard by Scott Ross, I am looking for something similar to this
currently I have been listening to the Jean Phillipe-Rameau works for solo Keyboard by Scott Ross, I am looking for something similar to this
In the baroque period:
Domenico Scarlatti has more than 500 sonatas for keyboard solo. Vladimir Horowitz has recorded some of these in various albums on piano, and they are the best performances I know of. Scott Ross has actually recorded all of them on 30-something CDs on harpsichord, but I have heard only some of these. Scarlatti's keyboard works are my favorite in the baroque period after J S Bach's.
François Couperin has composed 4 volumes of keyboard music. Olivier Beaumont and Scott Ross have recorded all of these on harpsichord on about 10 CDs. Angela Hewitt has recorded three CDs of selected pieces from these on the piano. These are better on the harpsichord, I think and you may like these if you liked Rameau's keyboard works.
J S Bach's keyboard works surpass about anything written for keyboard instruments in their elegance. The most important of these are the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 846-893, English Suites BWV 806-811, French Suites BWV 812-817, Italian Concerto BWV 971, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue BWV 903 and Goldberg Variations 988. It is probably best to listen to these on the piano and the harpsichord. Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg Variations on the paino (in 1955 and in 1980) are timeless. The same could be said of his recording of The Well Tempered Clavier. As recordings on the harpsichord of Goldberg Variations Trevor Pinnock's or Ton Koopman's are good.
Check out opethforum for some recordings of Bach's keyboard works performed on the harpsichord soon.
Domenico Scarlatti has more than 500 sonatas for keyboard solo. Vladimir Horowitz has recorded some of these in various albums on piano, and they are the best performances I know of. Scott Ross has actually recorded all of them on 30-something CDs on harpsichord, but I have heard only some of these. Scarlatti's keyboard works are my favorite in the baroque period after J S Bach's.
François Couperin has composed 4 volumes of keyboard music. Olivier Beaumont and Scott Ross have recorded all of these on harpsichord on about 10 CDs. Angela Hewitt has recorded three CDs of selected pieces from these on the piano. These are better on the harpsichord, I think and you may like these if you liked Rameau's keyboard works.
J S Bach's keyboard works surpass about anything written for keyboard instruments in their elegance. The most important of these are the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 846-893, English Suites BWV 806-811, French Suites BWV 812-817, Italian Concerto BWV 971, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue BWV 903 and Goldberg Variations 988. It is probably best to listen to these on the piano and the harpsichord. Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg Variations on the paino (in 1955 and in 1980) are timeless. The same could be said of his recording of The Well Tempered Clavier. As recordings on the harpsichord of Goldberg Variations Trevor Pinnock's or Ton Koopman's are good.
Check out opethforum for some recordings of Bach's keyboard works performed on the harpsichord soon.
RedinTheSky
Member
Wow. You mentioned Bach without mentioning the six partitas or seven toccatas. If you or anyone else hasn't heard these, they are extremely good.
I also recommend Mozart piano sonatas 2, 5, 6, 10 and 15. They are all good of course, but those are my personal favorites.
metal_wrath
I dip my forefinger...
I have recently watched this movie, it is indeed very good. I enjoyed it alot, and I was astonished by the playing of the viola da gamba, very beautiful instrument.
metal_wrath
I dip my forefinger...
I have only heard a few recordings of Mozart's Requiem, but I especially like the Karl Bohm recording, if you haven't heard this recording I would recommend it, it is very grandiose but sombre, the orchestration is slow and the sound is amazing. I have found this online as a DVD with the performance by Karl Bohm and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. I am definitely going to buy this, http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=108984
NFU
I like pie.
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