What classical music are you listening to?

[Anonymous]

Just listening to a forty year old pressing of the Four Seasons performed by the English Chamber Orchestra. Sounds fabulous, and there's not the hint of surface noise.

You know, I'm beginning to go off those little silver discs...

 

[Anonymous]

I listen mostly to classical music (and some jazz). Here are some recent recordings I enjoyed:

Beethoven Piano Sonatas by Andr s Schiff, all of them, but I just got the final volume.

Shostakovich String Quartets by the Jerusalem Quartet (especially the recording with the 6, 8 & 11th).

The Schoenberg Violin Conerto, played by Hilary Hahn.

A disk by Boulez bringing together Mozart's Serenade for 13 String Instruments with Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto...

And many more...

 

[Anonymous]

Hickox (RIP)/LSO - A London Symphony/Vaughan Williams (1913 edition)

Mutter - The Four Seasons

Benedetti - Lark Ascending/Tavener

Lord - A Durham Symphony

Fleming - Strauss/4 Last Songs.............

 

[Anonymous]

RVW Sea Symphony.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually I'm not listening to any as I know nowt about classical music. I would like to though and wonder if anyone could suggest a few good CD's that would provide an introduction to classical. I would really be looking at music that would be good to play in the background when relaxing or reading or enjoying a wee dram or glass of red. I'll perhaps get onto the heavier stuff later.

 

[Thaiman]

My favorite classical music CD is

 

[pierobotha]

At the moment I am listening to Handels Messiah conducter Karl Richter and Bach St Matthew Passion by Otto Klemperer. Is there other recordings you can recomend of the Messiah and the Passion?

 

[ElectroMan]

Trap6:Actually I'm not listening to any as I know nowt about classical music. I would like to though and wonder if anyone could suggest a few good CD's that would provide an introduction to classical. I would really be looking at music that would be good to play in the background when relaxing or reading or enjoying a wee dram or glass of red. I'll perhaps get onto the heavier stuff later.

I got into classical music when I was a teenager and somebody gave me an LP of popular classical overtures. I was also really into rock music, but bought a few more classical albums, read some books, and eventually ended up listening to Wagner's 5 hour music dramas (operas)!

There are a lot of compilation albums of popular pieces, such as this one: Classic FM Anthems 2008 (even though I hate the 'anthems' description in general, and it's certainly out of place here).

Amazon even has a 'Classical for beginners' section here (although I do think that 'Beethoven for Babies: Brain Training for Little Ones' is a bit of a cash-in!).

 

[Anonymous]

Electroman -

Thanks for that - I hadn't thought of Amazon. A bit more research by me is required. The adagios sound interesting and possibly the sort of thing I had in mind.

 

[shado]

I am trying to get hold of the CD recording for the Robinson Crusoe TV Serial Theme Tune that I am sure was filmed in Black and White many moons ago. I see itunes has the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra but was this the original?

I personally like the Sea of Solaris from the Cosmos Album and Tchaikovsky Ballet suites.

 

[Naxos]

I think you'll find that on Silva Screen - I have a copy on FILMCD 705 issued in 1990, which is definitely the original soundtrack, though this may be deleted by now. Evocative stuff for those of us of a certain age!

Currently listening to Debussy String Quartet - Quartetto Italiano, and have cued up Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra (Ondine version - good test disc!) and Shostakovich 9th Symphony

 

[ElectroMan]

Robinson Crusoe: I think this might be what you're looking for!

 

[shado]

ElectroMan:

Robinson Crusoe: I think this might be what you're looking for!

Excellent Electroman just the very one I have been looking for. I knew it was Black and White and Deffroe does ring a bell. VMT

 

[Anonymous]

Over the last two weekends I have been listening to Roger
Norrington's recordings of Mahler's 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th symphonies. I
think they're really great!! The sound is very clean due to his
approach to the symphonies and youn can follow their logic very well.

Does anyone else know them?

Hedgehog

 

[Anonymous]

I'm keen to try more classical music on my system. Currently I really like Chopin or Mozart for instance. Whenever I look at classical CD's in the stores (say, HMV for instance) I feel lost and out of my depth. The choice is huge between different composers, conductors, performers or even venues for one same piece of music. How do I solve this? Is there a rule for picking up good recordings out of the ocean of available recordings? Some sort of guidance would help, though I'm not at all convinced it is something possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Momo72, when I got in classical music a few years ago I had a
similar problem. I usually relied on friends to recommend recordings,
but also composers, I might like given the ones I already liked. Apart
from that I just exposed myself to as many different composers and
musical foms (symphonies, piano concertos, violin sonatas, etc.) as
possible and dug further if I liked what I heard.

Nowadays, I
read Gramophone and sometimes follow their advice. You should also get
a copy of either the Penguin or the Gramophone guides, both 1,000+
pages compendia discussing the various available recordings of a given
piece of music. Once you have bought a number of CDs, a favorite
conductor, orchestra or solo artist might emerge - or, you may find
that you like lots of different ones.

It has been great fun for me to explore all of this, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

Hedgehog

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, that's what I did. Also went to the local library and borrowed CDs fairly randomly at the start, until the librarians took pity on me - excellent service, really helpful.

 

[Anonymous]

Andante Festivo by Sibelius, by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Maris Janssons. I love it.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been from water too cold to dipping my toe in over the last couple of years. It's great that some contemporary artists within the reaches of classical training are pushing the limits to further the reaches of the genre. Max Richter, Pedal and extending a little further back Ludovico Einaudi, Philip Glass and Arvo Part (forgive me if I'm wrong on the times but these are the ones that got me interested in classical music).

 

[lonely boy]

Iannis Xenakis Edition RZ 2xCD

Through my interest in improvised music, I have been listening recently to the work of Xenakis, Cage, Feldman and Crumb who have had a significant influence on the eai (or whatever it is called these days) and improv scene. This CD collects orchestral and electroacoustic works and is a pretty good introduction to the composer.

 

[Anonymous]

Hedgehog:

Momo72, when I got in classical music a few years ago I had a similar problem. I usually relied on friends to recommend recordings, but also composers, I might like given the ones I already liked. Apart from that I just exposed myself to as many different composers and musical foms (symphonies, piano concertos, violin sonatas, etc.) as possible and dug further if I liked what I heard.

Nowadays, I read Gramophone and sometimes follow their advice. You should also get a copy of either the Penguin or the Gramophone guides, both 1,000+ pages compendia discussing the various available recordings of a given piece of music. Once you have bought a number of CDs, a favorite conductor, orchestra or solo artist might emerge - or, you may find that you like lots of different ones.

It has been great fun for me to explore all of this, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

Hedgehog

Thanks for the tips!

And to Tarquinh too.

 

[chebby]

Right now..

Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Suite by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.

For a beginner a good introduction is to get as many of these as possible...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...keywords="your+hundred+best+tunes"+cd&x=0&y=0http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22your+hundred+best+tunes%22+cd&x=0&y=0

Alas no longer produced but - as you can see - Amazon third party sellers still have a few.

I scored the complete sleeved set in unused condition from an ebay seller a few months ago for £20 plus postage.